[ Quite frankly, Eddie doesn't understand. He thinks that mommies and daddies are made to fight, to yell at each other, and then to tell their kids that it isn't that serious. It makes concentrating school difficult, but he pushes through, does his homework the best he can manage. He doesn't want to be left behind anymore, at least not when his friend Chrissy keeps pushing forward. Now they're in fourth grade, sharing lunches, whispering about the things that keep them up at night. Chrissy's family is rich, he realizes, doesn't share the same struggles that his own family does. That doesn't mean she doesn't struggle.
The first time she had offered her lunch over, Eddie had pounced on it without any questions asked. When he was lucky, he got a plastic baggie filled with slices of bread and cigarettes. By the third or fourth time Chrissy had slid her lunch over to him, it was hard not to notice that something was wrong. He was a hungry child, in a different way than she was. Eddie had dug into every lunch she had passed to him without question, until one day the whole exchange had seemed wrong. ]
If your mom packed you two sandwiches, do you think you'd eat one?
[ He asks that even as he stuffs her lunch into his mouth. Something about this seems wrong, even if he can't put it into words. Eddie wipes crumbs from his mouth with his sleeve, watching her carefully. ]
no subject
The first time she had offered her lunch over, Eddie had pounced on it without any questions asked. When he was lucky, he got a plastic baggie filled with slices of bread and cigarettes. By the third or fourth time Chrissy had slid her lunch over to him, it was hard not to notice that something was wrong. He was a hungry child, in a different way than she was. Eddie had dug into every lunch she had passed to him without question, until one day the whole exchange had seemed wrong. ]
If your mom packed you two sandwiches, do you think you'd eat one?
[ He asks that even as he stuffs her lunch into his mouth. Something about this seems wrong, even if he can't put it into words. Eddie wipes crumbs from his mouth with his sleeve, watching her carefully. ]
You never eat, Chrissy. Isn't that weird?