Dog Days of Winter

"Did you have a good weekend?"  I asked Amy, a newer member of the unusual group of kids that like to hang out and talk with me while I'm on hallway duty in the mornings.  I actually don't think they like to talk 'with' me, more that I listen to them.  Which is fine.
"I went to see 'Selma'".
"Oh.  I hear it's good but...."
"Sad.  Really sad."
She went into a detailed explanation of every violent scene in the movie.  I could tell she was honestly distressed by it and that the concept of racially induced discrimination and violence was relatively foreign to her.  Which is actually a good thing. 
"They used the 'n' word'!" she stated suddenly, with an oddly fake and exaggerated pose.  She crossed her arms and pouted.   She started speaking in baby talk.
"The 'n' word is bad!"

"She filled up three rooms of the funeral home, it was amazing."
"Really?  That's awesome."
"But the casket was open...."
I was surprised.  I had just assumed she had shot herself, I don't know, as my family tradition seems to dictate.   
"The makeup was weird....she may have hung herself."

"I think gay people should be able to get married."  Amy continued the next day.
"Well, the Supreme Court might make that possible in all of the states, Amy, it is very exciting."
"I know gay people.  My hairdresser is gay and a friend of my mom's is."
I thought of all the other gay people she knew right there at school that she didn't even realize were gay.  Which again, is a good thing.  Why should it matter who her teachers fuck?
"My mom says we are even going to get a female president next time!"
"Yep, maybe, Amy."
"She said the wife of a man that was president a really long time ago will be our next president."
I racked my brain.  A really long time ago?  Like William Harding times or something?
"Oh my God, do you mean Hillary Clinton?!"
"Yeah!  That's her name!"

"Michael is at it again," my sister continued.
"What do you mean......?"
"Drinking."
My stepfather.  Hospitalized on my mother's seventieth birthday last April.   Fatty liver disease, sclerosis.   Had a broken ankle and shoulder for who knows how long and he didn't even know it, the result of drunken falls.  Had to have half of his non-broken foot cut off because of diabetes related gangrene.  Was in the hospital for months and we didn't think he would make it out of there.  The doctors said he wouldn't.  But he did.  Because the insurance cut off, forcing my mother to become his in home nurse.  He also succeeded in destroying the family business and finances of the majority of my immediate family. 
"We were barely out of the house to drive to Michigan for the funeral when he called, bragging of taking mom's 'little car out'".
"Jesus Christ".
"He bought a bottle of rum, drank it and vomited all over the house.  Mom had to call his brother, they found him covered in piss and shit and vomit on the bed."

I smiled and waved at Bailey as he walked up the stairwell.  He smiled back; I could tell that he wanted to talk more but Amy was there.
"THAT is really a girl." Amy whispered after Bailey entered his classroom.
I looked at her closely.
"Bailey is whatever he wants to be.  Bailey is whatever he feels he is." I said lowly.
"Yeah....yeah she is...." Amy answered slowly, brain gears grinding. 

"Hilary, I didn't want to tell you this part.  The other cat is dead, again, like what happened before Christmas.  Michael let the dogs get her.  Mom found her on the porch in a liquor bag."

"Good morning, Amy." I called in greeting the next morning in the stairwell.  My eyes felt fuzzy.
"My dad took me to Revolution Donuts!" she responded, and entered into the tale of the morning.