It’s 4 am, and the Pink Panther is on TV. I’m 6 years old, and I shouldn’t be awake this early. It’s still dark outside, but my dad’s in the bathroom shaving, and the way he taps his razor against the porcelain sink is somehow comforting to me.
My brother’s awake, and wrapped in a blanket on the couch where my dad had slept. We watch the same line-up every morning; Johnny Quest, Pink Panther, The Flintstones. Most kids our age won’t be awake for another 4 or 5 hours. But we have to be, because at 5, we’re getting dropped off at my grandma’s house. My dad has to be to work, and we have no idea where my mom is.
I put my jeans in the oven, because it’s cold this early in the morning. I leave the oven door open, and turn around in front of it, so it will warm my whole body. It’s a routine I practice every morning. I don’t know whose idea it was to use the oven, though.
Just before 5 am, my dad goes out in the driveway and starts his car. He turns the heater on, shuts the door, and comes back in the house to let us know it’s time to go. My brother brings a blanket and climbs into the back seat. I push the front seat back, and sit down. My dad tells me to watch my feet, and shuts my door. He climbs in the driver’s seat, and turns the fan on to start filling the car with hot air.
It’s still dark outside, and while we drive to my grandma’s house the moisture outside is making the windshield wet, so my dad turns on his windshield wipers. It’s only a 5 minute ride to her house, and when we pull up in front of it, she comes out onto her front porch and opens the gate for us. She looks tired, and my dad talks to her for a while, while me and my brother lay down on the couches. He says bye, and we hug him before he leaves.
My grandma goes into the kitchen and asks us if we want something for breakfast. My brother’s already asleep, so I sit at the kitchen table and she pours me a bowl of cereal. Old people cereal. My brother always says he thinks it has rocks and snail shells in it, along with the dried cranberries and bran flakes. My grandma sits down at the table, and starts shuffling her cards. Her favorite radio talk show is coming out of the speakers of the stereo. She sets up the cards for solitaire, and I watch out the window as the sun starts to come up really slowly.
Her tablecloth is flowery, and the shapes remind me of her and my grandpa for some reason. There’s a red miniature grandfather clock with a real ticking pendulum in the center of the table, and to be random, my grandpa has super-glued a small toy rat on top of it. The pendulum keeps stopping, so I reach out and push it back into swing when it does.
I finish the bowl of cereal, and go to the sink to rinse it out. I ask my grandma if I can watch TV, and she nods; she gets really focused once she puts on her glasses to play solitaire. I go into the living room and turn on the huge TV that my grandpa spent a couple thousand dollars on. It’s only 6 in the morning, so every show on is a kid’s show or morning news. I put it on Nickelodeon (which, at 6 am, is actually Nick Jr.) and watch Eureka’s Castle. Kind of a girly show, but I’m 6 years old.
I lay down on the soft, orange couch and before I know it, I’m asleep…
