Chapter 21

LUCILLE CLEAMONS had exactly seventeen minutes left on her lunch hour to wipe the ketchup¹ stain off Marcus's face, get the twins to the day care clinic, and catch the 27 bus back to work before Mr. Darmon would start docking her $7.85 per hour (or 13 cents a minute).

"C'mon, Marcus," she sighed to her five-year-old, who was sprouting² a face full of ketchup. "I don't have time for this today." She dabbed³ at his white, collared dress shirt, which had taken on the look of one of his messier finger paintings, and - damn - none of the stain was coming off.

Cherisse pointed⁴ from her chair. "Can I have an ice cream, Momma?"

"No, child, you can't. Momma's got no time." She looked at her watch and felt her heart stab. Oh God...

"C'mon, child." Lucille crammed⁵ their Happy Meal boxes onto the tray. "I got to get you cleaned up fast."

"Please, Momma, it's a McSundae," Cherisse cried.

"You can buy your own McSundae or whatever you like when it's your dollar sixty-five going across the table. Now both you come get yourselves cleaned up. Momma's got to go."

"But I am clean," Cherisse protested.

She dragged them out of the booth and hurried toward the bathroom. "Yes, but your brother looks like he's been in a war."

Lucille pulled her kids along the back corridor leading to the bathrooms. She opened the door to the ladies' room. It was McDonald's. No one would mind. She raised Marcus on the counter and wet a paper towel and started to rub at the mess on his collar.

The boy squirmed.

"Damn, child, you want to make the mess, you got to own up to the cleaning. Cherisse, you got to pee?"

"Yes, Momma," the girl replied.

She was the cleaner of the two. They were both five, but Marcus barely knew how to pull down his own zipper⁶. Some of the ketchup was starting to come off.

"Cherisse," Lucille barked, "you going to get on that toi-let seat, or what?"

"Can't, Momma," the child replied.

"Can't? Who's got time for this, young lady? Just drop your stockings and pee."

"I can't, Momma. You gotta come see."

Lucille sighed. Whoever said time is on your side sure never had twins. She took a quick glance in the mirror, sigh-ing again, not ever a single second for herself. She helped Marcus to the floor, then went to open Cherisse's stall.

She said impatiently, "So what you crying about, child?"

The little girl was staring at the toilet.

"My God." Lucille took a breath.

On the toilet seat, wrapped in a blanket in a bassinet, was an infant.

1 ketchup   

n.蕃茄酱，蕃茄沙司

参考例句：

• There's a spot of ketchup on the tablecloth.桌布上有一点番茄酱的渍斑。
• Could I have some ketchup and napkins,please?请给我一些番茄酱和纸手巾？

2 sprouting   

v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• new leaves sprouting from the trees 树上长出的新叶
• They were putting fresh earth around sprouting potato stalks. 他们在往绽出新芽的土豆秧周围培新土。 来自名作英译部分

3 dabbed   

（用某物）轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 )； 轻而快地擦掉（或抹掉）； 快速擦拭； （用某物）轻而快地涂上（或点上）…

参考例句：

• She dabbed her eyes and blew her nose. 她轻轻擦了几下眼睛，擤了擤鼻涕。
• He dabbed at the spot on his tie with a napkin. 他用餐巾快速擦去领带上的污点。

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

6 zipper   

n.拉链；v.拉上拉链

参考例句：

• The zipper is red.这条拉链是红色的。
• The zipper is a wonderful invention.拉链是个了不起的发明。