“Tell her Gloria says thanks.” Another rock went in the air. “Taking your lazy ass off my hands.” It smacked on the hood. Another one. The red light smashed open. “Lots of ’em way better than you.”

Inside the truck I saw his head swinging around. He was trying to find his keys. A rock banged off the roof. Then the truck roared and Telly took off.

“Wow,” Shar whispered. “Your mom really, really hates your dad.”

I nodded, but I knew what Shar said wasn’t true. Gloria didn’t hate Telly at all. She loved him more than anything else in the world.

—

Gloria came back on the step and said real soft, “You saw a little show, Sharlene. No need to spread it to the world. A lot going on is all.”

“I won’t, Mrs. Janes.”

“That’s a good girl.”

Behind Gloria, Chicken yelped and shoved his snout at the screen. It stretched out where he poked.

“He got to pee,” Shar said.

When I opened the door he flew past us and rushed around to the side of the house. Me and Shar followed and caught him pawing at the ground right at the spot with the buried dead bird. I yanked his collar, but he wouldn’t budge. He just kept scraping his itchy sides on the cement part of the house. Bits of his fur came off and stuck to the broken plastic vent.

Gloria came around the corner. I was glad her bathrobe was knotted up again. All her private parts were hidden away.

“What’s he doing?”

Chicken was still pawing at the dead bird spot. He was barking. I could see feathers.

“Me and Rowan,” I whispered. I wish he was here. I wish he was here. I tried not to cry. “The bird hit the window.”

“Who cares about a bird,” she said. She was angry again.

Gloria grabbed Chicken’s collar hard. She dragged him over to the front step. Then she tied a rope around him so he couldn’t go nowhere.

“I can dig it up,” I said. “Make a new grave.”

“That you won’t. Disgusting. Would you dig up something half rotted, Shar?”

“No,” Shar said. “Of course not.”

“See? Even Shar’s not that dense.”

She told Shar to go home and me to wait with Chicken. Then she went behind the shed where Telly took a pile of big rocks when he dug up dirt for potatoes. She started carrying them over, one by one. They were dusty. Gloria wiped her hands on her bathrobe. I could see the smears down her front. She piled the rocks up real high. There was no way he was getting at the bird now.