She covers her nose as she enters the room, Taz-Mania on in the background. Her father lies on the sofa, eyes closed, mouth slack, legs splayed, one over the ottoman. As Taz spins into his whirlwind, Annie realizes that her father’s soiled himself. And she retches, heaving herself into a corner before righting herself to check his pulse. He’s alive, passed out from the heat but alive, sitting on his own shit, grinding it into the sofa fabric, brown liquid drying in his leg hairs below his shorts.

After she splashes him with water, after he cusses at her, throws the remote at the wall, screams about the discomfort of dried shit in his underwear. After he finally gets himself up, limping to the bathroom, lowers himself into the tub. After she spends the evening scrubbing the couch cushion, fumigating the room until she gives up and throws the cushion out back, tells the boys to burn it. After she lies in bed, her skin sticking to the scratchy sheet, sweat pooling on her neck because the AC still hasn’t been fixed, listening to her sister, fifteen, the one who is supposed to be in charge, sneak back into the house smelling of chlorine and cigarettes. After she sniffs her fingers and smells his shit under her nails, even after hours of scrubbing, she begins to formulate a plan.

The following week, when Sue is down for a nap and Annie’s mashing sweet potatoes for dinner, a cassette in the stereo blaring The Lion King soundtrack even though Suzy’s not around to hear it, she stops Mr. Keller, his hair damp from the shower. He’s easier to handle than his wife, mellower, always lavishing her with smiles the few times he steps out of his office. He seems like a good man.

“Could I possibly stay over tonight? If it’s no trouble? It’s just that I know you and Mrs. Keller won’t be back from the party until late and I’m not great at driving in the dark...” She averts her eyes, focusing on the butter oozing into the potatoes, smashing them harder, harder, until they’re smooth, just the way Suzy likes them.

Mr. Keller’s eyebrows rise for a moment, just a split second that Annie chooses not to register, before he smiles and says, “Of course.”