Chapter 9: Breakfast on the Mississippi

I woke up a few minutes after sunrise. Little Josh had gotten up nice and early, making sure that his mother paid heavily for her night out drinking. She held her head as if it were a drippy eggshell. “Wake up mom, we’re crossing the Mississippi River!” Mother Michelle tried to rise from her bed to see the water, but the yolk was dripping off the shell. She lowered her broken head with care; she was down for the count. Thanks to British Sue’s premature evacuation from the Blues club, our eggs were intact.

I looked down the length of my body when someone touched my foot. English Tessa had one leg hanging off the bunk and she slipped down onto the back platform out of sight.

I watched British Sue lying there breathing softly, cuddled up with her head on my shoulder and her h ...