“Yeah,” Gene said. “Thanks.”
“Anytime,” Phillip replied. “All right, Jeanne, could you help me put the leftovers away? And Gene, could you load the dishwasher?”
The children nodded their assent. As they cleared away the dinner table, Phillip asked about their homework and their study guides; both admitted that they hadn’t started either. Jeanne attempted to explain Rob’s insistence on doing his work alone, but Gene cut her off. “We had a guest, and who wants to do homework when there’s friends over?” he said.
“I suppose,” Phillip said. “How long do you think you’ll be?”
“Maybe half an hour,” Jeanne said. “We mostly have math. Some science reading, too.”
“Nothing too interesting, I hope,” Phillip chuckled. The kids giggled at the joke as well; while the reading wasn’t necessary for the knowledge imparted, it was still a requirement so the kids didn’t show off too much in class. “Well, get it done and we’ll see what we can do for the rest of the night.”
Once the dinner chores were completed, the kids went up to the common area outside of their bedrooms. The hardwood floor was covered by two large crazy-quilt rugs, which were far more comfortable than they looked; their thickness made them perfect cushions for doing homework. The lapdesks were set aside, however, and the two were ostensibly reading over their science texts. Their backs were to each other as they sat on opposite sides of the imaginary line dividing the bedrooms into the boys’ wing and the girls’ wing.
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