I could feel him standing beside the bed like he always does.  He was hungry but didn’t have the sense to open the fridge door and put something on a plate he could set his teeth into.  He’d always been this way, and it was natural that he would come to my bedside the way we went to Momma’s bedside and beg for breakfast because only she could fill our plates with love.  After he stopped poking me and grinning, I got up and took three steps into the kitchen to put breakfast on, sky just barely light and the night creatures still calling Katy did but Katy didn’t. 

There’s a lot of things I know and one of them is what Katy’s brother did, that’s for sure.  We’re going to collect him up tonight and remind him what happens to folk when they put one toe out of line.  The other thing I know is that it’s a good thing I don’t sleep naked.  

I can tell by the look in Jeffy’s eyes he’s still hungry, so I scrape off my toast and grits onto his plate so I don’t have to hear him bellyachin for the rest of the day.  And if he tells me “I sure was beautiful back in the day” one more time, I swear to Christ on a crutch I won’t feed him for the rest of the week.