Noah Cicero - The Collected Works of Noah Cicero Vol. I

Kathy lies in bed.

The curtains are pulled back.

Stale sunlight comes through the window.

Hitting Kathy’s pretty young face.

The baby is born.

The baby is without a name.

It is a boy.

Kathy doesn’t know what to name him because she got into a fight with Joe. The baby was gonna be named Joe Jr.

Joe is saying he does not want to claim him.

Kathy’s mother is holding the baby.

Looking at it smiling.

Pretending she cares about something besides herself.

Kathy’s belly is finally empty.

She is relieved.

She stares at the baby her mother is holding.

That came out of my pussy, she thinks. That little thing came out of my pussy. That is so gross. But at least I am empty now. I can start getting skinny again.

Joe’s parents come into the room.

Joe’s dad is wearing a grease-stained white t-shirt. He has a foot-long mullet and is slightly bald.

Joe’s mother is fat and has a dumb submissive look on her face.

Joe’s dad looks at the baby.

They ask how she is doing and other stupid questions.

Eventually it leads to Kathy saying, “Are you gonna help with the baby or what?”

“We want to find out if it is actually Joe’s,” says Joe’s dad.

“Of course it is, who the fuck else’s would it be.”

“We just want to make sure. The government will pay for it.”

“He can either accept that it’s his baby or he can fuck off.”

“Fucking Kathy, I gotta go, this is bullshit.”

“Good, get the fuck out. Don’t take care of your son’s baby! Assholes!”

Joe’s parents leave.

Kathy says to her mother, “Motherfucking assholes, that asshole with his Packard job.”

Soon after they leave, a Child Services worker arrives.

She is a fat woman who looks polite.

The fat woman says to Kathy, “We received a phone call saying that you used drugs while you were pregnant and that you beat your son. We are going to run a drug test on you. Would that be okay?”

Kathy looks out the window. She screams, “If I had a machine gun I would blow all you motherfuckers away! Why don’t you fucking just leave me alone!”

Kathy looks at the Child Services worker and says, “Whatever, fucking do it.”

A nurse comes in and takes her blood.

Her mother is still holding the baby.

Kathy hasn’t looked at it once in the last hour.

*

It is the next day.

Kathy sits cross-legged in her hospital bed.

Lisa and Viper are there.

Lisa is holding the baby.

Kathy asks Lisa, “How much did you make last night?”

“Fifty-five dollars. It was a real slow night.”

“That’s bullshit, what are you fucking drunk all night. If I was there and all skinny I would be pulling hundreds out of those assholes’ pockets. What are you, fucking stupid or something.”

Lisa looks like she is going to cry.

Viper is eating a candy bar.

The Child Services worker enters.

Viper and Lisa have to leave.

The Child Services worker says to Kathy, “We found weed, alcohol, and cocaine in your blood.”

“Yeah, so.”

“Well, we are going to check up on you once a week for six months now.”

“Oh, yeah. That sounds like fun.”

“If we find that you have been using drugs or hurting the children, we are going to take your children away, just to warn you.”

“You ain’t gonna take my fucking kids away.”

“This is a warning, I will be there every Wednesday at ten in the morning to check up on you.”

“I’ll be waiting. Tell my friends to come back in.”

The fat woman leaves.

Lisa and Viper enter.

Lisa says, “What’d she say?”

“None of your fucking business, bitch.”

*

Two weeks later.

Kathy is in her house.

The baby is in a crib, crying.

Her son is outside shoeless throwing stones at a neighbor’s dog.

Kathy hasn’t seen him in what feels like weeks. But she doesn’t wonder where a small boy like him could go off to. She already knows the answer.

Kathy is sitting down trying to watch television.

She went back to work at the club last night.

She looks angry.

The baby won’t stop crying. She yells at it, “Shut the fuck up, you little piece of shit! I’m trying to watch television.”

Lisa walks through the door.

Without looking at her, Kathy says, “What the fuck you doing here, bitch? Where’s my money?”

“I don’t have it.”

“Well, maybe if you weren’t such a fucking junkie you’d fucking have it.”

“Kathy, I’ll get it to you.”

Kathy motions for her to come close.

Lisa knows she shouldn’t, that going close to Kathy will lead to something bad. But she goes anyway.

Lisa moves close to Kathy.

Kathy grabs her hair with her left hand and punches her in the face with her right.

The baby is still crying.

Then Kathy gets up and picks Lisa up and throws her out the door and yells, “Bitch, I don’t wanna see your fucking face unless you have my money! You got that! I want my fucking money!”

Lisa is lying in the gravel driveway crying.

Kathy just stares at her.

She is fascinated by her crying.

Kathy walks back inside her house and locks the door.

Lisa is screaming like a small terrified child, “What the fuck am I gonna do, I got nowhere to go! I love you Kathy, please help me! I don’t have a phone, Kathy! I took care of you and your boy while you were pregnant. I thought I was your fucking friend. You fucking bitch, Kathy!”

Kathy is sitting in the living room. She turns the television up.

Lisa stands.

She begins to walk down the street.

*

Kathy is at a guy’s house.

His name is Randy.

Randy is seventeen.

He has short hair and is wearing a white undershirt three sizes too big.

Kathy has the baby and is showing it to him.

Randy is holding the baby and says, “You sure this ain’t my baby? Because I would take a paternity test if you want. I mean, if it’s mine I kinda would like to know.”

“No, it’s not yours. Don’t worry. Isn’t it cute?”

“You sure it ain’t mine? We did have sex around that time, Kathy.”

“Randy, what the fuck you talking about? It’s Joe’s. I know it’s Joe’s, so don’t give me no shit.”

“All right Kathy, it’s Joe’s.”

“That’s right. Now ain’t he cute?”

*

It is Tuesday night.

Kathy is alone in her house.

She brought an eight ball home from work.

She also has a bottle of Vicodin.

She makes one big giant thing of powder with both of them.

Kathy begins sniffing like Al Pacino in Scarface .

The baby cries.

She screams, “Shut the fuck up!”

Then her boy runs out of his room and looks at her.

“Don’t you fucking look at me!” Kathy says.

The boy looks scared but keeps on looking.

Kathy charges at the boy.

She punches him in the face.

“I thought I told you not to look at me, you little motherfucker! What the fuck is wrong with you? Can’t you fucking listen?”

She continues to hit the boy.

Eventually she picks him up and throws him on his bed.

The boy is crying.

She goes into the living room and sniffs more and more and more.

Kathy gets through half of it in less than an hour.

She stands up.

Walks up to her entertainment center, which contains a television that can only get NBC and a broken CD player and some used movies. She knocks the whole thing over.

The baby cries louder.

Then she goes into the kitchen and throws the microwave at the floor.

Then rips the pictures of her and Joe off the wall.

Kathy punches the walls.