Someone sponged peach clouds on the walls years ago and Amy has to live with them becasue she doesn't have the money for new paint. At McDonald's she serves happy meals to wealthy mothers of two children and poor-as-dirt mothers of four. She is a mother of zero and the thought haunts her. Everything is related, she thinks.
A little over a year ago she was at a free clinic with her legs spread and her eyes closed; everything is related, she thinks. Then, she was trying her best to be brave and telling herself it wouldn't matter in the morning. Nothing's really changed; it matters every morning.
Today she is pulling on black pants, size 8, and a polo shirt with golden arches embroidered on the hem. She sighs knowing that the clothes will smell like grease until someone sets them on fire; then they will smell like grease someone set on fire. Amy is staring at the peach clouds and they remind her of nursery her cousins had when they were little because life is just one big circle...everything is directly related to something else.
She works at McDonald's every time she doesn't have to be in school and fights to stay awake on the bus rides either way. She tells herself this is her own fault for being young and naive and not really knowing what loves is. She doesn't waste her time looking for an easy way out; even if she found one, she wouldn't deserve it.
A boy in bright blue shorts if five today. He wants to meet Ronald and cries when his mother takes his picture. Amy cries too but only because she is a senior in highschool with valuable friendships and dreams that are going to come true someday and it was just a year and a half ago that her own child lost the chance to have any of those things.
Amy wishes the boy a "Happy Birthday" when he's done crying and punches out in the manager's office before heading home. In her bedroom she sees little peach clouds even when her eyes are closed; she can't escape anything. She opens her math book and solves for "x" and cries some more because if it weren't for her own selfish ways, her son or daughter might have been one today.