Mom just got her job back, which she shouldn't have been fired from in the first place. It was all Dewey's fault. He wanted to prove to me and Reese that he was old enough to pull a prank, so the dufus stole a $150 bottle of cognac. Mom marched Dewey back to the store, but the manager fired her anyway.

That's when the economizing/torture began. We had to drink lumpy condensed milk and eat runny powdered eggs. If that weren't bad enough, Julie Houlerman (Julie!) organized a school canned food drive for my family. So we not only had no money and were wearing recycled clothes, but now we had a bunch of crummy food no one would eat. Oh, except for Dad, who mistook some really old peaches for olives.

Actually, a trip to the emergency room is not as much fun when you're not the one injured. The hospital bill made Mom finally ask for her job back. I didn't want to tell her that she was going back on her principles, but luckily, Reese did it for me. Not only is Mom back at work, but her boss actually resigned. I don't know how she does that. Does her yelling work on adults, too?