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Mom is mad. Charlie can tell.
She doesn't get big and loud when she's mad, like Daddy and Charlie amd Uncle Satan do. No, she gets quiet mad. Her face gets still and serious, like she's sitting for one of her portraits. She points her nose up, and she walks fast.
Mom walks really fast when she's mad. Charlie can barely keep up. She gets as close behind Mom as she can before she tries to talk. “Are you mad at me?”
Mom stops walking and sighs her tired sigh. “No, Charlotte, I'm not angry with you.”
Charlie looks back, through the bubble curtains, at Belphy in the room behind them. She looks halfway back to sleep, but she sees Charlie looking at her and waves bye. So Charlie waves back.
She thinks of something, then turns back to Mom. “Are you mad at Belphy?”
“No, Charlotte. I'm not angry with her either.” They stop at the door, and Mom puts on her coat and gives Charlie hers.
Charlie's coat is big and heavy and it takes Charlie forever to put it on by herself.
When Charlie finally fixes it right and gets her boots on, Mom sighs big. She takes Charlie's arm and they step outside.
The snow in Sloth is almost always thick on the ground, even though Charlie never sees it fall from the sky. Even on the walkways, Charlie's boots sink into it. Mom's hand on Charlie's arm doesn't hurt. She's not really cold, her coat is thick, but she's getting snow in her boots from not moving fast enough. Her fur and hooves are wet with snow.
Sloth is always so pretty. The buildings are sparkly with ice. The station sparkles purple as they start walking past it. Charlie tugs Mom's arm. “Oh, oh, are we gonna take the train?”
Mom looks at the station for a long time, then turns back to Charlie. “Do you want to take the train?”
“Can we? Please?”
Charlie likes the train. She likes the way the floors and seats shake and buzz. She likes the lights and colors out the windows. She likes the pastries and the drinks and the nice Imps that work the service carts.
Mom is stiff as they sit down, but leans back a little as the train starts rumbling beneath them. Charlie gets a pastry with berries and hot milk. Mom just gets a mulled cider.
The windows sparkle from the ice outside. The glass looks rainbow from the light bouncing off the snow as the train hauls along.
Mom doesn't usually like it when Charlie takes her boots off on the train, but her hooves are wet, and they're alone in the carriage.
She doesn't say anything about it this time. She looks at Charlie for a long time before she talks again.
“Did you have fun with Belphegor?” she asks. Her smile is big and fake.
Charlie nods. “Uh-huh.” She likes Belphy rooms always a nice warm, filled with sweet smokes and soft music. Belphy doesn't do as much with Charlie as her other aunts and uncles, but she lets her run and jump around all she wants. And Charlie does like cuddling and reading with her.
“I'm glad,” Mom says. But she's lying. She drinks her cider. “What did your father say before he dropped you off?”
Charlie thinks about it for a little while, but she can't remember Daddy saying much of anything that morning. He made pancakes for breakfast, the fun kind with shapes. Then he told her to be good for Belphy, he'll see her later, he loves her.
Mom nods. She doesn't look mad anymore. Her fake smile just looks sad now.