Little Diogenes sat on a rotten wicker chair on her back porch, sulking intensely. Her father had bought the chair at auction, intending to paint it, but it had gotten soaked in a couple of winter storms before he got around to it. Now it was a moldy mess, and one of the things that they were supposed to be cleaning up. Her brother stood by the door, and threw a roll of hardware cloth onto the hairy backyard turf. There was a considerable pile out there.
"We should have a yard sale." Derrick said. "Sell all this shit to the beach fags."
"Mom'll hear you." Little Diogenes' mother was scrupulous about swearing.
"She's not home." Her brother consciously corrected his language anyway. "We can sell half this stuff. I'm gonna do it."
Although the Stingray ran perfectly, keeping it pretty took financing. Since Derrick already paid rent (their mother insisted, once he dropped out of school) and still worked at the Lobster Pot (their father refused to take him on, in hopes of forcing him back to school) he was always looking to pad his income.
"If it's not on the curb tonight, she'll kill you." she said, thoughtfully.
"I'll put it in the garage until tomorrow. Help me and I'll give you half."
Because of summer school, Little Diogenes wasn't allowed to have a job, and had to subsist on her very meager allowance. Her friends were almost all scooping ice-cream and selling t-shirts this summer, making money and meeting boys.
A plan began to form in her mind. "Half of half of this stuff isn't worth me helping you. Let me drive your car."
Instantly, "No, crackbaby, no."
"Don't make me wait until Dad gets home. I don't want to take it on the track; sit next to me when I drive out to Crystal's place." Their father was sure to force Derrick; his college daughter got whatever she wanted, and his drop-out son deserved constant punishment.
"I'll help you move this stuff, and you can keep all the money, but just let me drive over to Crystal's place, because when I drive your car I look like Modesty Blaize, and anyway when you drive your car you look like Austin Powers."