Breakfast With Tanks  I'm in the kitchen at home. My high school classmates Holly and Megan Tanks are there. It's morning, and we're cooking oatmeal before school. Holly is wearing underwear and an orange/tan/pink long sleeved shirt. She tells me a dream that she figured out. I'm in the garage. Holly comes to the garage because she wants to check it out. I pour some oatmeal for myself. I ask if Holly got some oatmeal. She says yes, she did, but says so hesitantly so that I think she really didn't get any, but isn't saying so. My brother's friend Mryle Madden is there. He chews Skoal. It's winter, and is snowy and icy on Home Avenue. I'm a senior at Armstrong High School. I don't have a ride to school, and will take the bus. My sister Ramona leaves. I'm in a hurry to get ready. I'm not too worried, it seems. My brother Wally is there. He can give me a ride or I'll walk or just skip school. I'm outside by the back driveway. I see a bunch of cars brake quickly and slide on the slippery road as they start to go down the hill on Home Avenue. The cars crash into each other, rear-ending the car in front of them. I ask a girl form my high school, Rachel Ransom, if I can get a ride to school with her and her two friends, one guy and one girl. She agrees. I say I need two minutes to run in and brush my teeth, but really I also need to get my green backpack too. Rachel is then my classmate Kari Otis, and she follows me into the house. She has a plate of peanut butter stuff. We go into the bathroom to brush our teeth. She used to live in this house. As she enters the bathroom she says, "Where's my bathtub?" It's hard to brush one's teeth with one's mouth full. My mom has put my clean laundry on the porch. I feel guilty because I didn't attend to my own laundry. I go outside through the garage, brushing my teeth. My grade school classmate Jerry Kasper and three others are sitting in my boat. They tell me that the neighbors told them to sit there. I say to them that the neighbors are "retards", but I pronounce that word with a short "e" sound, so that I sound like a retard. They leave. They're going to ride to school in the trunk of a car. I hurry to get ready. I put on my Texaco shirt, Union Bay jeans, and orange socks. My jackknife is on the floor and the blades are open.