Being a single mother wasn't easy, but it beat living hell out of staying married to a cheating, boozing asshole. Barb drops her cigarette to the grass and stamps it out before it's half finished and immediately lights another. Her sister told her once that the first step in quitting was to get rid of cigarettes before you smoked them all the way. It's supposed to help you smoke less, but as near as Barb can tell, she smokes just as much as she always did, but now she pays twice as much for the pleasure. She should know better than to listen to her sister.
Stupid cow smokes two packs a day.
She and Joey are alone in the park. There's still a couple hours until school lets out, and then a couple more until Barb has to drop Joey off at her mom's and go bust her ass waiting tables for the chintzy tips left by the good people of Oakview. Despite her earlier words, Barb isn't really paying attention to Joey and so doesn't see him rev up his momentum in preparation for a dazzling dismount. He lets go of the swing's chains at the apex of its arc and sails through the air laughing, landing on his heels and falling backward on his behind. Barb screeches and jumps up from the bench.