"Hey, Earl?"
"Yeah, Randy?"
"You ever wonder how they make peanut butter?" Randy took a healthy lick of his thumb, his lips smacking.
"I think they take a bunch of peanuts and mush 'em all up." Earl pressed his palms together for emphasis.
"Oh." Randy took a moment to think this through. "Like what we used to do with Orel Lynchberger when we was kids?"
"I believe so," Earl agreed.
"Only I don't think Orel would taste very good with bananas on bread. Not as good as peanut butter anyway." Randy's attempt to dunk his fingers into the jar again was thwarted by Earl's yanking it away.
"Randy? Don't eat up all that Skippy. We got work to do."
Catalina dropped her shopping bags on the card table between them. "Why do you need all this peanut butter anyway? Are you catering a party or something?"
"Oooh!" Randy's eyes widened. "A sandwich party sounds real fun, Earl."
Earl scratched at the side of his head. "Nope, it's for my list." He unfolded the well-worn piece of paper and pointed to the right line. "Number 145: 'ran over a squirrel'."
"But squirrels ain't people. I dunno if Karma cares about critters." Randy stared longingly at the plastic bags overflowing with jars. "What about all them ants we burnt or roaches we smooshed?"
"This was no ordinary squirrel." Earl sighed, ashamed of his confession. "It was Walter."
"Walter?" Catalina said. "You killed Walter the Water-Skiing Squirrel?"
"You knew Walter?" Earl asked.
"He was the only thing that kept me alive during those long days in the fields. I looked forward to coming home and watching him on the TV. He always wore those tiny skis and rode around that Care Bear kiddie pool."
"Well, it sounds like I had a part in killing your childhood," said Earl.
"No," Catalina said. "All the surprise strip searches for all girls under ten did that."
Earl raised his eyebrows, and he let that statement hang in the air for too long before he answered with a slow "Okay."
"Squirrel and Earl kinda sound the same," Randy said. "They make my throat tickle in the same places."
Earl nodded. "That there's what's called a rhyme, Randy."
"I like 'em. Hey, you think my name can have a rhyme? A critter rhyme like yours?" Randy pondered this for a long while. "Panda! Naw, the -da don't make my mouth move the same way the -dy does."
"Come on, Randy." Earl began to gather up all the peanut butter. "We gotta feed all the squirrels in the park downtown."
"Okay, Earl. But can't we keep one jar for us? I mean, we gotta eat too."
"Karma won't let me do that. I gotta make it right with the squirrels first." Earl caught the look on his brother's face, mindful of what it meant. "Okay, you can keep the open jar."
Karma might be a powerful force, Earl thought, but there's something about family that makes Karma even stronger.