Lynn Sr. does some budgeting

>The old tabletop calculator was huge, slow, and outdated in every sense.
>Lynn Sr. liked the clack-clack the machine made, so it stayed hidden in the attic until he needed it.
>This wasn't the time for mindless clacking away, though.
>And, from what the numbers on his phone and the calculator were telling him, it wasn't time to be sleeping at 2 am.
>Lynn pinched the bridge of his nose and wiped his face.
>This was the fourth time he had done the budgeting for the next few months that night.
>After the mortgage, the medical bills, the groceries, the utilities, the credit card bill, taxes, and gas, they would be left with zero dollars.
>And thirty cents owed to the Bank of Michigan for the overdue interest on the loan they took out for christmas shopping.
>Lynn balled up his scratch paper and struck the table with it savagely, leaving it to float to the floor as helplessly as he.
>Everything was going wrong and there was nothing he could do about it.
>Again.
>So he sat alone at the table, eyes glistening with rage.
>Creaking wood alerted him to another person coming down the stairs.
>"Hello? Is literally anybody there?"
>Lori.
>Lynn huffed.
>"Like, I literally heard somebody crying so I thought I'd check it out."
>Was he actually crying?
>Christ, this was hurting him more than he thought.
>Lori decided to sit on the other end of the table, and looked at Lynn with empathetic eyes.
>"Jeez, Dad, your eyes literally look like you've been smoking pot."
>"I wish I had some. Might make my life a little easier."
>Lynn didn't speak again for a moment.
>"Do you know what I'm scared of, Lori? More than anything else?"
>"Mom turning into a spider?"
>Lynn smiled, frowned, then smiled again.
>"No, but you aren't far off."
>The father leaned back a little, realizing how stiff and crooked his back was.
>"I'm scared of being homeless again."
>"Again?"
>Lynn looked out the window, and Lori followed his gaze.
>"So after college, I was broke. My dad wanted me to move back in, but I couldn't."
>"It made me feel sick to my stomach to have to move in with him, so I didn't. Instead, I went it solo. Lived for six-and-a-half months on my own in the big city."
>"So you were like that dude who got arrested at the mall the other day?"
>Lynn shook his head.
>"No. I was worse. Fought people. Got drunk. Stole things."
>Lynn looked down at his trembling hands, small tears falling from his eyes, his voice cracking.
>"All because I didn't want to admit that I wanted some help."
>Lori wasted no time in doing her best to comfort her father.
>Bear hugs were Leni's specialty, but she could do her one better.
>"You're literally fine, Dad. I love you and so does everyone else."
>This was the last straw, and Lynn broke down into full-on weeping.
>"I just don't know what I'm doing wrong anymore."
>"You literally didn't do anything wrong, Dad. We're gonna be fine."
>Lynn Sr. cried himself to sleep that night.
>But he cried himself to sleep knowing that everything would be alright.