Check out “Hot Coffee, Summer,” a short story by Christine Grillo that previously appeared in the Southern Review:
“Saturday, and Franco woke up all vinegar. He didn’t want the kids climbing into our bed. He didn’t want the kids getting lippy. He wanted only the paper and some hot coffee, so he made the coffee, but the percolator’s dying, so the coffee was bad, like tea. It was so light, he couldn’t even put milk in it.
“Already, this early, the kitchen was summer hot. I made eggs and dealt with the children. Franco drank his disappointing coffee and read the papers, the Sun and yesterday’s Il Giornale, and he huffed at their pages. He grumbled in English, and he cursed in Italian.
“Joseph, my little Joseph, our little Joseph, padded over and asked him, “What’s the bad news, Daddy?”