Thursday, March 17, 2016

The thick of it

The Thick Of It




Brittany put it off a good long while, about telling her mother and sister that she got married. After all, she'd wanted to have her honeymoon as long as it would last. And it had gone on, long after the couple of days that she and Carson had alone together.

Yes, she was in love. This was the way life was suppose to be, but then she woke up to the fact..she guessed she would always be a Crawford.

As usual, there were lots of loud conversations with her family. She so hated for Theo to be around that. Her sister, Tiffany raised her own eight year old brat, Brick. So many times, Brittany was afraid that feral child might do her own son in. She had to keep Theo at arms length. No way, did she trust her own mother.

Naturally, when she got to her mother's home (left unlocked) no one home. But the dishes were stacked high in the sink. Laundry needed to be done.

She got busy right away, but the floor was dirty. She mopped it before she could even let Theo down.

Finally, she managed a civilized kitchen. She doubted it stayed that way for long.

Her mother hated housework. And in recent months, she'd slowed down so much, even if she had an OK job at the DMV.

Brittany was all set to say something sweet to her mom. Apologize for not inviting them to the wedding..and...

Her sister Tiffany showed up with Brick, in his karate suit.

"What are you doing here?" Tiffany was her unhappy self. Brittany couldn't say where Tiffany actually lived, these days.

"I just wanted to see how you were all doing." Brittany was innocent enough, but still she disliked everything that made up her patchwork family. Her mother had been through several men, and she hadn't married a one of them. Her youngest was Dewey and he was the only one who lived at home. She guessed. Maybe he didn't like taking care of Mom. Well, he was only 17.

"As you can see, not much to see." Tiffany was closed lipped, as usual.

"I got married." Brittany knew she should have waited.

Tiffany snarled and grabbed her by the head of her hair. Suddenly, they were fighting, like they always did. There was a certain head banging rhythm to this family that Brittany swore she'd never take with her when she left.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Tiffany jerked her back and forth.

"LET ME GO!" Brittany shrieked. She couldn't take this. If people could treat each other human here, she might have invited them.

Tiffany was in a huff. She looked at Brittany as if she needed to be strangled.

"He's not Terrence, OK!" Brittany did her best to compose herself and went to grab Theo before Brick could show him a karate move. Brittany didn't even want to acknowledge Tiffany's significant other.

Those two were on again, off again. Terrence never wanted to pay child support. He was a machinist, but a drunk, too. Perhaps they were at their best when they were drunk, or not. It was toxic.

 They needed to leave each other alone, but they had Brick..and neither wanted to raise him. Their mother, Betty... had too.

"Don't you dare even speak-" There Tiffany went with her theatrics.

"Oh God! I can never say anything to you! Ever!" Brittany barked back, feeling herself falling to her sister's tactics.

Tiffany swelled a frown. Naturally, Brick wanted a sandwich. She went to make him a peanut butter sandwich. She slapped it together and poured him some milk.

They went without a lot of things, but there mother always provided food in the fridge, even if it was waiting in long lines for food giveaways at the school or the library. They'd never starved. And Brittany guessed they'd all been drinking alcohol by the time they were in middle school. OK, maybe younger.

She vividly remembered drinking shots of whiskey with some old guy her mom was keeping, when she first started school. She could beat him, every time, and he'd pay her in quarters. She never did know what happened to him.

"We don't want a thing from you!" Tiffany snapped.

"OK." Brittany would leave it at that. She really wished they could talk, and Tiffany would tell her, what was really going on. But the hate was like a faint illness, they could never overcome.

Brittany didn't stay.

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