|
|
|
|
The 2nd Sister
“Leanne!!! Get your stupid fur ball off my lemur!!!” screamed a small girl. “Leanne!!” cried the little girl now rushing into her room.
“Calm down, Margaret. Jinks isn’t hurting anyone,” replied an uninterested voice from across the hall.
“Leanne, your cat just bit Gur’s paw! Mom, tell Leanne to get her dumb cat out of my room!”
“Leanne, remove your cat from Margaret’s room. Margaret, next time make sure to close your door all the way.”
“Yes, mama” replied the girls in unison.
“Mommy, watch this,” the little girl said entering the hall with her curly hair sticking out at every angle. She was carrying a squirming cat and while she was walking past her mother she threw the cat into the room with the lights on.
“Next time I catch you throwing that cat I’m going to throw away Gur,” said Leanne from deep inside the room.
“Oh, no you aren’t. Mommy would stop you!” cried Margaret, now close to tears. “Mommy, you wouldn’t let her do that would you?!”
“Of course not sweetie, now go down stairs and finish your breakfast. Ok?” responded her mother with a smile in her voice, for the child looked so innocent. “Leanne, I want your butt down for breakfast in 5 minutes or you lose your computer time.”
“Ok, whatever”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Leanne got off her bed and looked around. She looked at the picture on her wall of her when she was Margaret’s age, and still had her long frizzy brown hair, along with the young man smiling next to her. Her father, Lance, had moved out 7 years ago and her parents swore never to talk to each other again. However she was allowed to visit her father on the weekends and for two weeks in the summer. She was glad that she only had to wait three more days until she could visit him and his new wife down in Florida, where she would meet her older step brother Kent (who was said to be as fat as she is skinny, ha!) She was also happy her annoying little step sister, from her mothers new hubby, was not allowed to come with her. Margaret is 6 years old and she thinks she knows everything. But sadly little minds are always wrong because Margaret is definitely not intelligent to any level (except at being the most mischievous child in the world).
Leanne continues to look across her room and spotted a blue guitar sitting on her bed. She kept the old guitar just incase her friend, Diane, returned from Washington (state) and wanted to start the band back up. But by the looks of Dianne’s letters that wasn’t going to happen. She said they found the “perfect” house and were already half way moved in. Apparently Dianne’s father’s new job paid pretty well seeing as the house in the picture Diane sent was roughly 3 stories high (it wasn’t finished being built yet) and it had a basement.
Her dresser was covered in old drawings and on top of the stack of papers was a faded green photo album. Leanne crossed the room within 3 steps and she opened the photo album. On the front page was a picture of two young girls and a dog in the middle. Her older sister, Jenny, had one hand on the dog’s head and another holding the other girl’s hand. Leanne remembered when that picture was taken. She was at the park when Jenny had surprised her and showed up a week earlier than planed for her summer vacation and had brought her a new dog, Scruffy. Of course the day Jenny moved out Scruff simultaneously got hit by a car. She and Jenny had spent every moment together that year like playing dolls, swimming, walking Scruffy and making stuff with mom’s old fabrics. Of course, this was before the divorce. Jenny had moved out by now and was getting married later this summer to a guy named Phil. Leanne shook her head. She had not talked to her sister since Jenny had announced she was moving out (after all it was her car that hit Scruffy). Last Christmas Jenny still gave her a gift but Leanne never bothered to give one back (she had given her a stuffed dog).
“Leanne!” yelled her mother from the kitchen. Leanne sighed. She wished things were still like that day at the park, when everyone liked each other and the world was happy. She went downstairs and saw Margaret playing with her Barbie’s, pretending that they were swimming in a white ocean (of milk).
“Margaret, get your dolls out of your food. Moms going to get really mad at you when she sees the mess you made.”
“Nuh-uh” replied Margaret in her little kiddy voice.
“Really and why’s that?” asked Leanne, curious to see how her little sister would get out of this one.
“Cause I didn’t do it” laughed Margaret.
“What do you me-” Leanne was then cut off by the sound of Margaret screaming at the top of her lugs. Leanne ran over to her to try and get her to be quiet before she alerted the whole neighborhood and knocked over the cereal bowl, spilling it all over herself.
“Shut up, shut up SHUT UP!” screamed Leanne.
“Leanne.” Leanne froze at the sound of her mothers tone. Margaret ran over to her mother wailing “She messed up my Barbies!”
“I did not” protested Leanne.
“Leanne how could you?! That is totally uncalled for!”
Margaret just smiled.
“Ugh, that little demon!” cried Leanne as she stomped away to her room.
“And you’ll stay there till dinner” called their mother after her. “Now why don’t you go skating on the pond Margaret and maybe Leanne will apologize later.” said their mother turning toward the younger child.
“Yes mother” replied Margaret in her 'I’m so innocent' voice.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Leanne slammed her door. She went to her desk and looked out the window. She saw her little sister skating on the small pond in their back yard.
“Sometimes I just wish you would fall in...” muttered Leanne at the graceful little girl. Leanne turned around to sit on her bed and mope about being grounded and thought she heard a muffled cry. Turning back around toward her window she could no longer see that little figure on the ice but now a big dark hole in the center of the pond.
|
|
|
|
|
|
