Post by isurvived on May 31, 2012 20:48:01 GMT -5
In chapter 1 and 2 of this Novel four-year-old Lea's mother has died in childbirth. Chapter 3 starts about a month later. Please critique for everything, especially grammar. Also if you see anywhere I've left anything out let me know because right now my word count is running a little low. Thanks. Annmarie
Chapter 3
When Friday came Lea’s Daddy reluctantly got up around noon, showered and put new clothes on. He even went out and got his hair cut. The closer it came to the time Tony was coming over the happier he got but he only talked to Grandma. Grandma did not seem happy about this turn of events.
“How’s my hair look?”
“Like it should have looked all along” Grandma said “you shouldn’t have had to wait a month to get it cut and then only do it so you could go out dancing.”
Daddy was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a flannel shirt, a brown belt with a gold bull face on it and cowboy boots. Lea had never seen him dressed like that before.
“Those are funny clothes for going dancing Daddy.” Lea giggled.
“They’re just right for country dancing and that’s what I’m going to do tonight.”
“Daddy you look like a cowboy, will you play cowboys and Indians with me?” Cowboys and Indians was a boy’s game and Lea didn’t really like it but she was excited that she could get Daddy to pay any attention to her.
“Not today honey, Daddy needs to look good when he goes out and I don’t want you getting me all dirty.” He went to the fridge, got out a Coke and sat down at the TV to watch the ballgame. Lea tried to sit on his lap but he said she was too big for that anymore. They both watched The Cubbies playing the detested St. Louis Cardinals. At one point Sammy Sosa hit a homerun and Lea jumped in excitement. She knocked the pop off the table where Daddy had left it and it dribbled down daddy’s left boot.
“Damn it Lea” he shouted jumping up. “Can’t I trust you around anything?”
“I’m sorry Daddy” she cried.
Daddy sent her to her bedroom all alone until grandma came back from the store. She never even got to find out who won the game.
Lea tried her best to talk to Mommy and Jesus because she was so lonely and confused. “Dear Mommy and Jesus, Daddy has been so sad since Mommy went away that he hasn’t even been able to go to work. I’ve tried to make him happy but he just gets angry with me all the time or he doesn’t talk at all. I think I did something to make him mad at me but I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s because when I’m alone I cry for Mommy just like he does, because I miss you. Please let me know what it is because I want to make it better so he likes me again. Amen”
“Uncle” Tony came to pick Daddy up and he hugged and spun Lea. Lea was afraid like she sometimes was with Uncle Tony because he smelled different and didn’t walk very straight. She was afraid he would drop her.
Daddy said “I’ll drive” and Uncle Tony tried to argue but Daddy won.
When Lea went to hug her Daddy good bye he didn’t lean down, so she just grabbed his leg. The pop had been cleaned up and he smelt like perfume and cigarettes. Lea never remembered her Daddy wearing perfume before.
After Daddy left Grandma and Lea played some games of Chutes and Ladders and then Grandma told Lea some Jesus stories. After that Grandma gave her a bath with as much bubble bath as she wanted. The bubbles were almost as high as she was. Then it was bed time and Lea said her prayers and went to bed.
While Lea was sleeping Daddy was at the VFW country dancing. He didn’t know how, so first he took a beginners course. As the night went on he got better and better. There was one thing at the VFW that both Tony and Daddy liked a lot. There were a lot more women there than men so they had their choice of dance partners. Some of the women wore square dance outfits with wide skirts with lots of petticoats underneath. Others wore Jeans and boots that looked like they were painted on and either flannel shirts or halter tops. Still others wore miniskirts that left very little to the imagination.
There was a blue haze in the air and it seemed like everyone was smoking. Almost everyone was drinking too. Several, including Tony, had had too much to drink before the main band started playing.
While Tony just sat and made what passed as conversation with some of the drunk women Daddy danced nearly every dance, never staying with one woman more than two or three times. He collected all their phone numbers like someone else may collect baseball cards. They stayed and danced until two in the morning and then went with some of the other dancers out to a greasy spoon to have breakfast.
Daddy didn’t come home until after three in the morning. When he opened the front door he woke Grandma, who was sleeping on the couch.
Grandma was furious but all she said was “If you can stay out this late you can start going back to work Monday morning!” She then got her purse and left.
Saturday morning Daddy slept in but Saturday afternoon Tony called and they decided to go out again that night. Again they didn’t get home until about three.
Sunday came and the same thing, Daddy slept until Uncle Tony called and then they went out. This time Daddy knew he had to go to work the next morning so they got home around midnight.
Lea woke screaming about one in the morning.
Daddy forced himself to get up and go see what was wrong.
“Daddy that placenta thing is going to catch you and Grandma too and I’m going to be all alone!” She wailed.
“You just had a bad dream go back to sleep.” He carelessly replied.
“Please Daddy will you stay with me for a little while?”
“Just a little while I need my sleep too.”
When Lea curled up next to Daddy she noticed that Daddy smelt like all different kinds of perfume at once and he had a red smudge on his neck. She also noticed that Daddy pulled away a little bit, it was almost like Daddy was afraid to touch her. “Maybe” Lea thought “He’s afraid that I’ll disappear too.”
A pattern was started that lasted about a week and a half. Daddy would get up and get breakfast for Lea and himself, then he would take Lea to pre-school and he would go onto work. Grandma would pick her up after pre-school and stay until Daddy came home at Supper. Then Daddy and Uncle Tony would go out again.
Lea missed her Daddy but she was happy that he was happy again. Grandma was the one who seemed to be angry that Daddy wasn’t staying home more.
Then one morning Lea got up to go to the washroom and opened the door to find a strange thin woman, older than Daddy but younger than Grandma, with hair that was brown on top and blonde on the bottom, dressed only in Daddy’s shirt sitting on the toilet. They both screamed and Daddy came running.
“Lea” he said “I’d like you to meet Daddy’s special friend, Bev. “You can call her Aunt Bev.”
“Where are Aunt Bev’s clothes?” asked Lea.
“There in my bedroom” said Daddy. Aunt Bev volunteered to make breakfast for us this morning. Isn’t that nice of her?”
Lea couldn’t believe it another lady’s clothes were in her Daddy and Mommy’s bedroom. The Lady was making breakfast like Mommy used to and Daddy thought this was all fine?
“I’m not hungry” Lea shouted as she stormed out of the room.
“You get back in here this minute young lady! Aunt Bev is nice enough to make breakfast for you, you will eat it!
Lea ate the eggs Aunt Bev had made and then promptly vomited them up. She couldn’t stand the idea of a stranger, in her Daddy’s shirt, making her breakfast.
For the next month Daddy brought home women every morning. Sometimes they came once and never came again and sometimes, like Bev they stayed for a few days. She couldn’t stand how they treated her. Some of them baby talked “Oh aren’t you the cutest little thing”, some of them smothered her with false hugs, and others ignored her. None of them ever really tried to get to know her.
After a while Daddy started bringing the same woman home every night. Her name was Kiana and her face looked like she had just gotten over the chicken pox and one eye was a foggy white circle with no color. She told Lea she had been shot in the eye when she was young and was blind in it now. She was thin with blonde hair that she curled every morning. She was shorter than grandma.
Lea started hearing Grandma and Daddy argue about her a lot. Grandma thought she was too young for something (she was five years younger than Daddy) and that it was too soon. Daddy wouldn’t listen and kept bringing her home. After the fourth day “Aunt” Kiana didn’t go home at all any more.
After another week Daddy and Aunt Kiana took Lea out for ice cream and told her they had something exciting to say. Just as Lea was about to start eating her Rocky Road ice cream Daddy told Lea “Aunt Kiana and I are getting married. She is going to be your new Mommy.”
Lea went wild. “I have a Mommy. I don’t want a new Mommy! She screamed. “Maybe you forgot her already Daddy but I haven’t and I won’t!
“Lea” Daddy snapped Mommy’s gone! It’s time for us both to forget her. Now go tell your new Mommy you love her.”
Lea didn’t want Daddy to get angrier but she just couldn’t do it. She crossed her fingers and said “I love you Aunt Kiana.”
Kiana looked at Lea and said “No dear, I’m your mommy now. You can call your old Mommy Evelyn that was her name.” You’ll forget her soon anyway.”
“I’ll never forget her and I’ll never call you Mommy!”
“Lea” Daddy said “Mommy and Daddy know what’s best for you. You will start calling her Mommy or you will not eat any of the meals she cooks and you will go hungry” “And one thing more”
Daddy said “I’ve already talked to Grandma and told her if she doesn’t live by our rules you will not be able to see her either.”
“Do you understand that?” Kiana said.
“Yes” cried Lea
“Yes what?”
“Yes Mommy”
“We will be getting married in a month and you will be the Flower Girl, isn’t that exciting? Said Daddy, trying to change the mood.
Lea thought it was about as exciting as watching one of the kids in her preschool barf up their lunch but she didn’t say anything.
Everyone sat quietly finishing the ice cream that Lea suddenly decided tasted like cardboard. She would never like Rocky Road again. She picked up a crayon that had come with the children’s menu and started doodling.
Before she knew what was happening Kiana/Mommy had reached over and slapped her hand as hard as she could. “Are you a stupid idiot? “Mommy” asked. “That’s not the hand you write with. Only retards write with their left hand.”
Daddy looked like he didn’t know what to say but what he did say was “Why don’t we ask the preschool about that dear?” He never even got mad at Kiana for hitting Lea.
For the next month everything was about the wedding. Lea had to go with Kiana to try on dresses and to look at cakes. Kiana decided she didn’t have time to pick up Lea from preschool some days so Lea had to miss it. Kiana decided she didn’t like the dark brown of Lea’s hair so she had it colored an ugly color of dark blonde. Every night she would set it in pin curls and she seemed to enjoy jamming the bobby pins into Lea’s head. They hurt so much Lea could hardly sleep.
When the invitations were ready, (one hundred and fifty of them) Kiana addressed them and then made Lea lick all of the envelopes. When Lea would ask for a break she was given a slap in the face and called a lazy little brat.
Whenever Lea would forget and say something about her Mommy she would get slapped, If Kiana had something in her hand like a wooden spoon or a brush she would use that instead of just her hands.
When Daddy and Kiana’s friends would comment on how well Lea seemed to be getting along with Kiana and say they were amazed she was already calling her Mommy, Daddy would say “Yea she started that all on her own. She really loves her.”
Grandma came and took Lea as often as she could but she had to be careful not to say anything bad about Kiana because Daddy would stop her visits.
After the wedding shower, that was given by one of Kiana’s married friends Everyone left the mess for Grandma and Lea to clean up and the Daddy, Mommy, the friend and her husband went out for the evening. After Kiana wrote the thank you notes Lea again had to lick all the envelopes. Oh she hated that taste!
When the wedding finally came the Church was almost empty. Most of the people who had been invited to the wedding were Kiana’s friends and family and they did not know Jesus. They thought the Church Service was a waste of time and just wanted to party. The people who were there from Daddy’s side all seemed sad like Grandma and Lea heard lots of them say “It’s just to soon”
Even the Priest talked about the wedding at Canaan rather than about the couple because Kiana had refused to go to the premarital counseling. Daddy paid some extra money but the priest never got to know them well enough to talk about them.
At the reception, this had a whole lot of people. Kiana was dressed in a white wedding dress that fit her like a mermaid’s skin. She drank and drank and danced and danced with lots of men.
About half way through she took a break to open the gifts. You could tell which gifts she liked and which ones she didn’t think were special enough by the way she said thank you, You could tell that someone had spent lots of money because she would ooh and ahh over it but if it wasn’t as expensive she would barely say thank you. Lea had made a red clay heart that had white letters that said Mommy and Daddy. Kiana opened it and ‘accidently’ dropped it on the floor, where it broke into a million pieces and then called Lea a baby when she cried.
Towards the end of the night she wasn’t acting like a bride anymore. She was acting like she had lots and lots of boyfriends. Daddy wanted to go home because they had to be at the airport early the next day for their honeymoon but Kiana insisted on staying to the last minute.
Finally they left the most awful party Lea had ever been at. After seeing how Kiana acted when she was drunk and watching her break the present Lea had made on purpose Lea knew for certain –she would never be her Mommy.
The next morning Lea watched happily as the plane left for Florida. She knew she had two weeks with Grandma in a home where she was truly loved.
Chapter 3
When Friday came Lea’s Daddy reluctantly got up around noon, showered and put new clothes on. He even went out and got his hair cut. The closer it came to the time Tony was coming over the happier he got but he only talked to Grandma. Grandma did not seem happy about this turn of events.
“How’s my hair look?”
“Like it should have looked all along” Grandma said “you shouldn’t have had to wait a month to get it cut and then only do it so you could go out dancing.”
Daddy was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a flannel shirt, a brown belt with a gold bull face on it and cowboy boots. Lea had never seen him dressed like that before.
“Those are funny clothes for going dancing Daddy.” Lea giggled.
“They’re just right for country dancing and that’s what I’m going to do tonight.”
“Daddy you look like a cowboy, will you play cowboys and Indians with me?” Cowboys and Indians was a boy’s game and Lea didn’t really like it but she was excited that she could get Daddy to pay any attention to her.
“Not today honey, Daddy needs to look good when he goes out and I don’t want you getting me all dirty.” He went to the fridge, got out a Coke and sat down at the TV to watch the ballgame. Lea tried to sit on his lap but he said she was too big for that anymore. They both watched The Cubbies playing the detested St. Louis Cardinals. At one point Sammy Sosa hit a homerun and Lea jumped in excitement. She knocked the pop off the table where Daddy had left it and it dribbled down daddy’s left boot.
“Damn it Lea” he shouted jumping up. “Can’t I trust you around anything?”
“I’m sorry Daddy” she cried.
Daddy sent her to her bedroom all alone until grandma came back from the store. She never even got to find out who won the game.
Lea tried her best to talk to Mommy and Jesus because she was so lonely and confused. “Dear Mommy and Jesus, Daddy has been so sad since Mommy went away that he hasn’t even been able to go to work. I’ve tried to make him happy but he just gets angry with me all the time or he doesn’t talk at all. I think I did something to make him mad at me but I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s because when I’m alone I cry for Mommy just like he does, because I miss you. Please let me know what it is because I want to make it better so he likes me again. Amen”
“Uncle” Tony came to pick Daddy up and he hugged and spun Lea. Lea was afraid like she sometimes was with Uncle Tony because he smelled different and didn’t walk very straight. She was afraid he would drop her.
Daddy said “I’ll drive” and Uncle Tony tried to argue but Daddy won.
When Lea went to hug her Daddy good bye he didn’t lean down, so she just grabbed his leg. The pop had been cleaned up and he smelt like perfume and cigarettes. Lea never remembered her Daddy wearing perfume before.
After Daddy left Grandma and Lea played some games of Chutes and Ladders and then Grandma told Lea some Jesus stories. After that Grandma gave her a bath with as much bubble bath as she wanted. The bubbles were almost as high as she was. Then it was bed time and Lea said her prayers and went to bed.
While Lea was sleeping Daddy was at the VFW country dancing. He didn’t know how, so first he took a beginners course. As the night went on he got better and better. There was one thing at the VFW that both Tony and Daddy liked a lot. There were a lot more women there than men so they had their choice of dance partners. Some of the women wore square dance outfits with wide skirts with lots of petticoats underneath. Others wore Jeans and boots that looked like they were painted on and either flannel shirts or halter tops. Still others wore miniskirts that left very little to the imagination.
There was a blue haze in the air and it seemed like everyone was smoking. Almost everyone was drinking too. Several, including Tony, had had too much to drink before the main band started playing.
While Tony just sat and made what passed as conversation with some of the drunk women Daddy danced nearly every dance, never staying with one woman more than two or three times. He collected all their phone numbers like someone else may collect baseball cards. They stayed and danced until two in the morning and then went with some of the other dancers out to a greasy spoon to have breakfast.
Daddy didn’t come home until after three in the morning. When he opened the front door he woke Grandma, who was sleeping on the couch.
Grandma was furious but all she said was “If you can stay out this late you can start going back to work Monday morning!” She then got her purse and left.
Saturday morning Daddy slept in but Saturday afternoon Tony called and they decided to go out again that night. Again they didn’t get home until about three.
Sunday came and the same thing, Daddy slept until Uncle Tony called and then they went out. This time Daddy knew he had to go to work the next morning so they got home around midnight.
Lea woke screaming about one in the morning.
Daddy forced himself to get up and go see what was wrong.
“Daddy that placenta thing is going to catch you and Grandma too and I’m going to be all alone!” She wailed.
“You just had a bad dream go back to sleep.” He carelessly replied.
“Please Daddy will you stay with me for a little while?”
“Just a little while I need my sleep too.”
When Lea curled up next to Daddy she noticed that Daddy smelt like all different kinds of perfume at once and he had a red smudge on his neck. She also noticed that Daddy pulled away a little bit, it was almost like Daddy was afraid to touch her. “Maybe” Lea thought “He’s afraid that I’ll disappear too.”
A pattern was started that lasted about a week and a half. Daddy would get up and get breakfast for Lea and himself, then he would take Lea to pre-school and he would go onto work. Grandma would pick her up after pre-school and stay until Daddy came home at Supper. Then Daddy and Uncle Tony would go out again.
Lea missed her Daddy but she was happy that he was happy again. Grandma was the one who seemed to be angry that Daddy wasn’t staying home more.
Then one morning Lea got up to go to the washroom and opened the door to find a strange thin woman, older than Daddy but younger than Grandma, with hair that was brown on top and blonde on the bottom, dressed only in Daddy’s shirt sitting on the toilet. They both screamed and Daddy came running.
“Lea” he said “I’d like you to meet Daddy’s special friend, Bev. “You can call her Aunt Bev.”
“Where are Aunt Bev’s clothes?” asked Lea.
“There in my bedroom” said Daddy. Aunt Bev volunteered to make breakfast for us this morning. Isn’t that nice of her?”
Lea couldn’t believe it another lady’s clothes were in her Daddy and Mommy’s bedroom. The Lady was making breakfast like Mommy used to and Daddy thought this was all fine?
“I’m not hungry” Lea shouted as she stormed out of the room.
“You get back in here this minute young lady! Aunt Bev is nice enough to make breakfast for you, you will eat it!
Lea ate the eggs Aunt Bev had made and then promptly vomited them up. She couldn’t stand the idea of a stranger, in her Daddy’s shirt, making her breakfast.
For the next month Daddy brought home women every morning. Sometimes they came once and never came again and sometimes, like Bev they stayed for a few days. She couldn’t stand how they treated her. Some of them baby talked “Oh aren’t you the cutest little thing”, some of them smothered her with false hugs, and others ignored her. None of them ever really tried to get to know her.
After a while Daddy started bringing the same woman home every night. Her name was Kiana and her face looked like she had just gotten over the chicken pox and one eye was a foggy white circle with no color. She told Lea she had been shot in the eye when she was young and was blind in it now. She was thin with blonde hair that she curled every morning. She was shorter than grandma.
Lea started hearing Grandma and Daddy argue about her a lot. Grandma thought she was too young for something (she was five years younger than Daddy) and that it was too soon. Daddy wouldn’t listen and kept bringing her home. After the fourth day “Aunt” Kiana didn’t go home at all any more.
After another week Daddy and Aunt Kiana took Lea out for ice cream and told her they had something exciting to say. Just as Lea was about to start eating her Rocky Road ice cream Daddy told Lea “Aunt Kiana and I are getting married. She is going to be your new Mommy.”
Lea went wild. “I have a Mommy. I don’t want a new Mommy! She screamed. “Maybe you forgot her already Daddy but I haven’t and I won’t!
“Lea” Daddy snapped Mommy’s gone! It’s time for us both to forget her. Now go tell your new Mommy you love her.”
Lea didn’t want Daddy to get angrier but she just couldn’t do it. She crossed her fingers and said “I love you Aunt Kiana.”
Kiana looked at Lea and said “No dear, I’m your mommy now. You can call your old Mommy Evelyn that was her name.” You’ll forget her soon anyway.”
“I’ll never forget her and I’ll never call you Mommy!”
“Lea” Daddy said “Mommy and Daddy know what’s best for you. You will start calling her Mommy or you will not eat any of the meals she cooks and you will go hungry” “And one thing more”
Daddy said “I’ve already talked to Grandma and told her if she doesn’t live by our rules you will not be able to see her either.”
“Do you understand that?” Kiana said.
“Yes” cried Lea
“Yes what?”
“Yes Mommy”
“We will be getting married in a month and you will be the Flower Girl, isn’t that exciting? Said Daddy, trying to change the mood.
Lea thought it was about as exciting as watching one of the kids in her preschool barf up their lunch but she didn’t say anything.
Everyone sat quietly finishing the ice cream that Lea suddenly decided tasted like cardboard. She would never like Rocky Road again. She picked up a crayon that had come with the children’s menu and started doodling.
Before she knew what was happening Kiana/Mommy had reached over and slapped her hand as hard as she could. “Are you a stupid idiot? “Mommy” asked. “That’s not the hand you write with. Only retards write with their left hand.”
Daddy looked like he didn’t know what to say but what he did say was “Why don’t we ask the preschool about that dear?” He never even got mad at Kiana for hitting Lea.
For the next month everything was about the wedding. Lea had to go with Kiana to try on dresses and to look at cakes. Kiana decided she didn’t have time to pick up Lea from preschool some days so Lea had to miss it. Kiana decided she didn’t like the dark brown of Lea’s hair so she had it colored an ugly color of dark blonde. Every night she would set it in pin curls and she seemed to enjoy jamming the bobby pins into Lea’s head. They hurt so much Lea could hardly sleep.
When the invitations were ready, (one hundred and fifty of them) Kiana addressed them and then made Lea lick all of the envelopes. When Lea would ask for a break she was given a slap in the face and called a lazy little brat.
Whenever Lea would forget and say something about her Mommy she would get slapped, If Kiana had something in her hand like a wooden spoon or a brush she would use that instead of just her hands.
When Daddy and Kiana’s friends would comment on how well Lea seemed to be getting along with Kiana and say they were amazed she was already calling her Mommy, Daddy would say “Yea she started that all on her own. She really loves her.”
Grandma came and took Lea as often as she could but she had to be careful not to say anything bad about Kiana because Daddy would stop her visits.
After the wedding shower, that was given by one of Kiana’s married friends Everyone left the mess for Grandma and Lea to clean up and the Daddy, Mommy, the friend and her husband went out for the evening. After Kiana wrote the thank you notes Lea again had to lick all the envelopes. Oh she hated that taste!
When the wedding finally came the Church was almost empty. Most of the people who had been invited to the wedding were Kiana’s friends and family and they did not know Jesus. They thought the Church Service was a waste of time and just wanted to party. The people who were there from Daddy’s side all seemed sad like Grandma and Lea heard lots of them say “It’s just to soon”
Even the Priest talked about the wedding at Canaan rather than about the couple because Kiana had refused to go to the premarital counseling. Daddy paid some extra money but the priest never got to know them well enough to talk about them.
At the reception, this had a whole lot of people. Kiana was dressed in a white wedding dress that fit her like a mermaid’s skin. She drank and drank and danced and danced with lots of men.
About half way through she took a break to open the gifts. You could tell which gifts she liked and which ones she didn’t think were special enough by the way she said thank you, You could tell that someone had spent lots of money because she would ooh and ahh over it but if it wasn’t as expensive she would barely say thank you. Lea had made a red clay heart that had white letters that said Mommy and Daddy. Kiana opened it and ‘accidently’ dropped it on the floor, where it broke into a million pieces and then called Lea a baby when she cried.
Towards the end of the night she wasn’t acting like a bride anymore. She was acting like she had lots and lots of boyfriends. Daddy wanted to go home because they had to be at the airport early the next day for their honeymoon but Kiana insisted on staying to the last minute.
Finally they left the most awful party Lea had ever been at. After seeing how Kiana acted when she was drunk and watching her break the present Lea had made on purpose Lea knew for certain –she would never be her Mommy.
The next morning Lea watched happily as the plane left for Florida. She knew she had two weeks with Grandma in a home where she was truly loved.