Page 6 of Grace

I’d never seen her this worried before. The wrinkles around her eyes became more visible as if she had just aged a few years in an instant.

“Nothing serious happened,” I shrugged, “I just heard the rumor.”

Mom exhaled and the tension left her shoulders.

“If anything like that ever happens to you, please, tell us. We’d never blame you!” She pulled my head against her chest and kissed my hair. I hugged her slender figure, smiling as I inhaled her flowery scent deeply.

“I love you, Mom.”

“Me too, honey. But hurry up,” she said, glancing at her watch, “and I need to hurry up, too, otherwise, I’ll end up being late as well. There is always a long line in front of the office by the time we open up. I’ll definitely be brain-dead by the time I get home. A true zombie. Aaaaah!” She struck an unnatural pose and pretended to be a zombie trying to eat my brain.

“Mom,” I shook my head smiling.

“Why do you have to be this lame?” Nikky asked derisively. She instantly soured the mood.

Mom straightened her posture and rearranged her white blouse and her black pencil skirt.

“Finally, you are awake,” she welcomed my sister warmly—kindness she didn’t always deserve, I thought. She stepped to Nikky and tried to give her a hello-and-goodbye kiss on her hair but she pulled away sullenly.

“I’m not a child anymore,” she grumbled.

She sat down and started eating the breakfast Mom had made for her.

Sure you aren’t. I rolled my eyes.

Mom took advantage of the fact that Nikky was sitting, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Her red lipstick left a bright mark on Nikky’s pale skin.

“Mom,” she grumbled again and rubbed her cheek red.

“It’s your turn,” she said, pointing at me, then jumped on me, kissing and tickling me. I laughed hard and tried to escape, but that was all just part of the game.

Mom missed how Nikky used to be. She wanted her blonde little girl back. It was difficult for her to accept that her children were growing up. It was the same with our brother, Jamie: she kept going on about how cute he had been as a little boy.

“Okay, I really have to get going, or I’ll be late. Take care, girls, and let Jamie sleep in the afternoon. The night shift is hard on him.”

At the door, she turned back and blew us a kiss.

While she was hurrying toward the car, I walked to the window and pulled the lace curtains open. I watched her get into our dove-blue Chevrolet, back out of the driveway, and honk the horn like crazy, while waving through the open car window.

“She is so lame,” Nikky sneered, lit a cigarette, then casually tossed the lighter on the table.

“Don’t talk about her like that. She changed your shitty diapers while all you did was stuff your fingers up your nose,” I said, smiling at her scornfully, then snatched her cigarette out of her mouth and threw it into her cereal. The cigarette fizzed in the milk, then went out.

“They told you that smoking was outside only. They can’t forbid you from smoking, but you should be considerate—neither of them smokes.”

“Wow.” She leaned back in her chair while I took a glass from the shelf and filled it with water.

“I don’t get why you’re so surprised. Can’t you see how fed up everyone is with you acting like an unbearable slut? Mom and Dad love us the same, but you can’t accept their love because you think loving your parents is lame. You’re pathetic.”

I finished my glass of water, then pushed myself away from the counter.

“See you at school. Don’t be late today,” I warned her.

“You’re not my mom,” she yelled after me.

I turned back to her.

“You’re lucky I’m not. If I were Mom, I’d have slapped you and stopped begging you for your love. Why do you hate them?” I asked.