The Entrance of the Children...
The Entrance of the Children Act One, Scene One: Who they became Who they became...
Soon after Joseph had helped rescue Fai from her doom, they had gotten married. Her father was more than agreeable to the idea of her getting married to a good man who wasn't throwing her down stairs, and she was more than happy that Joseph was so quickly accepted into the family. Her younger brothers had been more than happy to accept a much more playful older brother, considering how harsh Mark had been to everyone. Soon after Fai finally got her newspaper on it's feet she ended up pregnant. The pregnancy had caught everyone by surprised. No one, including Fai herself, expected to ever become pregnant considering how many steps she had been down in her short lifetime. Joseph though became even more in love with that woman, and from that day on he could be seen smiling from ear to ear. Nine months later Fai gave birth to a beautiful little boy and girl. They named the boy Nicholas, and the girl Margret. At first, the two children seemed to be almost exactly the same, but soon after first grade their differences were like night and day.
Nicholas, or Nick, was much more shy than his sister, and he seemed to always pay more attention of the world around him, while Margret, who always went by her first name, was loud, outspoken, and demanded to have her own way. Everything had to be perfect for her, and when it wasn't she wouldn't do anything until it was. No one knew where she had gotten the behavior from, yet Fai and Joseph both refused to bend to her will, so from second grade and on their household was a constant source of fights and agruements. Margret and Nick both grew up in their own ways though, and both of their parents did everything they could to support them. By the time Margret was in eighth grade and Nick was in tenth, Joseph and Fai had them well set up if they could get an educaton. Nick by that time had shown the most promise, and was always looking for something new to learn to get his hands on. Margret on the other hand had been failing any class in which she felt wasn't suited for her.
"Mother! Why can't I go!!" Margret started to whine to me again after I had explained to her for the thrid time why she wasn't going to her friends party.
"Because I told you, if you couldn't get yourself ready by the time your father left for his party then you wouldn't go. And that was our agreement." I said to her as calmly as I could.
Now, I dont believe in ever hitting my children for no reason, but my darling daughter sure seemed to be needing a slap from the heavens above to realize she needed to stop whining.
"But we still have the other car! You can take me there! It wont be that bad..." She said, trying to get me into the oldest agruement we had going.
She knew that ever since my accident I would not drive anywhere. Joseph had been trying to get me to drive, even around the block, but sometimes just sitting in the drivers seat got me so scared I would pass out. Even thinking about the car I did have made me start to shake. It was the same type of car that I was in when I was forced into the middle barrier. I touched my rib as I pointed upstairs to her room.
"Margret Reane.... You go up to your room now." I sad, dropping my voice about to threaten her. "You have no right to bring that up, nor will I explain myself to my daughter. You go to your room and shut up."
She looked to me, and I'm sure there were a million thoughts running through her head, and none which were regretting what she said once I used her middle name. she hated her middle name, and let me know that, even when I was in ICU.
"Well... Fai..." She said, using my name knowing I didn't like it. "I dont see how you're going to make me...."
I saw her standing her ground, and trust me, this wasn't nor will it be, the last physically fight we had. Lucky for me that Mark had taught me how to take people down without hurting them. I took a step up to my daughter, who was in her highheels and her skirt and her button up top. She ahd her cute strawberry red hair pulled into a curly ponytail and she looked completely ready to go out. With her heels on she stood a good half a foot, if not more, taller than me. It wasnt saying much consiering I was maybe five foot two, on a good day.
She tilted her head, about to say something more when I reached under her arm and jammed my thumb into her armpit and pushed up. Now I may be small, but I have more strength than that girl remembers and I have no problem hitting her pressure points to remind her. Using her arm I pulled her up the stairs, hoping she could keep up because at this point I was mad enough I would have probably pulled her up the stairs if her feet didnt want to work. She came with me though and I let go of her arm in her room.
"Now.. You know why you have bars on your window. You know why I don't like hurting you either, and I wish for once you would actually be ready to go on time so we wouldn't have these spats.." I said to her, stamping my foot down, my voice starting to raise.
She opened her mouth, about to speak but I turned and slammed her door close. I never locked it, but one thing she did know is not to come out when I slam doors shut. Once again, thanks to Mark I'm not a volient person, but when you get me mad enough to be volient like that, you just stay out of the way.
I went downstairs and sat in front of the blank television, my mind and body and jumble of nerves as I finally started to give in and start to cry. I felt so frustrated and scared and somehow that girl always knew how to poke every wound in my body that almost everything in our house ended with doors slamming, one way or another.