Except today I followed Caitlin when she didn’t know. I know the way that boy kept getting in her way was wrong, and when he touched her hair and she smacked him he laughed, but it was an ugly laugh. No uglier than the words he said to her as her friends pulled her away.
By the time I was done I’d made up my mind. If daddy goes to the school again I’ll just lose all my friends like I did last time until they got over the fear of him cutting off their heads in their sleep. That was back in the first grade but I still remember it.
Daddy had yelled loud enough for the whole world to hear and it had spread all over the school. After that day none of the kids would play with us because they were afraid. If Aiden and Quint finds out they’ll beat him to a pulp and get suspended for fighting again, so the only one left was Todd.
He answered on the second ring. “Catalina, is something wrong?”
“Todd, do you remember Brian?”
“Who’s Brian? Is he one of your new uncles?”
“No-no, Brian at school, the one who teases Caitie.”
“Yeah why, what did he do?” I told him in a hushed whisper what happened on the bus that morning and what I saw that afternoon at lunch.
“Does your sister know that you’re calling me?”
“Of course not. She doesn’t know that I know.”
“I see, do me a favor, don’t tell her that you called me okay.”
“Okay, but what are you going to do?”
“I’ll think of something and Catalina, thanks for calling.”
I put away the stuff I’d made in my backpack for tomorrow and headed upstairs to get changed out of my school clothes. Bunny came bounding from my bed where he was resting, waiting for me to come home.
“Hey Bunny!” I got him a treat before changing out of my clothes and taking him out back for some playtime. When daddy came outside minutes later we were both covered in mud but daddy didn’t say anything, just shook his head and went back inside. Good, I thought for sure he’d ask about the box from uncle Hank again.
Lyon
I meant to ask that little one where she disappeared to before, but seeing her and the dog having so much fun was enough to dispel my misgivings. It’s been a while, at least a week since she tried to poison or scalp one of her brothers, so maybe I’m worrying for nothing.
Kat was already downstairs flitting around the kitchen and the boys were somewhere trying to destroy my damn house, so I figured now was as good a time as any to have that talk with my kid. I’m not expecting this one to go over any better than the last one but it can’t be helped.
Fucking Kat! You’d think she’d have enough sense to know that I won’t do shit against my daughter, but the two of them act like I’m trying to destroy her life or some shit. The one time I want my wife to stand beside me she deserts camp. Figures!
We usually stand shoulder to shoulder when dealing with anything to do with the kids, but on this one I’m on my own. Can’t really blame her since she has no idea what’s going on, but she should know better. Maybe I’ll remind her of that shit when I take her to bed tonight; pain in the ass.
The door to Caitiebear’s room was slightly ajar. The one and only time she’d locked that shit I’d taken it off the hinges. Her mother had bitched for a week about teenage girls needing their privacy. What the fuck for?
I knocked and walked in. She looked so happy as she moved around the room putting away the clean clothes her mother had left folded on her bed earlier. I saw a shadow slinking down the hallway and kicked the door shut with my foot. Fucking Mengele was on snoop duty. How the fuck did she get in here so fast?
“Hi baby, we need to talk!”
“Hi daddy, did mom tell you? Isn’t it exciting?”
“What baby?” Like I didn’t know. How did she know I was coming in here to talk about that shit?
“Sixteen of the top one hundred schools in the country and they all want me, I get to choose.” Where the fuck did these kids get these brains from?
The boys do okay, better than, but they’re nowhere near my girls when it comes to brains. She’s not on the same level as Mengele, then again who is? But she can hold her own. She’s been kicking ass since kindergarten and that shit hasn’t let up once.
“Yeah about that.” She stopped moving and I could see from the look on her face that she knew what was coming. I know my daughter would never go against me no matter how much what I was about to do to her may hurt.