Without a word she stalked out of the door, slammed
it hard, then locked it from the other side. I was left in
the middle of the room, holding the end product of
many long hours of striving for perfection and beauty. Fools !--that's what we'd been! Damned fools! We'd never win her over! She'd always consider
us Devil's spawn! As far as she was concerned, we
really didn't exist.
And it hurt, oh, you bet, it did hurt. Right down to
my bare feet I ached, and my heart became a hollow
ball shooting pains through my chest. Behind me, I
could hear Chris raspily breathing in and out, and the
twins began to whimper.
This was my time to be adult, and keep the poise
that Momma used so well and so effectively. I
patterned my movements, and my expressions, after
those of my mother. I used my hands the way she
used hers. I smiled as she did, slow and beguiling And what did I do to demonstrate my maturity? I hurled the package to the floor! I swore, using
words I'd never said aloud before! I raised my foot
and stomped down on it, and heard the cardboard box
crunch. I screamed! Wild with fury, I jumped with
both feet onto the gift, and I wildly stomped and
jumped until I heard the cracking of the beautiful old
frame we'd found in the attic, and reglued, and
refinished and made it look almost like new again. I
hated Chris for persuading me that we could win over
a woman made of stone! I hated Momma for putting
us in this position! She should have known her mother
better; she should have sold shoes in a department
store; certainly there was something she could have
done but what she did.
Beneath the assault of someone wild and frenzied,