Hell, Candy practically threw a fit and demanded Madison take them years ago. It was her turn for a real life she said. Madison owed it to her. After all it was all Madison’s fault this happened in the first place. Her mother would have been a model by now if she hadn’t got pregnant at sixteen. Candy believed Madison owed her gratitude for not getting an abortion and she reminded Madison of that at every opportunity.
The only clue to Madison’s father’s identity was that she was clearly half Native American. Her hair was jet black and her skin was naturally tanned and she had brown eyes that reminded people of caramel. That gave her mother the only clue to her paternity. Thankfully her mother was a racist and only “slummed” with a colored boy, what she called everyone that wasn’t pure white, once. So, her father was Andrew Soloman, a boy from the local tribe. Unfortunately, he died after Madison was born. He wanted to raise Madison and Candy had been overjoyed to get rid of her burden.
When Madison’s father died in a house fire Candy threw a fit and stormed out of her mother’s house. She took her infant daughter and headed out on the road towards California, but only made it as far as the next state over. There she began a life of worthless jobs, welfare, affairs with married men and drugs. They traveled all over the country until Jill came along and then they settled in New Mexico where Madison took over the care of her siblings and ran the house, well, trailer.
Madison had counted the days down until she was eighteen and could escape her mother. She never planned on leaving her siblings, but she desperately needed to get away from her mother and her manipulative ways.
Candy dreaded her daughter’s eighteenth birthday. It meant her freedom to run around would come to an abrupt end. She would have to find a job or someone else to take care of the kids. So, when the morning of Madison’s eighteenth birthday came, Candy did what every self-respecting woman would do when faced with real responsibility for the first time in fifteen years would do.
She hightailed it out of there.
She left a note for Madison of course. She wished her a happy birthday and thanked her for taking care of the kids. She found her true love and was heading to Vegas to be with him. Madison didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She finally rid herself of her mother, but was now faced with supporting her two siblings sooner than expected.
So, for the past five years Madison raised her little brother and sister. No one missed their mother. In truth, Madison played mother to them both since birth. Candy took on the role of the older sister who didn’t like her siblings very much and was never there. Everyone has a role to play after all.
Madison took on menial jobs to put herself through college as well as put food on the table and clothes on their backs. She avoided her real life. Her only friends were from the Reservation where she spent her free time when she had any. There was no time for boyfriends. Well, no steady boyfriends. She was afraid of turning into her mother so she refused to allow herself to get serious about anyone.
Candy fell in love with every man she met. She became obsessive and pathetic and Madison was not her mother. Any man she started to care for was pushed away. It was safer that way.
Less than two weeks ago Madison started her new job as a history teacher at a public high school. Everything was going perfect for the first time in her life and then Candy swoops in.
Joshua woke her up at three in the morning crying. A drunk woman was puking in their living room/kitchen/dining room/Joshua’s bedroom. Madison went to the aforementioned room with a baseball bat and cursed. Candy was back.
Candy was back with a vengeance it seemed. Stewart the man she ran off with five years ago never married her. They lived in hotels all over the country. Candy loved it. She had pictures and of course magnets from every state except for those in New England, Hawaii, and Alaska of course. She hated New England, refused to return to it.
Everything was going fine until Stewart discovered Candy was not a natural blond. She bleached it. Madison knew of course and thought it was obvious. Apparently Stewart hadn't realized her mother's golden locks came from a box. He didn’t realize a lot of things like Candy was not her real name and she was not twenty-eight but thirty-nine, which again Madison thought was obvious, so he started screwing around. Candy came home one night from a club to find Stewart “Breaking her heart by f**king that whore Jennifer from the strip club on their bed of love.” Candy actually used those words to her and the two younger children, repeatedly.
Madison refused to allow her mother’s presence to alter her plans. She demanded that her mother sign the custody papers. She refused, saying she missed the kids. She loved them. Then she applied for welfare and was refused. Seems the state of New Mexico was no longer willing to give her a free ride. So, Candy inquired about New Hampshire. They were very willing to give her funds only because Candy’s mother was a resident and Candy had been claiming residence there for the past five years. That surprised Madison.
Candy wouldn’t listen to reason. She wanted the kids to come with her. She needed them. She cried, threw tantrums and threatened Madison with keeping the kids away from her. They were her only chance since Candy didn’t want to work.
She pointed out to Madison that she was too delicate for such labor. Madison broke down in the end when her Grandmother accepted. She was anxious to see her three grandchildren. Candy never brought any child to see her and wouldn’t allow any contact. She frequently tried to blackmail her mother with the kids. It never worked. It seemed now Grandma had the upper hand and knew it.
Thank god for that. Two weeks ago the sweet well behaved sister she knew and loved started to disappear. Jill now saw their mother as her best friend, her idol. She liked how Candy didn’t work and flirted with men. Madison discovered her sister making out with a man in his twenties just before they left. Candy gave the man permission. She also turned a blind eye when Jill got drunk with her new buddies. Madison flipped out and chased the man out of the house and threw the drugs out. He punched her for her efforts, blackening her cheek.
This nightmare needed to end soon and her grandmother was about to do it. Grandma put her foot down. She had Candy where she wanted her. Candy bragged that her mother was a desperate lonely old woman and would do anything and everything to see them. They were going to live like royalty Candy told Jill. Joshua hated Candy and let her know it. He was Madison’s little boy as far as everyone else was concerned. Candy didn’t care, Joshua was just a welfare check.
Grandma threatened to inform the authorities of Candy’s lies. She had no choice. Candy was to bring the two little ones to New Hampshire immediately and sign over custody. Madison could come, too. In return they would be given rooms in their Grandmother’s large ancestral home that had been turned into a boarding house when their mother was a girl. It was large, clean and ruled with an iron fist.