“What are you doing?” I gasped. “Stop it—stop!”
I jumped up to try and stop her and Alexis dropped the bottle and started screaming.
“Mother! Mother, help!”
“What is it? What’s wrong, Princess?”
Nancy Spaulding rushed into the kitchen at once and stopped short when she saw the mess.
“Who did this?” she demanded. “How did it happen?”
“Oh, Mother, it was terrible!” Alexis sobbed, before I could say a word. “I was just trying to get some juice out of the fridge and that little foster brat attacked me!” She pointed at me with one trembling finger. “She knocked it right out of my hand and it went everywhere!”
“That’s not true!” I exclaimed. “She poured the juice out herself just to be mean because I was almost finished cleaning the kitchen floor!”
Nancy Spaulding rounded on me.
“Are you calling my daughter a liar?” she demanded.
I saw the trap—if I said “yes,” I would be punished. If I said “no,” I was admitting that I had attacked Alexis—which was completely untrue. Either way, I was going to get into trouble.
I lifted my chin and glared at Nancy Spaulding.
“Yes, I am,” I said clearly. “I didn’t attack her—she poured the juice on the floor herself just to be mean.”
“Mother, she’s lying!” Alexis sobbed. “Just look at this mess! That awful juice stained my new white tennis shoes—why would I do that on purpose?”
She nodded down at her expensive white sneakers, which were the latest fashion. They were blotched with the reddish-purple grape juice and probably ruined. Not that I gave a damn.
“Don’t worry, Princess, it’s almost the end of the month so we’ll be getting more CPS money soon,” Nancy Spaulding comforted her. “I’ll buy you any sneakers you want with that, okay?”
Alexis sniffed.
“All right,” she said and pointed at me. “But I want her to be punished! It’s what she deserves after attacking me and then lying about it.”
“Of course she will be, Princess,” Nancy Spaulding cooed. “Now go change your clothes and I’ll deal with this.”
Giving me a triumphant look, Alexis sauntered off, leaving me with her irate mother.
“How dare you attack my daughter and then lie about it?” she demanded. “You nasty little ingrate! After all we’ve done for you! You’re lucky you’re not out on the streets instead of safe in my home.”
“I’d rather be out on the streets than be stuck here!” I shouted. I was past caring anymore, past fearing any punishment she could give me—or so I thought.
Nancy’s face went as purple as the puddle of grape juice spreading on the floor.
“You clean this up,” she snapped, pointing at the mess her daughter had made. “And you can spend the next three days with no food and the next three nights in the box. That should teach you something about honesty and respect!” Then she locked the refrigerator, which Alexis had left open, turned on her heel, and flounced off.
I watched her go with trepidation. Going with little to no food had become something I was used to, but I’d never had to go with nothing at all for three whole days. And though I still didn’t know what “the box” was, I was sure it wasn’t going to be anything pleasant.
Since there was nothing else I could do, I got to work cleaning up the spilled grape juice. I mopped it up with paper towels and—it still makes me burn with shame to remember this—I squeezed the juice into my mouth. After all, the floor was clean—I had seen to that myself. And the grape juice was full of sugar and calories which my growing body craved. I drank as much as I could of it and cleaned up the rest.
The rest of the day was spent in a wretched state of dread. When Minh heard I had gotten “the box” as punishment she shook her head in sympathy.
“I’m so sorry, Kira,” she whispered, squeezing my hand. “So, so sorry.”
That night after yet another dinner where we watched the Spaulding family eat and I got not a single bite of food, I was taken down to the basement early. Nancy watched as I took a freezing cold shower and brushed my teeth, then she led me to another, darker corner of the basement.
In this dusty, dirty corner was a big wooden crate about four feet by four feet. It had a padlock on it, which she unlocked and then threw the lid open.
“Get in.” She pointed to the inside of the crate.
“What?” I stared at it in disbelief. “You want me to get in there?”
“You heard me, stupid girl!” Snatching the ragged towel which was all I had to cover myself, she shoved me into the crate naked.
I was caught off balance and fell in on my side, gasping as the wind was knocked out of me.
Nancy Spaulding slammed the lid closed and then I heard the click of a padlock snapping shut.