Chapter 4: Little Sister
The next morning, the lights came on in Katelyn’s small bedroom without warning.
“Mom says to get up,” her younger sister’s voice mocked with corrupt authority from the door. “You’re late for school again,” Brianna teased. “You’re gonna be in trouble.”
Katelyn rolled her head out from under the pillow where she hid from her alarm clock 20 minutes ago. She squinted at her sister who stood with a smug look on her face. Brianna started rummaging through Katelyn’s things, which were scattered across the top of her dresser. The door stood wide open, and the crying of her nephew, Jacob, made its way to her ears.
“Get out!” Katelyn yelled. “Get out of my room!” Her head flopped back on the bed.
Brianna didn’t seem bothered and even took another step into the room, her eyes attracted to the stack of clean laundry on the desk chair. Katelyn was several sizes bigger, but Brianna still “borrowed” her printed t-shirts. “Dad didn’t come home last night. Mom’s pissed. I had to wake her to take us to school. She doesn’t know where he is, either.”
Katelyn heard the news of her dad’s absence and closed her eyes tighter. Her head took on more weight than just lack of sleep.
Brianna grew quiet, which only made Katelyn suspicious. Even in her foggy state of mind, she knew to not trust that Brianna had left on her own accord. She opened her eyes to see her sister’s back toward her, her head bent in concentration on something she held in her hands.
“Leave my stuff alone. Mom!” she yelled.
Brianna turned around with a big smile on her face and her eyes still glued to Katelyn’s mobile phone screen. “’C u tomorrow.’ ‘Now I have something 2 look forward 2.’ ‘Maybe u will find what u r looking 4 after all.’” Brianna rattled on with her mocking tone, reading Katelyn’s chat messages from the night before while making her escape from the room. Katelyn was on her feet now, lunging at her sister and her phone. Suddenly, she was wide awake.
“Give me my phone, you little brat!” She hissed at her sister, who had turned and was making a full run down the hall into the living room.
“Katelyn’s got a boyfriend,” Brianna taunted as she ran toward the kitchen and around to the other side of the table. “Katelyn’s got a boyfriend.”
Katelyn rounded the kitchen in her oversized t-shirt and put on the brakes when she caught sight of her mother sitting on the other side of the table. One hand gripped a coffee cup and the other perched upright like a mannequin’s to keep the cigarette smoke from her eyes. Katelyn instantly checked herself, recognizing her mother’s fragile mood. Her mom’s eyelids drooped, and dark shadows hid in the lines under her tired eyes. Her mouth was set firmly in a partial frown; her whole body slumped. Katelyn usually didn’t mess with her mom when she was in this state. She felt bad for her most of the time, and tried to give her space. No one else seemed to, though.
Brianna waved the phone in the air behind her mom’s head and stuck her tongue out at Katelyn.
Katelyn crossed her arms in front of her. “Real mature,” she said in a snide voice. Brianna, despite being eleven, only three years younger, still acted like a spoiled little kid. Maybe it was because she was the youngest, she just wouldn’t grow up. Of course, Brianna hadn’t been allowed to be the youngest in the past few years. There always seemed to be nieces and nephews from one of their two older sisters staying at the house.
As if on cue, a crying toddler waddled in, saw Katelyn, and headed her way. Kayla was still in her pajamas, and, from the looks of the dirt on her bare feet and the Kool-aid stained mouth, she hadn’t received her bath last night. “Kate’n,” she cried with a new burst of tears generated to gain attention.
Katelyn turned away from her niece to face her mom. “Mom, make her give it back. She’s got my phone,” Katelyn demanded.
“Come and get it,” Brianna teased.
Kayla had reached Katelyn’s legs and pulled on the bottom of her t-shirt. Her niece’s whine took a small break while she sucked in new air. Before she started again, instinctually, Katelyn picked up Kayla and perched her on her hip, which she shifted to one side to counter her weight. Kayla instantly stopped her crying and cuddled into Katelyn’s shoulder.
“Mommm,” Katelyn whined, turning her attention back to her stolen cell phone.
Her mom took her time rubbing out the burned-down cigarette butt in the ashtray without responding. Katelyn’s mom shifted slightly in her chair and drew in a deep breath. Irritation leaked through her every move, but she wouldn’t yell, Katelyn knew. Years ago, when her parents made her see a “family therapist,” Katelyn was asked what she most wanted to change in her home life. Amazingly, with only a few exceptions, her mom gave in to her request: no yelling.
Katelyn and her mom had always had a special bond. Katelyn knew she was cared for differently than her older sisters had been. It was in the motherly actions. Her mom took Katelyn shopping in the petite section, helping her find clothes to fit Katelyn’s short frame and still look like a teenager. And, there were other gifts Katelyn received that were more personable than what her mom bought the other girls. Plus, her mom was always in her business, which was annoying, but showed she cared.
Once, in seventh grade, Katelyn gave her mom a poem she wrote about mothers. Her mom had it framed and hung it just outside the kitchen. Even now, Katelyn would sometimes catch her mom staring at it with a faint look of pride in her eyes.
But, her mom could yell. And, the whole neighborhood knew it. When her mom was mad, her voice boomed and she found words Katelyn knew never to utter herself. The moments of greatest fear in Katelyn’s childhood were those when her mother was yelling at her. The second scariest moments were when her mom yelled at her dad.
Since the family counseling sessions, part of a patch when her parents had separated for a while, her mom made a conscious effort not to yell, at least not at the kids. So, Katelyn was used to her deep breaths and the counting before her mom would respond.
After a smooth exhale without coughing, Katelyn’s mom extended her free hand and held her palm open. She didn’t even have to say a word. Brianna seemed to deflate in front of Katelyn’s eyes and the cell phone was slapped gently into the waiting palm.
“Go get Jacob and Kayla in their car seats,” her mom said to Brianna in a deep, firm tone that left no room for argument. Brianna didn’t look up to see Katelyn’s victory smirk; she stomped down the hall to her mother’s room where Jacob slept in his crib.
Katelyn put the sleepy Kayla down gently. “Go with Auntie Bri and get some clothes. We’ll go on a car ride, okay?” Kayla nodded and left down the hall.
She stood back up to end the morning drama. Katelyn reached an open hand across the table for the mobile phone and humbly said, “Thanks, mom.” But, instead of giving her the phone, her mom held it still and stared at Katelyn.
“Who’s this boy?” Her mom asked.
“He’s just this guy,” Katelyn evaded as best she could.
“What’s his name?”
“Tim,” Katelyn said shortly. “Can I have my phone?”
“Tim who?”
“Felske,” and Katelyn fielded the next question, growing impatient. “You don’t know him. He moved here with his mom from Des Moines last year.” Her mom still stared at her, waiting for more. “What? He’s not my boyfriend. I just met him, and,” Katelyn looked for safe words, both for her and for her mom’s understanding, “and he’s nice. That’s all.”
Still, no movement from her mom. “How old is he?”
“Mom,” Katelyn whined. She was now treading on dangerous ground. Both of her older sisters had hooked up with older boys when they were her age. They were both knocked up by sophomore year. So, Katelyn had to suffer new rules. Katelyn was not to date anyone over 16. Tim was a few months shy of 18. “He’s 16.”
The lie was out of h
er mouth too easily, like all the lies she’d been telling her parents lately. They’d believed all of them: staying over at a friend’s house, a sleep-in at the Recreation Center, and, most recently, her professed innocence at the missing $20 bill out of her mom’s wallet Saturday before she left for Jenny’s.
“Where did you meet him?” Her mom persisted.
Katelyn walked around the table and grabbed the phone out of her mother’s hand. Her mother didn’t resist.
“Geez, mom. Not everything is your business. Can’t I live my own life?” She knew she was being dramatic as she tossed her blonde hair and turned down the hall, but she was uncomfortable about the lie. She turned back as another concern took precedence. “Oh, you’ll have to call school. Gorman said I’ll get in-school suspension if I’m late again.”
Her mom threw her voice after her, “Maybe that’d be a good thing.”
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