“Ma, I’ve got to finish reading this and write a report on the Titanic for tomorrow. Can’t you take them with you?”
It was unseasonably cold for late October. The house was chilly except for the kitchen and the area around the wood stove where Benjamin had been working quietly since he got home from school.
“I don’t want to take the girls out in this weather. Keep them here by the fire with you. Keep doing what you’re doing. Just read out loud. They won’t care what you read. My babies just love to be read to, don’t you?”
Two heads bobbed up and down. One was covered with blonde curls, the other with perfectly straight brown hair.
Benjamin slammed his book closed. “I don’t have any time to myself. I don’t even have my own room.” All of his pent-up frustration poured out.
“Benjamin, I don’t have time to discuss this now. I must get over to Sarah’s before dark. Just keep an eye on your sisters until I get back. That’s all I’m asking of you.”
Pearl and Rose nervously watched the tension between their mother and Benjamin. At three years old they were old enough to know that something was wrong and that it had something to do with them.
Benjamin swore under his breath. Irene glared at him as she pulled on her heavy jacket and boots. “We’ll talk about this when I get back.” A gust of cold air blew into the room as she left.
“Mama said to read to us.”
“Go to hell, Pearl.”
“I’m telling Mama you said a bad word.”
Benjamin threw the book across the room. “I don’t care what you tell her.” He stalked out, slamming the door behind him.
Pearl sat down on the carpet in front of the wood stove. “What we going to do now, Rosie?”
“Nothing. He’ll be back.” She stretched out next to Pearl. The house was quiet except for the crackling of the fire. Lulled by the warmth and the silence, both girls soon fell asleep. When they awoke the house was dark and the fire was almost out. Rose stood up, groggily wiping her eyes.
“We better put some more wood on that fire.”
“Mama said not to mess with the fire.”
Rose rolled her eyes at her sister. “Would you rather freeze to death?” She opened the stove.
“Hurry up, Pearl. Drop in a piece of wood.”
Reluctantly, Pearl did as she was told.
“Now throw in some sticks.”
Immediately revived by the dry kindling, the fire leapt through the opening before Rose could drop the cover. “Get out of the way, Pearl!”
Pearl was immobilized. She watched helplessly as flames crawled up the sleeve of her sweater.
She might have died, if Grover had not come in at that instant. He immediately threw Pearl down on the carpet and covered her with is own body, smothering the flames.
When Irene returned from Sarah’s she found Grover cradling his screaming daughter in his arms. “You left them alone!”
“No! I didn’t. Benjamin was here. He was watching them.” She ran over to Rose. “Where is he? Where is your brother, Rose?
“He left us.”
Grover handed Pearl to Irene. “You take her. I’m going to go find him and when I do he’s going to wish he was dead.”
“Grover, wait. Don’t hurt him.” But he was already gone.
She carefully removed the charred sweater. Pearl screamed as her skin peeled away with the sweater. The room was filled with the smell of burned flesh. She cleaned and dressed the burns. The worst were between the wrist and elbow of her left arm. She held Pearl in her lap, gently rocking her until she finally slept. Rose, who had hardly uttered a word while her mother cared for Pearl, watched mutely from the sofa.
The silence was broken when Grover came in, gripping Benjamin by the arm. His face was bloody and his eye was swollen shut.
Irene gasped. “Grover, what have you done?”
“I’m not finished.” He pushed Benjamin roughly to the stove and forced him to his knees. Then he seized his hand and pressed his palm against the hot stove. “How does that feel, you ungrateful little shit?”
Benjamin struggled to free himself but Grover was too strong.
“Grover! Stop it. Let him go.” Powerless, she could only watch as her son’s agony. Finally, Grover let go. Benjamin collapsed on the floor, writhing in pain as his stepfather calmly walked out of the house.
* * *
After that Benjamin seldom acknowledged his sisters or spoke to his mother. When he did, his words echoed the harsh tone of his stepfather. Pearl’s burns healed but they left her arm badly scarred.
Grover continued to leave the house at dawn to tend the fields. When he returned at dusk he usually went straight up to the bedroom only pausing long enough to exchange a few words with Pearl and Rose. “I hope you two stayed out of trouble today?”
“Yes, Papa. We were real good.”
The twins’ earnestness charmed him but he quickly hid his amusement by covering his mouth with his hand. The twins ate supper alone. Benjamin ate on the back porch. Irene took a plate to Grover upstairs and she just picked at what was left while she cleaned up.
In spite of their father’s remoteness, the twins loved him. When he was around they competed for his attention. Irene was astonished when her otherwise calloused husband invited his daughters up on this knees. The girls laughed with glee as he bounced them up and down and chanted, “Ride the old horse. Ride the old horse. Ride the old horse to Baneberry Cross…” It was the only time he smiled.
Irene looked over at Benjamin who was watching Grover play with the twins. “Benjamin, when you were their age, your Papa would bounce you on his knee just like that. You’d laugh and squeal so loud that old Blue would howl his head off.” She paused, remembering how sweet their lives had been. Benjamin turned away without speaking.
The affection between Grover and the girls only intensified Benjamin’s hatred for his stepfather and fueled his resentment for his sisters. Irene hoped that with time Grover’s heart, softened by his daughters, would one day grow to love her and her son but the only time Grover touched her were the rare occasions when he rolled on top of her and pushed himself inside her. She didn’t refuse him, considering it her duty. One night after he had finished and rolled back over to his side of the bed Irene ventured, “Grover, I wish you would spend a little time with Benjamin. I know you’re tired when you get home but it would be nice if the two of you could spend some time together.”
“Irene, those girls are mine. He ain’t. He don’t like me and I don’t like him. That’s the way it is. You might as well accept it. Now be quiet and let me sleep. Dawn comes early, woman.”Irene sighed. As time passed she abandoned any hope that Grover would change
No comments:
Post a Comment