dining room table. She knew it was childish, but how else could she express her anger? She didn’t want to be there. A beautiful boy wanted to be with her. She wanted to be with him. But here she was, trapped with her three least favorite people in the world, playing out some sort of fake happy family moment.
Taking a seat on the opposite end of the oval table from her mother, Saki took a big scoop of mashed potatoes and slapped it on her plate, trying to get a response from her mother. To Saki‘s surprise, everyone at the table remained silent.
Wanting to push it a little more, she grabbed another large scoop and slopped that down as well. Still nothing. So retrieving one of the baked pork chops from the pool of gravy, she dropped it on her plate and dug in.
If nothing else, the food was good. It was her mother’s one saving grace—she could cook. The pork chops were laden with spices, while the mashed potatoes were fluffy and caked with salt and butter. Saki managed to get through half of it before the silence was again broken.
In a lighter voice, her mother spoke up. “I want you girls to understand that when a man isn’t being good to you, you can’t be with him. No matter how hard it is, you need to get away from him. That’s why I had to leave Bill.”
Her mother’s words made her want to throw up everything she had been fed. Saki couldn’t believe that her mother was playing the victim. “Maybe if you were nicer to him…” Saki said staring down at her meal.
“What did you say?” Her mother asked with indignation.
“You’re pretending like you had nothing to do with it. But maybe if you were nicer to him, he would have been nicer to you.”
“How dare you speak to me like that? I’m trying to teach you something about the way you let people treat you. I’m trying to teach you about life.”
“What do you know about life? All you know about is how to control people. That’s why he wasn’t nice to you, because all you wanted to do was control him like you control us. But it didn’t work on him, and you couldn’t take that fact.”
“How dare you speak to your mother like that?”
“You think that all we are to you are your little puppets. We have lives too, you know.”
“I am here struggling to put a roof over your head and food on the table. Do you think that Bill wanted you to stay there? Is that what you believe? No, you were only there because he wanted me. He didn’t want you. So if you like your friends and the life you had there, then you have me to thank for it, not him. You understand?”
Saki‘s body shook with anger. She never hated her mother more. She wished she could jump across the table and shake her until she saw the truth.
“Do you understand me?”
Saki wanted to scream. She was no longer a child, and her mother couldn’t hit her anymore. But sitting under her roof, eating her food, Saki couldn’t speak. She wanted out desperately. She wanted to be free of the consequences of her mother’s bad decisions.
Saki felt like she was suffocating. She felt like the walls were closing in. The more intensely that her mother stared at her, the more she felt like she was going to explode. She needed to get out, but locked in her mother’s gaze, she couldn’t move.
“I said, do you understand me?” Her mother yelled at the top of her lungs.
“You’re a bastard. Do you hear me? You’re a bastard.”
The dining room table shook as her mother moved her large mass from underneath it. Saki, startled out of her frozen obedience, scrambled out of her chair. Her mother was charging her like a bull. Saki knew the beating that she would receive if she didn’t escape, and she wouldn’t be able to hide it even if she wanted to.
Saki ran to the door, unlatched it, and was on the concrete path toward the chain-link fence before she looked back again.
“Come back here, do you hear me? Get back here now, or I will never let you in again. If you think you’re a grown
Taking a seat on the opposite end of the oval table from her mother, Saki took a big scoop of mashed potatoes and slapped it on her plate, trying to get a response from her mother. To Saki‘s surprise, everyone at the table remained silent.
Wanting to push it a little more, she grabbed another large scoop and slopped that down as well. Still nothing. So retrieving one of the baked pork chops from the pool of gravy, she dropped it on her plate and dug in.
If nothing else, the food was good. It was her mother’s one saving grace—she could cook. The pork chops were laden with spices, while the mashed potatoes were fluffy and caked with salt and butter. Saki managed to get through half of it before the silence was again broken.
In a lighter voice, her mother spoke up. “I want you girls to understand that when a man isn’t being good to you, you can’t be with him. No matter how hard it is, you need to get away from him. That’s why I had to leave Bill.”
Her mother’s words made her want to throw up everything she had been fed. Saki couldn’t believe that her mother was playing the victim. “Maybe if you were nicer to him…” Saki said staring down at her meal.
“What did you say?” Her mother asked with indignation.
“You’re pretending like you had nothing to do with it. But maybe if you were nicer to him, he would have been nicer to you.”
“How dare you speak to me like that? I’m trying to teach you something about the way you let people treat you. I’m trying to teach you about life.”
“What do you know about life? All you know about is how to control people. That’s why he wasn’t nice to you, because all you wanted to do was control him like you control us. But it didn’t work on him, and you couldn’t take that fact.”
“How dare you speak to your mother like that?”
“You think that all we are to you are your little puppets. We have lives too, you know.”
“I am here struggling to put a roof over your head and food on the table. Do you think that Bill wanted you to stay there? Is that what you believe? No, you were only there because he wanted me. He didn’t want you. So if you like your friends and the life you had there, then you have me to thank for it, not him. You understand?”
Saki‘s body shook with anger. She never hated her mother more. She wished she could jump across the table and shake her until she saw the truth.
“Do you understand me?”
Saki wanted to scream. She was no longer a child, and her mother couldn’t hit her anymore. But sitting under her roof, eating her food, Saki couldn’t speak. She wanted out desperately. She wanted to be free of the consequences of her mother’s bad decisions.
Saki felt like she was suffocating. She felt like the walls were closing in. The more intensely that her mother stared at her, the more she felt like she was going to explode. She needed to get out, but locked in her mother’s gaze, she couldn’t move.
“I said, do you understand me?” Her mother yelled at the top of her lungs.
“You’re a bastard. Do you hear me? You’re a bastard.”
The dining room table shook as her mother moved her large mass from underneath it. Saki, startled out of her frozen obedience, scrambled out of her chair. Her mother was charging her like a bull. Saki knew the beating that she would receive if she didn’t escape, and she wouldn’t be able to hide it even if she wanted to.
Saki ran to the door, unlatched it, and was on the concrete path toward the chain-link fence before she looked back again.
“Come back here, do you hear me? Get back here now, or I will never let you in again. If you think you’re a grown
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