The Trouble With Girls
Today started out pretty well. The sun was shining, my brothers and I flew through our chores, my mom cooked a huge breakfast, complete with my favorite chocolate chip pancakes, and to top it off, I had managed to be the first to get in the shower this morning, guaranteeing that the water wouldn’t turn cold halfway through.
I should have known that it wasn’t gonna last.
Just as we were about to head out the door to catch the bus, mom called us back to the kitchen.
“Listen, boys. I need you all to come straight home from school today.” She said as she dried her hands on the dish towel, she was holding.
“I was gonna go hang out with Coop after school, mom,” I said, confused about why she suddenly needed us home.
“Coop’s?” My younger brother, Tommy, interrupted. “I thought you were taking me and Beau swimmin’?”
“I can’t today, kid-”
“But you promised!” Beau spoke up next, looking up at me with the most fierce look he could manage.
“Enough.” Mom’s sharp tone immediately silenced the three of us, and we all looked back at her. “Now, everyone’s plans have changed. The new family that moved in down the road, you know, the Bennetts? I’ve invited them for supper tonight, and I want you all here.”
And with those few words, our pretty good day had suddenly turned pretty rotten.
The Bennett’s had moved to town a few weeks before, and while we didn’t know the adults in the family, we sure had gotten to know their kids. They had three daughters, Rachel, Amber, and Sarah, and as luck would have it, they were our ages, and we each had classes with them. Let’s just say they certainly made an impression.
“Amber’s comin’ here?” Tommy exclaimed.
“And Sarah?” Asked Beau with a look of pure disgust on his face.
“Yes, they are.” Mom answered, then turned to me. “And before you ask, yes, so is Rachel. They are all coming, and you three are going to be on your absolute best behavior.”
“Awe, mom!” Tommy groaned, “Do we havta?”
“Yes, you do, young man.” Mom said sternly.
“I will if she will,” Beau said stubbornly as he crossed his arms over his small chest.
“Excuse me?”
“Sarah is mean, and she thinks she knows everything, and all she ever talks about is her dumb ol’ sisters. I don’t like her!”
Mom put her hands on her hips and glared down at my littlest brother. Beau was only five, but he sure could dig his heels in the ground if he wanted to, and it looked like this might be one of those times. But before I could jump in to help him, Mom had already full named him.
“Beauregard Matthew Anderson! That was not very nice at all.”
“But mom, they’re not nice.” I finally cut in, bringing her attention away from Beau and on to me. “I don’t know much about Amber and Sarah, but I sure know about Rachel, and I’m tellin’ you, she’s a spoilt little brat! Ever since they moved here, she walks around the school like she owns the place, flirting with half the guys on the football team at once. There’s already been a fight that broke out over her last week!”
My mom was a force to be reckoned with on a regular day, but when she leveled us all with a glare that would have had most grown men backing up a step or two, we shut up and paid attention.
“Now you listen here, all three of you,” she began, “You’re going to come straight home from school, and I don’t want to hear another word about it. And when those young ladies get here, you will treat them with the utmost respect and kindness. You will make polite conversation with them and do your best to include them in whatever you do. Because so help me, boys, if you don’t, we’ll be having an entirely different conversation when they leave. Have I made myself clear?”
Even at almost sixteen, I’m not ashamed to say that her lecture had me hanging my head by the time she was done. It wasn’t often that it happened, but when my dad felt the need to call one of us out on something, I could usually hold my head up and shoulders back and take it. But when it came to mom! She just had this way of making me feel about two inches tall.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said with a sigh.
My brothers echoed my response with a “Yes,” and a “Yes, mama” of their own before we were quickly sent out of the kitchen with a sharp nod and told to hurry so we didn’t miss the bus.
Yeah, today was gonna be just wonderful.
I spent the entire day at school dreading dinner that evening. Mom could say what she wanted, but making nice with Rachel for a few hours was gonna be harder than she was making it seem. She didn’t know them!
As soon as we came into the house after school, Mom immediately sent us all out to get started on our chores so that we could get ready and be “presentable” before dinner. While the boys went to the barn, I sought out my dad in the back pasture, where he was mending a part of the fence that had been hit by a fallen tree during the last storm.
“Hey, Wes.” He greeted me by tossing a bag of nails in my direction. I caught them easily but sat them back down on the tailgate of the truck so that I could pull my gloves on.
“So Mom’s pretty hung up on this dinner tonight,” I said as he held a 2x4 in place while I hammered in the nails.
Dad grinned. It was slow and easy, and it made his eyes crinkle in the corners. I could tell he was in a good mood.
“She just wants to make a good impression.”
“I get that. But, c’mon, Dad. Rachel? Really?”
“You know, it's been a while since your mom has had someone close by that she could talk to. First, she lost Coop’s mom, then Anna’s mom last year. She needs somebody, Wesley.”
I looked up at him miserably. “So I guess you want me to make nice with Rachel, huh?”
He nodded. “I’d really appreciate it, kiddo.”
I sighed. Well, don’t that just put the icing on the cake?
The Bennett’s arrived around five that evening, and supper wasn’t due to be ready until six. That meant that I had a whole hour that I was gonna have to entertain our “guests.”
Mr. Bennett had settled on the couch and was immediately engrossed in the western that my dad was watching, while his wife (who was actually really nice) offered to help mom out in the kitchen.
Not quite willing to face the music just yet, I took a seat on the arm of the chair that dad was sitting on. That is until he nudged me in the rib and inclined his head towards the kitchen where all the girls and my brothers were. I gave him my best hangdog expression, complete with a set of puppy dog eyes that could have given Beau a run for his money, but all I got in return was a stern look from dad as he reached over and hooked his finger in my belt loop, tugging me to my feet with a quick pull.
I groaned quietly but didn’t argue as I headed for the kitchen.
When I got there, Mom was pouring glasses of sweet tea and passing them out to everyone.
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Anderson.” Rachel said with what I knew was a fake smile as she tossed her dark brown hair over her shoulder.
I looked over to where Beau and Tommy were sitting at the kitchen table and rolled my eyes.
Tommy grinned, but Beau just pouted with his arms crossed. The little blonde girl sitting next to him was talking about a mile a minute, and Beau looked like he would rather eat nails than talk back to her.
He was saved from having to when mom spoke up.
“Wesley, how about you and the boys take the girls out onto the front porch to hang out while we finish up in here?”
I grudgingly nodded and waited for the girls to pass before the three of us followed them out to the porch. Sarah and Amber sat in the porch swing, leaving Beau and Tommy to sit on the steps while Rachel and I sat in the two Adirondack chairs.
Feeling like I should at least try and break the silence, I turned to Rachel and said, “So, how do you like the town so far?”
“I don’t.” She answered shortly.
“How come?” Beau asked curiously.
“She doesn’t like living in the country,” Sarah answered for her as she swung her legs back and forth, making the swing go higher.
“I don’t blame her,” said Amber quietly.
“Me either.” Sarah skidded her feet across the wood floor of the porch and stopped the swing before hopping off and coming over to sit in Rachel’s lap. “There are too many bugs out here.”
Beau narrowed his blue eyes. “Don’t ya got bugs in the city?”
Sarah made a face at Beau, and he retaliated by sticking his tongue out at her.
“Beau,” I said warningly.
He turned away and propped his elbows up on his knees as he stared out towards the road in silence.
But Sarah wasn’t finished. “Amber’s going to win the science fair at school! That’s the only reason she likes it here.”
Tommy perked up at that. “Who says she’s gonna win?”
“I do,” Amber said, for once her voice carried over the porch.
“You wish,” Tommy replied, standing up and leaning against one of the posts. “I’ve been working on my project for months. Wesley’s been helping me.”
“Yeah, well, Rachel’s been helping me!”
“Hey!” I called, gaining everyone’s attention. “Look. Obviously, y’all don’t want to be here-”
“You got that right.” Rachel interrupted.
I grit my teeth and glared over at her. “And we don’t want you here. We at least agree on that much. But nobody’s arguing tonight. Let’s just get through this dinner so we can all go back to our lives.”
Tommy and Beau both looked like they wanted to say something, but I shook my head at them, and for once, they listened. Instead, they chose to turn away from the group altogether and talk quietly with their heads bowed low towards one another. Sarah went back to the swing with her sister, and Rachel and I sat silently watching them all.
I just prayed that this night would end soon.
I would have bet my entire savings (which admittedly wasn’t a lot) on the fact that this night couldn’t get any worse.
I would have lost.
Dinner started out okay. We sat at the big table in the dining room with the girls on one side and us on the other, our parents were on the ends. We passed the food around, and everyone had heaping platefuls. My mom is the most amazing cook you’ll ever meet, and she had gone all out tonight.
Baked chicken with mashed potatoes, green beans, roasted carrots, and rolls. With a homemade apple pie for dessert.
And that’s where it started going downhill.
The green beans were on the other side of the table, closer to Rachel and Sarah. Beau reached over to grab them for seconds and accidentally turned the bowl over, spilling green beans everywhere.
“Beau!” Mom exclaimed, but before she could even get up, Sarah picked up a bean and said, “Hey! Watch it!” Then she tossed it into the air, hitting Beau on the arm with it.
“You watch it!” Tommy said in defense of Beau before he put several beans in his spoon and catapulted them across the table, hitting Rachel and Sarah with them.
Of course, Rachel screeched like a banshee as they landed in her hair.
Then, without thinking, I laughed.
That did it.
Before anyone could stop her or even call out, Rachel sent me the most vial look I’d ever had the displeasure of receiving, and then she scooped a handful of carrots out of her plate and flung them at me, splattering my white button-down orange.
And then it was on.
For the next several seconds, the kitchen was in chaos as the food was being thrown from six different directions. I got hit several times by who knows what, but it didn’t matter. Me, Tommy, and Beau gave as good as we got.
Until we didn’t.
The next thing I knew, my dad had my arm in a vice-like grip as he glared down at me, making me rethink my decision to throw the potatoes I currently held in my hand at Rachel. Tommy and Beau had stopped throwing food, too, as had the girls.
If my dad hadn’t been standing so close to me, I was sure I would have been thrilled to see that their parents were glaring hard at them too.
“Do you want to tell me what in the world has gotten into you, boy?!”
I could feel the heat of embarrassment rising in my face at being scolded in front of everyone. “Me? I-”
“I do not care!” He growled, his voice low. “We’ll talk about this later.”
I didn’t say anything. There was a ringing in my ears that was so loud, that I was surprised I could even hear him. I nodded, and he let go of my arm.
A few minutes later, now that dinner was clearly over, the Bennett’s were leaving, and I knew what was coming.
“Boys, apologize to our guests,” Dad said in that no-nonsense tone.
“Sorry.” Said Tommy immediately, though he didn’t seem any more sorry than the rest of us.
“Go on, Beau,” Dad said when Beau stalled, staring down at his feet.
“I’m sorry.” He ground out.
I knew he was waiting on me now, but I just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t sorry, and I didn’t feel like pretending to be. It wasn’t going to change anything anyway. We were still in a world of trouble, and handing out fake apologies wasn’t gonna make it better. My arms were crossed as I glared down at my boots.
I felt a heavy hand drop down onto my shoulder, and I knew without looking up that it was dad.
When I still didn’t say anything, he leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Wesley. Apologize, now!”
I turned my head away from him and looked off to the side before finally looking back up at Rachel. “I’m sorry you got potatoes in your hair. But it’s kind of a good look for you.”
“Wesley James!” I heard mom exclaim from behind me somewhere, and suddenly I did feel ashamed, if only just a little bit, at being a part of ruining her dinner.
All too soon, the Bennett’s car was heading down the driveway, and Dad was standing in front of the three of us, arms crossed and glowering like an angry bear.
“I am ashamed of all of you. What could any of you possibly have to say for yourselves?”
“They started it!” Tommy exclaimed.
Dad shook his head. “I don’t care who started it. Any one of y’all could have ended it. But you didn’t.” He stood directly in front of me now, “We talked about how important this dinner was to your mother, did we not?”
“Yes, sir.” I said with a sigh. Currently, mom was upstairs taking a shower. No one had been spared during the food fight. I could feel bits of apple pie in my own hair and even dripping down my neck.
Dad nodded as he seemed to decide something. He took a step away from us and said,
“You all get in there and get that kitchen cleaned up. I’m going to take a shower when your mom gets out and when I come back down here, it better be so clean, it shines! Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.” We all said in unison.
“Good. We can talk more about this when you’re done.”
And with that, he left the room.
A few hours later, I was lying face down on my bed, my pillow tucked under my chin as I absently traced the scratches in the wood of my old, worn-out headboard. My mind was lost in thought about everything that had happened that day. I couldn’t believe a morning that had looked so promising had turned into what it had.
“I thought I told you to go to bed.” I heard dad say from my doorway.
“I’m in bed,” I answered, turning slowly around so that I could look at him. I quickly wished I hadn’t. He looked so disappointed. “Sorry,” I said.
He snorted. “Is that a real apology?”
I winced. “I’m sorry about that, too.”
Dad came fully inside and sat at my desk chair. “I don’t think I’m the one you should be saying that to.”
“Yeah, I kinda figured that was coming.”
He nodded. “Yep. And just like I told the boys, you’re grounded for the next week, and you’ve all got dish duty every night.”
“Yes, sir.” Really it wasn’t that bad.
“Alright.” He said as he stood up, “Go to sleep, Wesley. You look as tired as I feel.”
“Yeah, well, discussions with you kinda have that effect on a kid.”
He laughed. “I love you, son.”
“Love you, too, dad.”
I watched him turn off my lights before he walked out of my room and closed the door, then I rolled back over onto my stomach and prayed hard that tomorrow would be a better day.
End
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