On the ride home, Zhenna happily recounted a few funny moments to her parents. While her father laughed, her mother didn’t react and kept staring out the window.
“Mom, did you hear what I said?” Zhenna asked, leaning between the seats to look at her mother as the car pulled up to their home.
But her mother exited the vehicle, continuing to ignore her.
“Ⴘꕤꮺǂ ഒ𓍼ꕤ ⌕ഒଘഒ⋈”
“丂ｲひｱﾉり ｷのﾚ 刀乇√尺 ﾚ乇ﾑ尺刀丂”
Zhenna dragged her things from the car hesitantly and slowly made her way into the house. Her parents had disappeared into their room, and Reuben and his sitter were both watching cartoons.
“Hey Reub.”
“Zhenna!” Her little brother shouted, springing from his seat and running to hug his sister. “You won’t believe what happened today!”
Reuben excitedly recounted the biggest event of his day. A snake had been found at his school and in his class, no less! The little boy’s excitement was insurmountable.
“I wasn’t afraid. My friend Benji heard it first, and then I saw it. Mrs. Haywood thought we were making it up. And then she saw it too!” Reuben broke into bubbly laughter. “She screamed and ran out of the class. Then they made us line up in the yard. They didn’t call the police or anything. There’s a guy that lives near the school; he catches snakes! He said he was going to eat the one he caught. I didn’t know you could eat snakes! Did you know that?”
“Is that guy the one with the grey beard and the dread locks?”
“Yeah! How’d you know?”
Zhenna nodded and tousled her brother’s hair. “Same thing happened when I was in second grade. They called him to get rid of it, and he also told us he was going to eat it.”
“Do people really eat snakes?” Reuben asked concerned and disgusted.
“I don’t know; let’s go look it up.”
The children hurried to their father’s art room and searched the internet for answers. To their shock, people really did eat snakes. The children started down the rabbit hole of snake prepping and recipes.
“Zhenna, go do your school work!” Their mother shouted from the doorway. The scowl on her face entertained no explanation of their actions or objections. “Always wasting time playing stupid games. Don’t drag Reuben down with you.”
“We weren’t playing games, Mom. We wanted to know if it was possible to eat a snake.” Zhenna said defensively, ushering Reuben out before her.
“Don’t talk back to me! You always have some excuse.”
As Zhenna made her way to her room, her mother followed behind, recounting her academic failures and insulting her.
“Useless like your damned father.”
“丂乇ﾚ乇丂”
“Won’t get your act together. Only causing trouble in school. I sent you to school to learn. What are you doing, getting detention?!”
“𓍼ଘꕤꉂ𓍼”
Zhenna turned around to face her mother, “What are you talking about?” She asked as confusedly as she could muster.
“Don’t play stupid with me, Zhenna. Ellen told me you had detention today. Did I send you to school to embarrass me?!” Her mother asked, with raging fire in her eyes.
Ellen? “Who’s Ellen?”
“The secretary at your school! Ellen Francique.”
Fricken fat Francique!
“丂ん乇丂 ムのｲ 乇ﾘ乇丂 乇√乇尺ﾘWん乇尺乇.”
“𝓢⋈⋆ ꉂഒ﹅﹅ 𓂅﹅ꉂ𓂅๑𓍼 ⌯ଘꕤꉂ ⋆⌗⋆ǂ๑ᯅ⋈ഒଘꗃ ๑ꕤꮺ 𓍼𓂅๑ 𓂅ଘ⊹ ⊹ꕤ ꕤꮺᯅ𓍼ഒ⊹⋆.”
Zhenna’s mother grabbed her by her shirt and shook her before slapping her across the face. “I didn’t send you to school to make trouble! When I was your age, I had my head on. I was the top of my class. What rank were you last term, huh? Eleventh! Even Marcela’s daughter ranked higher than you, and all she thinks about is boys. Don’t even get me started on that. What are you doing, sending threats to a girl in another high school over a boy?”
“I didn’t do that!” Zhenna shouted, pushing her way out of her mother’s hold.
“Yes, you did! That’s why you had detention today!” Her mother accused reaching for her shirt again.
Zhenna pushed her mother’s hands away and dodged to the side. Her actions enraged her mother more. “You don’t even know why I had detention!”
“You’re trying to embarrass me!” Her mother shouted, stepping forward and pushing her back.
Zhenna’s feet met no resistance, and panic gripped her as she fell backwards, her hands clawing the wall and railing for purchase as she tumbled down the stairs. Zhenna lay awkwardly on the landing, pain shooting through her right arm. She gripped her disfigured shoulder as she stared up at her mother.
Zhenna’s father rushed to her aid while her mother walked away. Her father, realising the shoulder was dislocated, set it right back. Pain shot through Zhenna’s arm and back, making her cry out in agony. While the sharp pain in her arm had decreased, a throbbing pain settled into her right hand. Zhenna rotated her wrist.
“Dad, can you check the wrist too?” She asked through clenched teeth.
“It might be sprained.” Her father added after his inspection. He secured both her shoulder and wrist with KT tape before giving her two painkillers. “What happened?” He asked, packing up the first-aid kit.
Zhenna recounted the events surrounding her wrongful accusation, the outcome of the school’s investigation, and how her repeated late arrivals for the month were the reason for her detention. Her father nodded his understanding and patted her knee reassuringly as he left.
Zhenna stayed on the stairs for a few moments, thinking about her interaction with her mother. She needed to ask her mother for help with Kaitlyn, but now that she was in a bad mood, she wasn’t going to be able to talk to her for a while. Movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Reuben was staring at her from between the decorative wooden posts of the balcony. Zhenna raised her hand in a thumbs-up as she gave her brother a smile.
“Are you okay?” Reuben asked Zhenna quietly as the two lay on her bed, cuddling.
“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt much. You know how strong I am. Remember Davidsson?” Zhenna reassured her brother.
Reuben nodded excitedly.
“Reub, you know you can’t talk about this, right?”
The little boy nodded slowly.
“If anyone asks?”
“You were playing on the railing and fell down the stairs.”
“That’s right.” Zhenna kissed her brother’s forehead. “Don’t trust anyone, Reub... Not even Grandma. Anything you say outside, she’ll find out, and it will make things worse.”
“What about Dad?”
“Dad’s not going to do anything. It will only make things worse. But no matter what, I’ll always on your side. I promise.”
ns 15.158.61.23da2
