Thicker Than Blood by Jan English Leary

Author:Jan English Leary [Leary, Jan English]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Literary
ISBN: 9781942515128
Google: NThwrgEACAAJ
Publisher: Fomite
Published: 2015-08-14T18:30:00+00:00

* * *

At dinner, Pearl stabbed at her food, pushing it around her plate, and Andrea studied her face, the broad planes, the coal-black eyebrows, her round cheekbones and widely-spaced eyes. When she looked at Pearl’s full-lipped mouth, all she could think of was what that mouth had done. Although she tried blurring the lines to return her to the ten-year-old who loved her mother more than anyone, she couldn’t wipe out the sight of this petulant adolescent, her face propped on one hand, inky clouds of anger spilling out toward Andrea.

“Don’t you like your fish?” Andrea asked, biting back the urge to point out that Pearl had been snacking all afternoon.

She pushed her plate aside. “Mom, give it a rest. I’m not hungry.” But Andrea knew she’d hear her banging around in the kitchen later, and she’d smell cheese frying.

“We need to talk about what happened,” Andrea said.

“Mom, haven’t I been through enough today? I can’t go over it and over it.”

“Well, then, when can we talk?”

“It was so embarrassing to have to talk about it with all those people. Why can’t I have any privacy?”

“What you did was not private.”

“I know, I know, I know.”

“Pearl, you can’t run away from this. You’re taking huge risks with your health. Don’t you understand?”

“No, Mom, why don’t you explain how babies are made? Do you think I’m stupid?”

Andrea felt the blood rush to her face.

“Pearl, that’s enough,” said Mike. “The two of you need a break from this topic, okay?”

“Exactly,” said Pearl.

“Okay, fine then. Later,” said Andrea. “But did you get all your assignments for the week?”

She dropped her knife and threw up her hands. “Jesus, Mom. Did you not hear Mike? Let’s drop it.”

“Why don’t the two of you just take a deep breath and let this settle,” said Mike, pouring himself another glass of wine. “You’ll have plenty of time to talk about it this week.” Andrea glared at Mike. How dare he treat the two of them like squabbling sisters?

They sat for a few minutes in silence as Pearl continued to mangle her salmon and Andrea felt nauseated and heartsick. “I can’t eat,” Pearl said, getting up and dumping her food in the garbage disposal, the plate clattering in the sink.

After Pearl left, Mike said, “Maybe she’s trying to send a message.”

“And what would that be?”

“I don’t know. That she’s unhappy?”

“But what should we do?”

“We’ll figure it out. Now’s not the time though. This has to settle so we can get some perspective.” He gave her a hug and shooed her into the other room so he could clean up. She sat in front of a re-run of a sitcom about a family with a sassy teenage daughter, knowing it was facile and cheesy, but envying them their closeness and the promise of a solution in half an hour.

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