When Watched by Leopoldine Core

Author:Leopoldine Core
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-07-14T14:31:22+00:00

Teenage Hate

Joan and Dennis were lying in bed. It was late but the lamp on Joan’s side was still on. She wouldn’t turn it off. She had been talking about their daughter all evening.

“She said she hated me.”

“They all say that.”

“But do they really?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s not just me. Cindy hates everything.”

“Teenagers are mean. They need to be. It’s the first interpretation of seriousness.”

Neither spoke for a few seconds.

“What is it?” Dennis asked.

“I’m just thinking about what you said. I think you might be right.”

“Oh, I am.”

• • •

In the morning Joan made pancakes and Dennis made coffee. Then they sat together sipping from their mugs. Under the table a cat careened into Joan’s shin and slid away, purring wildly. They had two cats, one orange and one white, named Carrot and Sneaker respectively.

Cindy appeared in blue shorts and a white T-shirt. She was taller than both of her parents, with blonde hair and pale green eyes. Without a word she padded into the kitchen and withdrew a cereal box from the cupboard, then stuck half her arm in. After eating a few handfuls she walked off with the box.

“I made pancakes!” Joan called after her. Then she heard Cindy’s door slam shut. “Now what the hell was that?” She turned to Dennis, her nostrils hard.

But he had barely looked up from his food. The sight of Cindy’s new body made him cringe. There was something blurry about it, how she tipped moment by moment between woman and child. Cindy was so beautiful—almost too beautiful. And while Dennis looked away, the whole neighborhood was peeping. Now that she was fifteen it had only gotten worse. It seemed no glance in Cindy’s direction did not attach itself to her as she moved grumpily through a room or down a hall or across a street. As a result she stayed home a lot, playing the same pop songs over and over until she hated them. It was summer and she had no desire to go to camp or spend time with any of her friends. Generally she looked tired because she was. Tired of marshaling the world’s lust for her.

“I don’t think she’s eating enough,” Joan said. “She lives on diet soda . . . these teenage girls—they’re like automatons—they’ll eat anything that does nothing.” She caught his eye. “You think I’m controlling but I’m not.”

He made a neat cut in his pancakes. “You can’t conduct this conversation with yourself in front of me.”

Joan had to laugh at that. She tucked a slice of butter under her top pancake and licked the excess off her knife. “I had to eat at the table when I was a kid. If I had behaved like her my mom would’ve smacked me so hard.”

“Yes, well, my mother smacked me no matter how I behaved,” he said. “We don’t have to demonstrate the abuse we experienced.”

Joan softened. “You’re a lovely man,” she said.

• • •

When Dennis went to work, Joan washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.

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