Pumpkin
Polaroid Family.
Oh God, here we go, a family meeting. We only had these when it was serious business, like when my grandfather died, when my mother cheated, and the discussion about my suicide attempt three years ago. Family meetings were always bad. Why couldn’t it be something good for once? Maybe…
The fire is crackling in our fire place which we now own in our 70’s styled home, Bonnie, Darren, and I are wearing matching Christmas sweaters and grins. We’re a happy family with good moral fiber. Each of us are holding mugs filled with hot cocoa, we each have our own mug with a phrase on it.
Mom raises her glass, ‘worlds best mom’.
Dad raises his, ‘worlds best dad’.
And mine? I’m the world’s best daughter.
“To family, the holidays, and God!” My mom says cheerfully, we all smile even wider and clink our glasses together and sip at our drinks. Aren’t we just the perfect family? Holiday card material.
“Oh before we forget, dear,” my mother says quickly, setting her mug on the counter and turning towards me. Her chestnut eyes are filled with love and compassion, nothing false in those irises. “We have a surprise for you, Annie.”
My dad gets up, he’s holding something behind his back. I can feel my heart racing with excitement, “Golly mom, what could it be?”
“It’s…” He held out three tickets in front of my face, “A trip to Disneyland!”
“Goodness!”
“And a puppy!” A small golden retriever runs out from behind the Christmas tree with a red ribbon around it’s neck. “Thank you, I love you guys so much! You’re the best parents ever!”
No. It’s not a puppy and it’s not tickets to Disneyland. They’re tickets to England because we’re moving there.
My parents stare down at me anxiously waiting for any sort of emotion. I think they’re expecting me to flip the table over and scream at them, tell them I refuse to leave. Or maybe they’re expecting me to jump over the table and hug them until they can’t breathe. ‘oh mommy, oh daddy, everything is better again!’
I don’t think things will ever be better. Honestly.. I’m quite content with that.
“Okay.”
They have matching looks of confusion on their faces, "Just okay?" My mom asks me. She sighs and moves towards me. Oh no, here we go with some sort of self involvement speech. She sits next to me and takes my hand, I couldn't help but stare at her wedding ring before moving my gaze to her. "Darling, why don't you talk to us? I can never get an actual sentence out of you. Always with the one word answers." She lightly squeezed my hand with a pleading look on her face, "Say something. Trust us, we'll listen."
I glanced back and forth between my parents, eyes on their wedding rings. If they betrayed each others trust how could I expect to trust them? "I'm excited," I said with a forced smile, "Just needed to let it process. I can't wait to go." The two of them grin but make no move for any sort of embrace, that's not how Bonnie and Darren are. They avoid any sort of physical affection even towards me. I know they love me and all but a bit of reassurance here and there wouldn't be too horrid.
The fire is crackling in our fire place which we now own in our 70’s styled home, Bonnie, Darren, and I are wearing matching Christmas sweaters and grins. We’re a happy family with good moral fiber. Each of us are holding mugs filled with hot cocoa, we each have our own mug with a phrase on it.
Mom raises her glass, ‘worlds best mom’.
Dad raises his, ‘worlds best dad’.
And mine? I’m the world’s best daughter.
“To family, the holidays, and God!” My mom says cheerfully, we all smile even wider and clink our glasses together and sip at our drinks. Aren’t we just the perfect family? Holiday card material.
“Oh before we forget, dear,” my mother says quickly, setting her mug on the counter and turning towards me. Her chestnut eyes are filled with love and compassion, nothing false in those irises. “We have a surprise for you, Annie.”
My dad gets up, he’s holding something behind his back. I can feel my heart racing with excitement, “Golly mom, what could it be?”
“It’s…” He held out three tickets in front of my face, “A trip to Disneyland!”
“Goodness!”
“And a puppy!” A small golden retriever runs out from behind the Christmas tree with a red ribbon around it’s neck. “Thank you, I love you guys so much! You’re the best parents ever!”
No. It’s not a puppy and it’s not tickets to Disneyland. They’re tickets to England because we’re moving there.
My parents stare down at me anxiously waiting for any sort of emotion. I think they’re expecting me to flip the table over and scream at them, tell them I refuse to leave. Or maybe they’re expecting me to jump over the table and hug them until they can’t breathe. ‘oh mommy, oh daddy, everything is better again!’
I don’t think things will ever be better. Honestly.. I’m quite content with that.
“Okay.”
They have matching looks of confusion on their faces, "Just okay?" My mom asks me. She sighs and moves towards me. Oh no, here we go with some sort of self involvement speech. She sits next to me and takes my hand, I couldn't help but stare at her wedding ring before moving my gaze to her. "Darling, why don't you talk to us? I can never get an actual sentence out of you. Always with the one word answers." She lightly squeezed my hand with a pleading look on her face, "Say something. Trust us, we'll listen."
I glanced back and forth between my parents, eyes on their wedding rings. If they betrayed each others trust how could I expect to trust them? "I'm excited," I said with a forced smile, "Just needed to let it process. I can't wait to go." The two of them grin but make no move for any sort of embrace, that's not how Bonnie and Darren are. They avoid any sort of physical affection even towards me. I know they love me and all but a bit of reassurance here and there wouldn't be too horrid.