The sun shone through the windows, light was rare at this time of year and the new family was spending the time accordingly, by staying inside.
Marjorie, indifferent to her mother's biased personality, liked to spend her time with her brother. She would play marbles with him on the driveway on decent days, she would play cards and watch Looney tunes on the small television on rainy days.
The friendship between the two was greater than any person had with another in the house. Rose and Damian's relationship was peeling away and revealing deep cracks in the foundation of their lives. Rose would leave after dinner and come back in the early hours of the morning every Saturday. John dreaded to hear the sound of the crunch of tires on the pavement. Not because it woke him up, what did wake him up was hearing they keys entering the lock in the door and the rush of little feet.
"Mommy mommy!"
Marjorie dashed through the halls and into her mother's arms.
Rose would welcome her with open arms and whisper into her ear how much she had missed her sweet little baby.
Sundays were the worst. The house would be littered with hair curlers and ciggerate buds. Little John would go toddling around the living room placeing the buds into the ashtray he held wobbly in his right hand.
Damian was a good sport most of the time, he would greet his wife with a kiss, his daughter with a kiss on the forehead, but with his son he would pick him up off the chair and throw him up in the air.
John would giggle in happened as his father made airplane noises.
"Not at the table dam"
Damian would look at his wife with a fading smile.
"Alright."
Even though they covered it, they're voices were thick with tension. They always have eachother looks over the food rose had hastily prepared. Each looking down before the other noticed the watchful eyes.
On bad days, John and Marjorie snuck out to the almond tree. It was taller now, and the springtime blossoms created a peaceful environment to play in.
"Why do you think they fight?"
Said Marjorie as she swung from the thickest branch of the tree.
Blossoms were shaken to and fro as John tried to climb up the trunk.
"I dunno.... I think it has something to do with my mommy."
Marjorie dropped to the ground and tilted her head in cunfusion. Some of the stray blossoms fell from the air and settled into her blonde treses.
"But my mommy is your mommy."
She reached up to a shorter branch and swung her legs up the trunk.
"Daddy says I look like mommy, and your mommy doesn't look like me."
He carefully sat on the branch above marjories head.
"Just because you have different hair than her doesn't mean she isn't your mommy."
John shook his head and picked at a blossom that had fallen into his lap. The light hit it just perfectly, it shimmerd slightly as he pressed the juice from it's delicate petals.
"But who is the woman in the frame? The one by daddy's bed? She looks like me."
He threw what was left of the blossom Bellow him. It fluttered and flipped before floating gently to the floor.
"But if that's what's going on, why doesn't daddy tall about her?"
Marjorie sat next to John on the branch and looked up through the branches of blossoms to the scattered patches of light.
"Well maybe it's hard to-"
"MARJORIE!"
Rose had come out of the house. John stayed hidden in the glorious tresses of blossom.
Rose was wearing a pink robe with her hair tightly in Blue curlers. A ciggerate in one hand
"Get down from there!"
Marjorie scurried off the branch to the safety of the ground but the danger of her mother's arms. Rose grabbed her daughter and pulled her onside. " How could you do that? The branch could have broken with you swinging there like that! It was already sagging, that branch is barley thicker than your little waist!"
The chatter was ceased as John breathed a sigh of relief. Being 9 now, he had grown accustomed to hiding whenever rose came around. It minimized his likeliness to be punished for some absurd reason.
~
As rose stirred the pot of beans on the little stove she muttered to herself darkly.
"Always in the way..... Annoying..... Just a barrier.... Just push it away..."
She groaned as the lid to salt shaker fell and landed in the beans
The once perfect beans were tainted with the white powder, and rose was left to fish out the top.
When she finnally did the salt had been absoves by the broth, she sighed as she tilted the hot pot over the metal can and tilted the contents in the bin.
It was the afternoon, and little John was due from school any moment. Marjorie was humming to herself and playing with her dolls on the rug.
There was a heavy cooler right next to the pantry, where rose grabbed a new can of beans to cook.
She wiped the presipitation from her forehead and pulled her curls to the back of her head before she grabbed the can opener.
"Mother."
Said Marjorie softly, startling rose, making her drop the handful of salt she had all into the pot. Once again another serving of beans was spoiled.
"Jimminy crickets child!"
She took the pot off the heat and turned to face her little daughter.
"What is it you want?"
The steam from the beans drifted behind rose, silloeting her creepily.
"I would like an apple."
She said, pointing to the cooler.
The woman tutted as she untied her apron and tossed it aside, John would get it when he came home.
The cooler lid was heavier than herself, she had to prop it open with a metal clamp to prevent it from. Chopping off her hands.
On the inside of the latch, there were 2 layers of sharp metal. Like a saw. They kept the cooler shut and kept the cold in and the heat out. She placed a thick rubber cap on the sharp edges as usual as she grabbed an apple from the cold depths of the box.
Suddenly a devilish idea came to her mind, it sat uninvited like a dirty thought in a nice clean mind. She whisked the apple away from Marjorie and said with a creepy and twisted smile as she took off the rubber casing and placed the apple back in the depths before shutting it closed.
You shall have it, when your brother gets home.