Jaaziah Bethea
Creative Writing
Jessica McCaughey
Novemver 28th, 2010
The Story that changed their family.
“He’s kicking her out?”
Those were the words I thought in my head and said to my brother when I heard the news. It was an early morning day in February, and my mother was taking my brother, Caron, and I to Basketball practice. It was my junior year and his freshman, but we both were dedicated ballers and did not like being bothered, right before or during our practices or workouts. However, other people had different opinions. Well on this cold February day is when my mother broke the news to us. To me it was horrifying! I can’t speak on my brother’s behalf, but I figure that the news made him freeze like a deer in headlights, as it did me. The news was that my father was kicking my sister, Sheria, out the house. This angered me! But why’d my mother have to break this terrible news to me at this moment? I was trying to focus on Basketball practice as the season was coming to an end and this part of the season was important in how I finish my junior year.
As we rode over to the high school where our practice was, my mother started to explain to Caron and I the situation that my sister was in. She said that my father was disappointed about how late Sheria came home on a constant basis, after they both had commanded that she arrive home much earlier! She seemed disappointed about the decision that my father had made. But she went on with her story saying multiple times she and my father confronted Sheria about coming in late, and sometimes she heeded to their request, but more times than not she didn’t. This, she said was the reason that my father came to his conclusion. She did say if Sheria was apologetic that my father might let her stay. But she also said that my father was giving Sheria until April 1st, to get her things and find a place to live; before he sent her packing and on her own, if she wasn’t apologetic.
As we got out the car she said “we’ll talk more about this when you get home, and I’m sorry to make you late to practice.” Also she whispered, “Jaaziah since your closer to Sheria in age I think that you should talk to her. Maybe she will think about she’s doing and decide to stay.”
But I wasn’t stupid. I knew exactly what this meant, I am a guy too. It meant that my father’s pride could and would not take the feeling of being disrespected. Yes, he cared about what time Sheria arrived home, but he cared more about the fact that she was not obeying his orders. He felt that by her coming home after the time that he directed her to, his force of direction was not being obeyed. Well us guys we must be obeyed, or else we feel disrespected, and this is exactly how my father felt. Now what I didn’t exactly understand was how my father could get so angry about the situation; when he knew that my sister was coming from work, most days when she came home late.
Well as predicted, by April 1st Sheria had moved out. This was the worse day in my life. Before the first, we saw her taking boxes out of the house with her things in them. Some items she left in her car until she moved in to her other home. While other items I believe she left at her girl friends house momentarily. She moved in with her current boyfriend and his family. But I was mad! I felt the whole situation was unnecessary and with her living with him anything could happen. She could get in a car accident and not feel obligated to tell us. She could be attacked and we would not be able to help her. She could just exile herself from our family as a whole, and that would just be sickening. At least when she was home I saw her everyday and I knew that she was safe. But with her gone, I didn’t know anything! I just knew that she didn’t leave here, at 126 anymore.
Although it sometimes seemed that I didn’t like my sister, because I sometimes joked about her, or at times didn’t even acknowledge when her presence was near. I loved her to death and hated to see her go. Since I did not yet have my driver’s license she was always a valuable source of transportation, and with her gone that might as well have gone out the window. But that was not the real reason behind my disappointment, I love being in the presence of my sister. I could always go to her for advice, just sitting and talking to her late at night, when I was feeling down.
Now that she is gone everything has changed. My father acts different and nobody understands him. But what is worse is that we all had a strong hate towards him for what he did. I mean my sister was only 19 years old, without a college degree, when he sent her out on her own. She did not even have a high paying job and she was paying for cosmetology school, by herself at the time too. All of the children were angered at his decision. I could not even talk to this man anymore, I had to force myself to look in his direction, it was as if my face was molded completely frozen, he was just an enemy in our house. Everything that I needed I turned to my mother for. But the worse of it all was the barrier that he put between him and Sheria. Whenever I saw them around each other I thought someone had died, their presence was as people attending a funeral. Words were never spoken, glances were never made, and feelings were cold.
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