Half-Month Cruise Took the Dog, Not Me; I Quit This Family

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Mom's hand came up without hesitation and slapped me across the face.

"Are you trying to drive me into an early grave? Your sister finally brings friends home to hang out, and you get caught stealing red-handed. You embarrass her, and then you have the nerve to talk back!"

I said it again, word by word: I only took one pack of pads, nothing else.

That set her off. She grabbed a needle and jabbed it into my lips, over and over.

"This is what you get for lying! This is what you get for stealing! This is the price of a lie!"

"Out in the world, nobody's going to coddle you!"

That night I was made to kneel in the living room until I'd cried myself dry.

The next morning my brother pinched his nose at me in disgust.

"Are you stupid, Dee? Your butt's bleeding and you don't even deal with it. What if Lucky ends up eating it? How gross would that be?"

His first reaction was that it was gross.

After that, I never went into my sister's room again.

I never went home again either. Every day I picked up cafeteria shifts serving food.

I earned full scholarships and prize money from every contest I could enter, and that was how I put myself through college.

My thoughts drifted back to the present. I packed the few clothes I owned and got ready to buy a ticket and leave.

Then Mom called out of nowhere.

Maybe there was still a thread of something in me that couldn't let go, because for a second I actually thought she was calling to tell me to book a ticket and come over.

But the first thing out of her mouth was:

"Your sister forgot those sunglasses she paid two thousand eight hundred for. Get a courier to bring them to the airport right now. She needs them for her photos."

"Oh, and your brother's favorite sneakers. While you're home, remember to clean them with the special sneaker cleaner. And wash Lucky's food bowl and water bowl and put them away, or they'll just collect dust."

Mom went on and on for a long time, and not once did she say my name.

Not until I forced a dry little "mm-hmm" out of my parched throat.

Only then did she click her tongue, impatient. "I ask you to do one thing and you drag your feet like this. I really do worry about whether you'll be any help to your sister at work."

I froze. "What do you mean, help my sister?"

Her tone was matter-of-fact. "You've graduated, so obviously you're going to go out and work. You're not thinking of doing a master's, are you? Your sister's boyfriend's company is short on people, so you just go report for duty. We're all family. The pay's only a few thousand, so just don't take it, do them the favor and earn some goodwill. Call it lending a hand."

Dad was right there too, laying out the grand plan. "You're an adult now, widen your horizons a little, think bigger. Don't fixate on those few thousand dollars. Once you've proven yourself, your sister puts in a few words for you, and your brother-in-law can give you anything."

I didn't know what to say. Luckily Mom was in a rush to get my sister's photos taken, and she urged me on, offhand:

"Anyway, just remember everything I said. Don't bother us unless it's something important."

Two beeps, and the call cut off.

I stared at the darkened screen, then slowly dug out my sister's sunglasses and booked a courier.

Then I washed my brother's shoes and Lucky's food bowl and water bowl and set them all neatly away.

Counting up the past twenty-odd years, I decided this would be the last thing I ever did for them.