Rosy and Rory were fraternal twins. Rory was the handsome twin, and Rosy, well, Rosy was plain. The sad part was that Roses’ mother was the one to tell her this well-known secret. Rose’s mother had only been home from the sanitarium for two days when she looked her right in the face and said, Rosy, you are as plain as butter.
Rosy decided right then and there that she knew the real reason her mother had gone away for the first five years of her life. Rose’s mom was too mean to be around decent folk. No one was ever going to convince her otherwise.
The twins had lived with granny and paid for the past five years. The two family’s homes had connecting gates in the back, so it was convenient.
Rory would run to mama like she was a piece of chocolate cake. Rose never understood why. On weekends they went to the sanitarium with daddy. Rosy hated going there. The smell was awful; it smelled like the rubbing alcohol at the Dr. office.
Rosey’s mother looked at her with scorn. Rory got the hugs and kisses, and Rosy got the pinches and sideways kicks. Even if Rosy had told daddy, he would not believe her. Rose could not risk ending up in a crummy place like this. She was not too fond of this place. Besides the smells, you could hear the sporadic screams from hidden corners and behind the big white doors.
Then Rose’s worst fears came true; her mother was coming home. Living with Granny and Pa was over now. Mother had said, these are my kids, and they are coming home. We could not so much as leave a toothbrush at grannies. Life was going to be different now. You could say that again.
Rosy woke up because something was on her legs. Rosy got up, turned on her light, and realized She had wet the bed. She had never done this before. The enormity of the consequences would shake her to the core. Her mother hated her already, and she would kill Rosy when she found out what She had done. Rosy changed her nightclothes and hid the wet things. If only it had been Rory and not me, she would let it slide.
Rose did not realize she had fallen asleep until the sound of her mother’s voice startled her wide awake. Mother was livid. Rose’s mother stood her up with her nose in the corner and told her not to move one inch. Rose heard the front door open and shut, indicating daddy was gone.
Rose listened to the water running in the bathtub, knowing she might drown this morning. Had it not been for Rory’s scream when he opened the bathroom door to see why Rose was crying, Rose’s mother would have drowned her. Rosy would forever remember the crazed look on her mother’s face as she scrubbed the hide from her arm. The talk from her mother was wild and made no sense to Rosy.
Why couldn’t they have stayed forever at granny and pas? Rosy would soon get her secret wish, but she did not know that. The day’s events marked a turning point for Rosy.
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