Rory
Rory was horrified at what his mother was doing to Rosy. His mother had the dogs’ wire brush, and Rosy’s skin was red and bleeding. He screamed your hurting Rosy, stop it! Stop It! Rory’s mother was scrubbing Rosy with the wire brush. His mother turned at the sound of Rory’s voice. His mother had a wild look on her face. Without saying a word, she got up. Rubbing her hands together, she looked at Rosy and said, I bet you never wet the bed again, will you? Butter face.
Dorothy Green turned, went to the kitchen, got the keys to the car, slammed the front door, and left. Rory had never seen this side of his mother. Why did she hate Rosy so much? Now he was not happy his mother had come home. Rory missed his granny and pa.
The twins waited for their mother to return to take them to school, but Rory decided to run to granny after an hour. Granny got them ready and had pa take them to school.
Mother’s return began the downward spiral in the twin’s behavior. Rory was acting up at school. This once docile little cherub-faced boy took to pinching little girls and pulling their hair.
On the other hand, Rosy was quiet and withdrawn. Rosy would jump at the least little sound.
Miss Sheridan wanted to ask but was hesitant after the last incident. It happened three weeks after Mrs. Green had returned home from a five-year stay at a sanitarium. Dorothy Green had come to her classroom after the bell had rung. After sending her children to the car, she approached Miss Sheridan so close it startled her at first.
Mrs. Green looked her straight in the eye and said. Don’t think for one minute I do not know what you are up to; I do. You want to steal my children’s affection from me just like my mother does. I will not have it. Don’t you ever hug my little Rory again? Dorothy Green waltzed out, leaving a dumbfound Miss Sheridan looking after her.
Her first thought was those poor children do not have a chance. Three months after Dorothy Greens’ return home, things turned ugly.
Mr. Green had forgotten some essential documents he needed for a client at work. He decided he would spend his lunch hour returning home to grab them, something he usually would never do. He reached to open the door and wondered why Dorothy had locked it. Dorothy’s car was in the driveway. Odd, to say the least.
Gene put the key in the lock, leaving it in. He did not want to deal with Dorothy. He could slip in and out with a quick hello and goodbye if he were quiet.
Gene heard laughter and voices coming from the back of the house. He listened outside the room long enough to realize the scenario he would find if he opened the door. Gene hoped it was wrong. He was not. When Dorothy looked up and saw her husband standing there, she cackled like a sick chicken. Gene turned, walked away, and knew what he had to do. Gene walked across the lawn on his way out to the back gate to tell granny and pa to pick up the kids after school.
Gene did not look forward to the process. Yes, that is what it had become. Dorothy Green had been a gentle little lamb the first three years of marriage, but she had changed into a tearing lion after giving birth to the twins. The twins would survive, and he would be okay, but Dorothy had tumbled over the cliff too far, and she was not coming back.
The twins would move back in with granny and pa. Miss Sheridan noticed a remarkable difference in the children immediately. Miss Sheridan could hug the twins again.
Rosy was happy again.
Rory had not told anyone. He had been the one to tell his daddy about the scratches’ on Rosey’s arms. Rory thought that had been the reason his mother went away again. Only Granny and pa and daddy knew the real reason.
Their mother would never come back home again, especially after April 18. Dorothy would be screaming in corners and behind white doors on this day. She would have the company of Granny and pa. No sanitariums would be big enough to hold all the patients after that day.
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