In Stone

13: "You worthless child!"

13: “You worthless child!”

It was Caia's next day off when her parents called her again. Caspian had taken on the herculean task of trying to teach Caia to cook and was regretting it the longer the lesson went on. Caia, for all her skill at sculpting, was completely hopeless as a cook. It amazed him the new ways she constantly found to destroy a simple dish.

By the time he had her convinced that she did indeed have to wait for the water to boil for the pasta to cook right, she had managed to burn the spaghetti sauce. While he was teaching her how to roll meat balls – a task so simple that a child could do it – she kept dropping them onto the floor. When it came time for the garlic bread to be pulled from the oven, he insisted he could handle it. He was sure by the state of her oven that she had never used it and didn't trust her to pull the hot metal tray from inside without burning herself.

Caia was exclaiming over the golden slices of bread when her phone went off. Her back tightened in recognition of the ringtone. Caspian had been around long enough to know that it was the one she had assigned her overbearing mother.

She had already started to turn with the same resignation of one turning to face the gallows even as he was taking off the oven mitt. It saddened Caspian to see how little she wanted to speak to her own parents. He was glad that he had already made the deal to handle them for her.

He stepped around her quickly and picked up her phone before she had a chance to. He hit talk and her mother was already yapping before he had the device to his ear.

“You worthless child! I asked you for one simple damn thing. That character statement still hasn't gotten here and your bastard of a father is going to take me for everything I've got. I hope your pleased with yourself. Because of you, I'm out potentially millions of dollars in the divorce and alimony. Ugh, I swear, you are just like him. Neither of you can get off your lazy asses and do anything. What do you have to say for yourself, Caia?”

“Well, if I was her, I would ask that you stop blaming me for your problems.”

Caia stepped up to Caspian, she looked terrified. She reminded him painfully of a beaten puppy. She was holding out her hand to take the phone with a pleading look in her eyes. Caspian reached out, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pulled her in close.

There was a brief moment of strained silence on the other end of the line. Then, “You again! I should have known better than to think that she could keep her legs closed.”

“I must say, you have a very low opinion of your own daughter.” Caspian was rather pleased with how even and low he was keeping his voice. It wasn't without effort though. He wished dearly he could walk through the phone and see the woman who spoke such hurtful words to her own blood. Then again, he didn't at all want to meet a person like that.

“Hah! She's her fathers daughter. She's just as worthless, just as lazy. I did my best for her and the only thing I ever get is disrespect and ungrateful childishness. And I thought I told you to leave. You're not welcome in my house. Get out and let me speak to Caia!”

“If you want to speak with her, come down and see her yourself. Though I must warn you, if you do, I'll be here waiting for you.”

Caia was shaking her head frantically. Caspian squeezed her a bit tighter to reassure her.

“Are you threatening me?! I bet you're just as lazy as she is. Let me guess, another artist? You all are nothing but shiftless layabouts. You're a drain on society and so is she. Give me my daughter before I call the police!”

“No.”

“You dare-”

“Shut up.” Caspian was sure it wasn't the order that silenced Caia's mother. He was sure it was more that anyone dared to issue it that startled her into silence. “Let's get one thing straight here, ma'am. I'm the one taking care of Caia now. If you want to talk to her, you're going to have to clean up that attitude of yours.”