spain without the s - kate bishop

These Broken Pieces on the Floor

February 10, 2018

The sound of a door slamming echoed throughout the apartment. Sneakers were thrown off and a backpack tossed in a heap near a shoe rack. The air was thick with tension as a girl shaking with rage stomped towards a small kitchen. A woman followed behind her firing insult after insult, each one barbed with frustration and another emotion the girl couldn't place. Instead, her focus was each word that came out of her mother's, no the woman's, mouth.

Idiot.

Monster.

What did I ever do to get stuck with a kid like you?

Any kid who had ever argued with their parents knew that they would never win. So, she inspected the fruit bowl, wanting an apple, but of course, the apples were rotten so the orange at the top of the pile was her best bet. Behind her, her mother was still going on and on like a broken recorder about how bad a daughter she was, blah blah blah. Maybe if she would stop repeating the same things about what a failure she was they could have a productive conversation and solve the issue, but who was she kidding? Hypothetically, if such a conversation were to happen it would change nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nothing.

So, she settled for plucking the orange out of the fruit bowl and a dramatic exit from the kitchen to her room. Later they could pretend nothing happened, as always, pretend to be a happy mother-daughter duo, as always, and pretend that her father hadn't forgotten her birthday two days ago, again, as always.

"Katherine Elizabeth Bishop! Get back here we are not done talking! What, you expect that after I get a call from the principal because you got into a fight you're going to be able to get out of this without consequences?"

Ah yes, the shrill tone of her voice told her exactly what she already knew: she was completely and utterly fucked. In which case, the best course of action was to book it straight to her room, lock the door, barricade it, put on her headphones, peel her orange, eat it, and wait 3-4 hours before showing her face to the outside world.

She got about as far as booking it to her room and halfway through looking her door before her perfectly devised plan was crushed, all because of her mother's, not mother, woman's, cursed foot. If her mother hadn't stuck her foot in as the door was about to close they could have gone on pretending. But it did. She wasn't about to give up though. Her mother's foot was stopping the door from closing? So what? If she pushed hard enough mother dearest would have to move her foot so that it wouldn't be crushed and she could push the door closed and lock it.

At first, it seemed like a great idea. She was strong, much stronger than her mother (the woman goddamnit!) She couldn't very well be a martial arts, archery, and swimming champion without being strong (well she was, until two years ago when she had to quit everything).

She had her back against the door and her feet braced on the hardwood floor pushing back as hard as she could. Then she felt the door crack a little. And by a little, she meant it had already been cracked (past arguments she was heavily regretting) and now it was cracking more, enough that if it had to endure much more pressure the entire door would break. And it's more than likely she wouldn't get another door if it broke for both punishment and money reasons. Therefore the most logical reasoning would be to stop pushing against her mother on the other side and let her in her room. Boom, pressure off door, privacy for at least another week. The downside though would be exceptionally painful, for her ears at least.

3, 2, 1... Get ready for fireworks (talking to herself was necessary to get out of this mess with marginally less emotional damage).

The door slammed open and hit the wall, there was probably a nice-sized dent in the shape of a doorknob in the plaster. The impact of the door slamming open also knocked over her messily displayed trophies (2-time state and regional champion here) and her band posters, which were gonna give hell when she tried to put them back up.