Summer Rain

I ~ Addams Family Complex

{What You Know - Two Door Cinema Club}

...And I can taste it, it's my sweet beginning, and I can tell just what you want...

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May 19th

    It was official. The Addams family were more normal than my family would ever be. As I curled up on the couch of the Beaumont lakeside cabin with the gothic comedy family played on the flat-screen TV hanging neatly on the wall, all around me was the clamour of a family sadly genetically tied to me.

  "Alex, just because I agreed to let you bring the family to the Beaumont's country club for the entire summer does not mean you can neglect us and run off to play blackjack with the other men all day! Need I remind you that your son will be arriving tonight to join us?" My Mother screamed through from the main bedroom.

    I heard her hairdryer whirring and her country music playing on repeat, as my Father emerged into the main living room, scavenging around for his wallet.

  "Rosalind, I'm a grown man who needs at least some time on his own! Tim Beaumont wants me to play cards, so damn it, I am going to play cards! My promotion is on the line here." 

     My Father's steely grey eyes bore into my skull as I tried desperately to keep my eyes fixed on the TV screen, inconspicuously wishing I could have blended into the walls of the cabin. My eyes fluttered over to the tall figure of my Father as his mouth thinned into a straight line at me, signalling his distaste for my casual attire and slumped position on the sofa, a routine I had become rather fond of in my two days at the club thus far. 

  "And you..." He began, continuing to look for his wallet, directing his words at me. "Get some air and get yourself ready. I won't have my daughter becoming a complacent recluse like her brother". 

    Thank God the hairdryer in my Mother's room was on or there would have been world war three for that comment about Mommy's little boy. Seconds later, my Father had retrieved his wallet and was suddenly absent from our sides as he slammed the cabin door on his exit, my mother breathing an audible sigh in his absence.

       I re-iterate. I knew I'd stand a better chance of survival as one of the Addams family members than as one of the Bennett's living in that cabin. My Dad was only interested in getting his coveted promotion to boost his already massive ego, and my Mother's only lifelong dream was for me to be a Debutante, and I quote: 'find a nice boy.' I prayed for the day she let go of those eager fantasies of witnessing me twirling on a polished dance floor in a cotton candy gown, sipping champagne and nodding at potential suitors who would only confine me to a life as Mrs Enter-Husband's-last-name-here. This wasn't the fifties. 

        At least my Mother had Cady, my younger sister, who had recently been awarded the title of Brat of the Century by yours truly. I knew she'd make a great Debutante or Prom Queen while I remained glued to the corner of every room. We were just different that way. 

      At least I felt comfort in the knowledge and faith that I was able to feel akin to at least one member of my family—Bodhi Bennett, my older brother and 'complacent recluse' according to dear old Dad. Bodhi and I were inseparable as kids, and we had journeyed on so many adventures, just us against the world. But life doesn't allow for things to last forever, and he ventured off to university, and I found out that anxiety wasn't just stage-fright but nights of crying my way through panic attacks and days of finding that the world outside would swallow me up if I dared to take a step outside. 

     I digress. Bodhi was in the middle of a 'quarter-life crisis' according to Dad, but Mom was sure it was just a phase. Sure, if that 'phase' meant that dropping out of university and drinking and smoking his days away was normal, then that was not a phase in my life that I was looking forward to experiencing. He agreed to spend his twenty-second summer on this earth with us as penance for forgetting to visit at Christmas and causing quite the commotion in the Bennett household. Mom was sure that spending summer with us would 'put him back on the straight and narrow path'. With our family? I had little faith in that plan. 

  "Avalina!" My mother stood in the doorway in one of her cocktail dresses. She smelled of musky perfume and a hint of red wine. "You haven't even started getting ready for the welcoming dinner. Mr Beaumont is welcoming all of the guests and employees tonight." 

  "Think I'll pass," I shrugged, manoeuvring myself deeper into the fabric of the sofa, but the clicking noise of my Mother's stiletto heel in the doorway signalled her annoyance at my reply.

     It irritated me like nails down a chalkboard until I couldn't listen to it anymore. Standing bolt upright, I threw my hands up in surrender. "Fine! I'll go and get ready," I sulked off in the direction of the bathroom, glad to be getting some peace again.

  "How bad can it be? You might even find a nice boy there!' My Mother cooed after me as I reached the door to the bathroom, shaking my head defeatedly. 

     Another fancy dinner. Another night trying to please my family. Nothing new, nothing different. 

    If only I knew what was to come.

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