Soul Quest

Chapter 9

Laith

Time - Fourteen years later; September 3, 2014

Place - Forest Hills High School

Queens, New York

"Success isn't a result of

spontaneous combustion.

You must set yourself on fire."

- Arnold H. Glasow

"Laith and Melissa, hurry up! You're going to be late forYOUR first day of school." I heard mySTEP mother yell from the bottom of the staircase.

The Lightfoot household is total chaos most mornings between early September and mid June. Our family is represented by two working parents, both radiologists, and two high school teenagers who all must be at work or school by 8:00 AM. Bathroom times must be scheduled, bedrooms and personal belongings must be organized and tidied by the individuals who use them and breakfast must be prepared, eaten and cleaned up by the person who will eat it. There isn't a second to spare and as usual my step sister, Melissa is holding up the process. I try to be patient with Melissa but it is not always easy. We became step siblings three years ago when my Dad married her Mom. It wasn't as big of deal for me as it was for Melissa. My real Mom died in a car accident when I was just three years old and it wasn't like I expected my Dad to live alone for the rest of his life. Sandy is a nice lady and she is really good to my Dad. She makes him happy so I was won over pretty easily when they announced their plans to tie the knot. Melissa was a completely different story. Melissa's Dad is some big shot lawyer who ran off with a paralegal when Melissa was six. Melissa never got over it. She never stopped wishing her Dad would get rid of the paralegal and come back to her Mom so they could be a family again. Well she got half of her wish. Her Dad did dump the paralegal but it was only to replace her with another young, pretty lawyer in his firm. Long story short he never came back to Melissa's Mom or Melissa. His life is his job. Melissa reads about him in the papers all of the time. She follows all of his cases in the news and cuts out the articles she reads. She is completely obsessed with him but she rarely ever sees him.

"Your father is a very important man and has little time for family life these days Melissa." I've heard my step Mom, Sandy explain this to Melissa a million times.

I know that Sandy doesn't really believe that the District Attorney is necessarily all that important. She is only saying this to try to save Melissa's already damaged self esteem. No. DA Small is not what you would call a family man. Needless to say he isn't going to be up for father of the year anytime soon. My case in point, the latest local family tragedy is the Spencer Case. Some poor kid is caught in the middle of a messy custody battle between her very high profile parents. It has been all over the news and papers for weeks. Well guess who is representing the kid's mom for full custody? That's right. The distinguished DA himself, Larry Small. Now guess who has been monitoring every minute of media coverage? Right again, my sis, Melissa. I suppose in her mind it is therapeutic watching her father fight for the rights of this woman's daughter. I'm sure she's found some psychological connection between this case and her own relationship with her father. No doubt this connection will explain away all of her father's mistakes once again restoring her as his precious, little princess. At the moment however, all I know is that this morning's therapy session, via the local news, is making me late for my first day of school.

"Come on, Melissa! You can record it and analyze it later." I yelled as I pounded on her bedroom door. I know, that was a little insensitive I have to admit.