Ugly Dog

Torn and Shattered

Ugly Dog, Ugly Dog, now she knows
Ugly Dog, Ugly Dog, here it goes

~
Pictured above is Alice Spencer as Carol Cooper.
~

I gave Julia a tight, thankful hug when we got off the bus. She smiled at me.
"What was that for?" She asked.
I shrugged, not too sure myself. "Thanks, nobody really takes me seriously when I want information."
Julia, fiddling with the zipper of her coat, laughed. "It's nothing, Val. I'll always believe you." She patted my shoulder quickly and gave me a nod. "I'll see you around, and give me updates on what's going on!" Julia trotted down the block a ways before turning the corner, her orange hair flying behind her like a lions mane.
It took me five minutes to realize that I was staring at her for just a bit too long, and I turned my head away. It was about eleven thirty, so mom was probably already at the office. Novice would either be hanging around the local arts center or relaxing at home. We were on about a two week break from school for the winter, which is when the Wendell Youth Center began to host artistic day camps so parents would have a place to drop their kids at. Since Novice was above the camp age limit, which was three to ten, he would come and go as he pleased and sometimes just help the volunteers out. I doubted that he would be hanging out with any friends, since he was even more of an outcast than me. Although I loved my little bro, he does have the tendency to be annoyingly philosophical and all-knowing, even though he is usually wrong about what he thinks he knows. If he was out and LeFon was too, then I could have a nice little lunch break to myself and then go and get my pictures developed.
With the prospect of having time to myself, I happily started off back home.
It was chilly out, undeniably, but ten times warmer than it was in the mountains. The shuttle bus dropped off in the center of the town, and from there my home was only three blocks out of it. I looked around the town as I walked, it always made me sad that we had no quirky, special to our town places here. All the buildings were flat, long, and grey. No quaint brick stores or coffee houses snuggled between two bookshops, just a Starbucks that had hardly any employees and was always crowded. The closest thing we had to a bookstore was the Walmart about an hour down the road, which most people considered 'the mall'. I was tempted to veer off my course to see how crowded CVS would be, maybe I could drop in now and spare a trip later. My stomach, however, was not pleased with this idea. With one rumble, I continued back home.
From down the block, I could see that our flickering little porch light was still on. Mom must have forgotten to turn it off when she left. We had a cute little wooden porch just big enough to fit one, non reclining lawn chair. Currently that lawn chair held two pairs of ice skates, a rusted pogo stick, and a frisby that mysteriously showed up one day and everyone was too lazy to question it. I trotted up the stairs and stamped my boots, then happily ducked inside.
I took off my jacket and hung it up, then put my boots onto a snow rack to dry. The only thought currently running through my mind was tuna sandwich. I whipped around, ready to make my beeline to the fridge.
"Ugly Dog!"
I was face to face with Maggie LeFon.
She was a ragged, unkept woman, especially up close. Her greying brown hair was wild and messy, and her green eyes were blazing with unhindered emotion, whatever emotion it may be. Right now, it seemed to be anger, which wasn't very good in my case. Her face was a catastrophe of wrinkles and scars, she had barely any lips to speak of and her nose might as well be the Empire State Building. She had a pudgy body, and currently wore a very gypsy looking purple dress.
I stumbled back into the door, shocked at the silence it must've took for her to sneak up on me like that. "Hey, Maggie." I stuttered, hoping that she was just suffering from dementia and not about to kill me.
Maggie pulled her upper lip back, exposing her yellowing teeth. "Ugly Dog." She growled once again.
I bit my top lip, looking for a way to escape. She had me backed against the door, hands slightly splayed and eyes tracking my every movement. I moved to the left, hoping that I could bolt behind the couch before she could grab me.
"Maggie."
LeFon and I both looked towards the hall in surprise, where Novice stood watching us. He was short for his age, hadn't reached his growth spurt yet. His skin was a shade fairer than mine, and for the most part he took after his Vietnamese origins. His thick black hair was combed now, and instead of pajamas he now wore a baggy grey t-shirt and jeans, paired with his usual bare feet. It drove me crazy, the kid never wore socks for some reason. While I had multiple pairs of thick, colorful socks, he was lucky to find a pair that matched.
My twelve year old brother continued his icy glare towards Maggie, not wavering even when her eyes met his.
"Maggie, that's enough." The force in his voice surprised me, he was commanding, unaffected by fear. I swear I could see Maggie's stance falter, and her anger filled eyes dart down. With a huff, the old woman limped towards the breakfast bar, where a tray of cookies and some dominos sat out. She must have been sitting there before, but still I couldn't fathom how she snuck up on me with that noisy limp.
Suddenly Novice was beside me, and I jumped.
"Val." he said, worry creeping into his voice. His previous fearless demeanor was gone, replaced by his shy, awkward usual one. "Come here." He said.
He guides me past Maggie, taking us behind the couch in order to be farther from her. As we walked down the hall, I noted that her door was closed even though she was out. Secrets-secrets, Maggie. Novices door was cracked open just as it was this morning, as if he never left it. Moms door was open as always, and as usual, my door was -
Open.
Novice pushed ahead of me, going into my room as if he'd been in there a thousand times. He hadn't, and I had no idea how he even got the door open. I rushed in after him, glancing around to see if anything had been touched.
My room was magenta purple, and extremely tiny. It was shaped like a rectangle, with a small vanity taking up the whole right wall and my bed taking up most of the back wall. Two hip height filing cabinets were stationed next to my door, holding all of my practice articles and newspaper clippings I found interesting. Practically every surface of my room was filled with papers, pens, and books. Most of the books were history based, but some were artistic ones that Novice lent me to use as a writing surface. Half of my bed was taken up by his art books, and at first I thought he was going to scold me for hoarding them, but instead he looked to my filing cabinets.
The one on the right was just the same as I had left it, but the left one was open, with papers half out of folders and some of them torn up. I dropped to the floor with a gasp, picking up the papers and searching them. Some were pieces I wrote about Maggie, stupid little joking things that made her out to be a psycho murderer, or fan fiction type things about her being a crazy lunch lady. Others were random junk, practice character files and things like that. I looked up to Novice for explanation. He cast a nervous glance down the hall.
"Maggie got in, I don't know how, I didn't even hear anything." He paused, looking curiously at the torn papers in my hand. "She was reading them and tearing them up, she stopped when I came in though."
"She always does." I growled. That lady had no business being in my room, and tearing up my hard work was a point she shouldn't have crossed. I took a handful of papers at random and stood abruptly, scaring Novice. He backed up to my bed, out of my way, and I stormed out of the room. I don't care how old she is, or how much money she has, Maggie pushed me too far. I was done with putting up with her and her delusional murmurings.
Maggie was still at the counter, knocking over a short line of dominos. I stepped up and flung the papers at her, and her face twitched to me.
"What the hell is this, you fucking psycho?!" I yelled. Shock was still written on her face, but slowly, as if held back by something, anger was making its way into her eyes. I didn't hold back, maybe she'd show Novice how she truly acted.
"You goddamn crazy woman, you broke into my room and had the nerve to tear up my papers?!" Curses tore out of my mouth unguarded, I was too furious to check myself. Maggie was beginning to let her anger show, slowly, just a small trickle as it was by the door.
"Ugly dog." She snarled, like she was just coming to terms with the fact that I was confronting her. She still sat on her stool, but now she turned her body towards me.
"What does that even mean? Do you not know how to call me a bitch?!" Maggie flung herself off her stool, getting right in my face. She was shorter than me, just by a few inches. But her wild lions mane hair made her seem ten times bigger.
"Ugly dog!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, making me want to jump backwards. Instead, I lurched forwards to her plate of cookies. Grabbing them, I flung it across the living room. The plate smashed against the wall, and cookies scattered around the room. I screamed a barrage of curses at Maggie, and she followed with an army of ugly dogs.
I was barely aware of Novice standing in the hall, watching the confrontation with wide eyes. He hated fighting, hated violence in general. Even in movies, he had to look away. In the back of my mind I knew I should stop, take my little brother back to his room and make him something to eat, but I didn't. I couldn't.
Then, in the most of this fight of fire, there was a hand on my shoulder. I was pushed back, and at first I thought that Maggie had done it. I stiffened, unsure how to react, when my mother stepped between me and the screaming old woman.
Carol Cooper, my mother, was disapproving in the worst of circumstances. Right now, she seemed to be so far beyond that. She had obviously come from work, her brown power suit was a telltale sign, and the pale skin of her face was flushed from the cold. Her brown hair was tied back in a tight bun, and the only makeup evident on her face was a light sheen of lipgloss and a coating of skin colored powder on her eyelids. Mom gave me a quick, anger filled glance before putting both hands on Maggie's shoulders and making soothing noises.
"Ms. LeFon, it's okay, I'm so sorry about Valentine. She gets uppity sometimes." After a few minutes of hushes and friendly touches, Maggie began to cool down. I glanced back at Novice, who still stood shell shocked in the hallway. I rushed towards him, hoping to push him into his room before he saw mom berate me. He flinched away as if I was going to hit him, and I stopped dead. I truly had no idea how badly I scared him. I slowly put my hand on his back and pushed him into his room, closing his door without a sound. I turned around just in time to see LeFon disappear into her room.
Mom was in the kitchen, in front of the sink. I could see why she came back so early now, her thermal was still here. She probably got permission to run back and grab it. I approached cautiously, terrified that she would scream. In all my life, no matter what has happened, my mother never yelled. She was the calm in tantrums, the peace in thunder storms. I'd felt angry at her, of course, but never enough to anger to yell at her, or for her to yell at me. She was the one organized parent during field trips, the kind of parent who packed candy in your lunch as long as you promised to eat your vegetables. I knew that one day, undeniably, she would have to yell. She would yell at me, and that would be when I became an adult. She would yell, and my life would change.
I stopped where the wooden floors became dark beige tile. Mom hasn't looked up, but she knew that I was there. She could always tell. After a few more moments of silence, I opened my mouth. That was when she chose to speak.
"Do you" she began, then paused. She looked back at me, the anger in her eyes completely deflated. "Have any idea how hard I work?"
Guilt soared through my body like adrenalin. No, truly I didn't know how hard she worked. I saw her baggy eyes and dropping arms when she came home, but none of that ever really registered in my mind. It was just normalcy, never questioned, never changed. A journalists biggest weakness, and I couldn't see farther than my own hand.
"Mom, I'm - " she cut me off.
"No, you're not. You don't have to be." She drew in a long, hard breath. "This hurts, Maggie, and why we let her stay." The words came out as a shiver, and at first I thought she never meant for them to be said. We had never discussed our condition with Maggie in clear words. Sometimes, I liked to trick myself into thinking it wasn't real. She was here because she was a good roommate, and any other thought was a paranoia of my own mind. My mothers recognition sent chills through me.
"Go to your room, stay in there until tonight. I'm not going back to work." This left my mouth open. There was one thing my mother never did, and that was miss work. Work was her duty, just as it was her duty to take care of me and Novice. She never left her duty, she was constant and determined, a true Virgo. She had never missed work, but she had also never looked this defeated, so today was a day of new experiences.
I put my head down, and turned towards the hall. As I walked, I saw the sliver of Novices face behind his door. He closed it quickly when I made eye contact with him, but I could still hear him breathing behind it. He sounded like he was panicking. I took a deep breath, and continued to my room. I couldn't defy mom, and Novice knew how to handle himself.
I closed my door and locked it. Running a hand through my hair, I dropped to the floor and began to collect the scattered papers.