Grace knew her parents' marriage was completely over when she saw her mother burning her father's clothes in the backyard on their house.
Grace was 12 years old at the time and her brother Jacob was just 10. They both stood beside the sliding glass door praying their hearts wouldn't collapse behind the protective wall of their fragile chests. Jacob's eyes stung with warm tears, but Grace was too frightened to think about producing tears. Her family was falling apart and she didn't know what to do.
"Mommy, stop," Grace's trembling voice called out.
Their mother LaToya turned around angrily, ignoring her children, rushing into the house to fill a bucket. She returned to the sunny backyard and dumped the water onto the remaining fire that consumed her almost ex-husband's clothes.
"You bastard!" she screamed, not caring whether or not her neighbors heard her bitter rage. Then she stormed back into the house and told Grace and Jacob to go into their rooms.
Jacob jumped on his bed, shaking his head in disbelief. God, what happened? he thought. He couldn't imagine living without his father, Michael Drayton Carson. Why she have to burn his stuff? That's gonna make things worse. He sat there feeling helpless. Jacob searched his brain with the flashlight of hope, desperately trying to find a way to fix his family. What if dad just apologized? That would make everything better. Forgive and forget, isn't that what the Bible says?
"Stupid!" Grace said into her cellphone. Her friend Eternity was on the other end of the line just listening.
"Nikki, so he's not coming back?" Although her full name was Grace Nicole Carson, her close friends sometimes called her Nikki. She liked it that way.
"It's over. My stupid father went to a bar to get drunk and met some slut named Jezebel." Michael's drinking problem was no secret to the family. That was one demon that back-flipped in his bloodline.
"Wow, sorry to hear that," Eternity replied. "Everything will be ok." Grace wasn't so sure about that. Things were never okay after a family divorces, especially due to cheating.
After she hung up with Eternity, Grace crawled underneath her blanket. The sun was still peeking through her window, but she just needed to rest her mind. My life is over. What's so good about getting drunk? GOSH!
YOU ARE READING
Bitter Roots
SpiritualWhat is happening to our family? Grace cannot put her finger on exactly what is going on, but she definitely knows that her father's new girlfriend, Jezebel, is at the root of it all. Before Jezebel arrived, her family was happy. They had enough pea...
