A Daughter of Light(A Light onto the World)

Chapter 10

Marimar

Chapter 10

“Bye!” I say, quickly unbuckling my seatbelt, submitting — rather unwillingly — to Papa’s order or should I say demand.  I glance briefly at Sage, his eyes meeting mine.  His eyes seem to be filled with the same emotion as mine, fear.  I tear my eyes away from his, disgruntled.  I turn on my heels, heading towards the house.  I walk briskly, my thoughts running rampant.  What’s his problem?  We made it under curfew.  What did Sage do to piss him off?  Maybe Mama knows.  My pace quickens.  I throw open the door. 

“Mama!”  My voice trails off when I realize that Mama and Marisol are standing right in front of me.  We embrace for a fleeting moment.  “Mama, what’s wrong with Papa?  He ordered me out of the truck and demanded that I get into the house.  Do you know how embarrassing that is?”

“What?”   

“You didn’t know?”

“I was upstairs.  Don’t worry, I’ll fix this.”  She gives my hand a reassuring squeeze before opening the door.  She takes her leave.

“Papa!” Mama calls out from outside on the front porch, her voice becomes fainter and fainter until her voice trails off into the distance.

“Marisol, let’s go to bed.  I’ll tuck you in.  We don’t want to be up when Papa comes in.” 

We make a mad dash upstairs; neither one of us wants to be downstairs when the fireworks go off.  We turn into the bedroom.  I close the door behind me.  Marisol jumps into bed, her teeth already brushed, PJ’s on. 

I take my folded pajamas off of my bed and I begin to undress, not wasting a moment of time. 

“Get under those sheets.”  I tuck in Marisol.  I give her a good night kiss.

“Don’t I get a bedtime stowy?”

“Not tonight, Sunshine.  It’s late.  Go to sleep.”

“But, I’m not sleepy.”

“Try.”

I’m going to try to sneak downstairs to hear what’s going on.  I try to bolt out of the room towards the top of the stairs, but running in the dark, I trip over something on the floor and I slam my head into the wall. 

“Damn it!” I cry out.  I turn to see Marisol coming to help as I hold my head.  I grit my teeth to keep myself from cursing as I pull myself up off of the cold wooden floor.  That’s what I get for trying to eavesdrop.

“Awe you all wight?” Marisol asks.

“Shh!” I put my index finger to my mouth.  She covers her mouth.  “I’m all right, get back into bed.”  Marisol lies back down. 

“Where the hell did this come from?” I mutter to myself as I examine the object that caused me to fall.  It’s a stuffed animal.  A raggedy old sock monkey, it looks like it took a turn or two in the washer.  It has coal black buttoned eyes and a stitched mouth.  I walk back over to Marisol and I hand her the monkey.  I tuck her back in and give her another kiss on the forehead.

“No more leaving your toys on the floor anymore, okay?”

“I didn’t.  Geowge did.”

“All right, then please ask George to pick his toys up.”

“He can heaw you.”

“Nighty-night, Sunshine.  Love you, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”