Destination 1974

Chapter 6

|Don't move. Don't speak.|

~***~

Thunder; it booms loudly, startling the little girl as it rumbles the dusky skies. She and a slightly older girl sit at the dinner table, almost shivering as they merrily watch the woman at the stove. She seems to be trembling as she stirs the stew in the pot, allowing the teapot to scream at her.

Don't move. Don't speak.

"Mmamma...?" the smaller child croaks out weakly, "the wata's ruh-ready."

The older child looks down at the little one beside her out of the corners of her eyes. She lets out one jerked head shake, causing the younger girl to become quiet.

The man comes up from behind and reaches for the tea kettle over his wife's shoulder. Her hand grips his wrist, and she holds it there as he does not resist her actions. "Darling, I've got this. You just finish our supper, okay?" his voice is calm and would soothe the two children in any occasion, but not now. Never on this kind of occasion could his southern bell chimed voice calm their trepidation towards their mother.

"No," is all she says, her head turning slightly so their children can see the lilac shade around her eyes. She releases his wrist, and he quickly lowers his arm to his side out of the girl's view, but they saw.

The scratches.

The bruises.

The tiny trickle of blood trailing down his skin while her nails are stained in its velvet coat.

And yet, he always remained calm. He never once fought back yelled, or patronized her. He just stayed calm. Calm and soothing like his voice. Gentle and maternal, staying in between her and his children; his life.

Don't move. Don't speak. Don't breathe.

Thunder crashes as the older child stands up slowly from her seat. Her mother snaps her head around to face the child walking towards the bathroom door out of the corners of her eyes.

"Where're you goin'?" the little girl stops, but doesn't turn to face her mother, "supper is almost ready, so sit back down at the table with your sister."

The girl doesn't move as the thunder crashes again and the only things heard are rain pellets hitting the roof, the stew boiling, and the tea kettle screeching. She doesn't even twitch a single muscle as she mumbles, "no..."

"Cynthia Baytes, you get back over to that table or else --"

"Or else what, mother?" her father steps over to block his wife's view of Cynthia.

The younger sister stands up as she sees her mother reach for the tea kettle. She runs to her sister as their mother hits their father over the head with the kettle, knocking him over to the floor. The woman splashes the water out of the kettle towards Cynthia, but the younger child is in the way and screams as the water blisters her skin along the upper right of her chest and shoulder.

The telephone rings.

~***~

"I need to make a phone call," I pat my pockets but realize that the wallet isn't in there. I lean over and grab my bag to rest it on my lap as I rummage through it. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Clyde slowly holding up a wallet while nonchalantly leaning on his steering wheel and looking out his window. I slowly lift my head to his direction while slowing down my digging to a complete stop as I feel my blood become cold. I dumbly blink as my body becomes limp. "My wallet - you found it," I try to sound as casual as possible, but the horror I feel is probably prominent in my eyes as Clyde lifts his eyebrow at me. He flips the wallet open like a book, and holds it out to me so I can look at the driver's license with the mustached man on the picture.