FEBRUARY 1987, Aberdeen, WA
NEW SHOES. LINDY needed new shoes.
She sat at her kitchen table, her advanced placement biology homework spread out before her and demanding her immediate attention. But all she could focus on were her beat up Converse sneakers, thrown haphazardly in a heap by the front door. They were old and she'd been wearing them since her freshman year, but she knew deep down that she'd never part from them. There was character amongst that fold in the ankles and the dirt coating the soles.
Lindy, having been so lost in her thoughts, did not notice her father waltz into the kitchen, preparing to kick off his work boots.
"Working hard or hardly working there, Lindsey?" he asked coldly, nodding at the plethora of notebook paper and assignment sheets Lindy laid out across the table.
"Just wrapping up," Lindy said pleasantly, closing her textbook though she knew she'd have to finish up her report on gene mutations later in the comfort of her room. "And it's Lindy," she added, knowing it would piss Lee off but hardly caring. She was far past the point of nurturing her father's feelings.
"It's Lindsey in this house," Lee responded sharply, tossing the ingredients for a turkey sandwich on the kitchen counter. Lindy didn't respond. She looked away as she tucked her things into her backpack, silently wishing a meteor would fall from the sky and land directly on her father's oversized head.
"You better be working hard and bringing home those good grades you promised. Senior year isn't a time to slack off," Lee said firmly, in what Lindy had come to call his 'fake, caring dad' voice.
"I've already been accepted into the colleges I'm considering," Lindy replied calmly, making a rare occasion in which she actually acknowledged Lee's snide remarks.
"What college?" Lee snorted. "You're going to Grays Harbor Community College the last time I checked. Just like your brother."
"Trae doesn't want to study nursing," Lindy pointed out, doing her best to level her tone as to avoid an argument. College was a sensitive subject, one that she had to carefully maneuver around if she were to have her way.
"And UW gave me a scholarship," she added. Lindy had received her acceptance from the University of Washington just a month prior to that current conversation. UW had offered her over a thousand dollars in scholarship money, which would be incredibly helpful considering the fact that Lee was up-front refusing to shell out more than a few hundred dollars for her schooling.
From the time that she had turned nine, Lindy had decided she wanted to work in the medical field. The death of her mother had made her want to save lives. She dreamt of being the person who could save someone else's mother from dying. Being a nurse held that opportunity for her, and she was willing to take her chances, even if it meant putting up with verbal abuse from her father along the way.
"Don't be selfish, Lindsey. Let some other kid who needs the scholarship have it. You're already set for community college," Lee said with finality, smearing mayonnaise onto a slice of white bread with a butter knife. He didn't even look at her.
Lindy felt her blood boil beneath her skin. Nasty, blood-sucking, vile, evil, piece-of-shit monster, her inner voice sneered.
"I worked really hard for that scholarship," she protested. "I've taken every AP class I can, I've never missed a day of school, I've gotten straight A's every semester. I deserve it."
"And you managed to do all that while barely lifting a single finger around this house," Lee snapped back.
It's always something, Lindy thought. If she was cleaning her room, she should be studying. If she was studying, she should be washing the dishes. It was an endless cycle that Lindy could never beat, a game she would never win.
