For the Love of a Daughter

At Home for the Holidays

It was the first day, of the three weeks holidays, and Mirabel, was already getting bored. She hated chores, and the only way to escape doing them, was going to school. Now that the holidays have come, there was no escaping chores. Mirabel shared a room, with her younger sister Annie. She hated the fact that her parents, made her share a room, wither nerdy sister. "Oh, it's so boring," Mirabel said angrily. She stared at the long mirror, on her bedroom wardrobe; she poked out her lips, and continued looking at her reflection in the mirror. She imagined that she was sitting in a large bedroom, painted pink. She had a large Barbie doll house, sitting in a corner of the room. She could even see her own personal maid, doing chores for her, and she smiled cheerfully. "Oh that will be so great, if only I lived in such a grand house. Why do I have to share a room with her? We have four rooms for peace sake, including a guest room." Mirabel forgot, that she was scared of being alone, she chose to believe that her parents, did something bad to her, by making her share a room with Annie. She sighed, and tossed her head backwards, in anger; silly Annie, she thought. "I really wish she would stop doing chores, and making me look bad," she said, flinging her arms in disgust.

She wished there was somewhere nice and cozy, to hide in the house. Somewhere, she could sleep all day, without anyone noticing her absence. And maybe, a cellar, where she would hide till all the cooking was done, and it was time to eat. She remembered a song, Mrs. Jane Osaze, her music teacher, had taught them, when she was in year seven, and began to dance, humming the tune of the song. Annie entered the room, "Mirabel, stop dancing, and come for dinner," she said, quietly. Mirabel turned to face Annie, her eyes flashed in anger. "I will appreciate it, if you do not scream like that," she shouted. Annie was taken aback; for the first time that day, she felt very disgusted at her sister. "What have I done wrong? Heaven knows, that I did not shout at you. I only told you what Mum had said, if you do not want to have dinner, then stay, I am out of here," she said.

"Why didn't you simply say what Mum said?" Mirabel asked angrily, "fancy you telling me to stop dancing." Annie, gave Mirabel a stern look, and then decided that it was no use talking to her. She walked out of the room, and shut the door.

Mirabel waited for Annie to leave the room; then she stuck out her tongue. "Stupid little girl," she said, trying her best to control her temper. She felt like screaming, at the thought of Annie, ruining her day. I better go downstairs, before she goes to tell Mum what I said, Mirabel thought, as she stepped aside from the mirror. "Who knows what that my stupid tell-tale sister, will tell Mum." She hissed and walked out of the room.

"Where is your sister?" their mother asked Annie, as soon as she entered the dining room. Annie smiled, "Mirabel will soon be here," she replied cheerfully. Daisy knew that something had gone wrong; then she looked at Annie's face, but Annie kept smiling. "Are you sure that Mirabel is coming for dinner?" She asked, still looking at Annie. "I called her, and she said she was coming," Annie replied. "When is Dad coming home?" Annie asked. Mrs. Osasojie, looked at her watch, "He will be here in an hour's time," she replied. "Good evening, Mummy," Mirabel said, as soon as, she entered the dining room. "Good evening, Miss high, and mighty," her mother, said sternly. "It is so like you, to keep us waiting; Annie, called you almost thirty minutes ago."

"I was dressing up," Mirabel said, quietly. "Oh really, so how much time, do you actually need, to change your clothes?" Daisy asked angrily. It was a question, that she was not actually expecting an answer to, and Mirabel was not ready to provide her mother, with an answer. Mirabel eye balled Annie; stupid little girl, she thought, as she sat down to eat dinner.

Mirabel, and Annie, were totally different from one another. Mirabel did not have a care in the world, and never stopped to think about how her words, and actions affected other people. On the other hand, Annie, was calm, and quite the opposite of Mirabel. For Nathan, and Daisy, Osasojie, their children, Mirabel, aged fourteen, and Annie, aged twelve, meant the world to them. Nathan was a consultant surgeon, at the State Teaching Hospital, and Daisy was a lecturer, at the State University; she was a chartered accountant.

Nathan, drove his car, out of the hospital premises that evening; for some reason, he was very angry, first, with the patient for dying in his presence, and then with the patient's relatives. He actually had no reason to feel the way he was feeling, considering the fact that this was not the first time, he had lost a patient, in his career as a doctor. And as a consultant surgeon, he had performed more surgeries than he could count, and had lost quite a number of patients. What pained him, was not the death of the patient alone; it was the fact that, the patient, had a chance to have survived, if only the relatives, had brought him in on time.

He tried his best, to shut out the thoughts from his mind, and concentrate on his driving. Then, his mind went to Mirabel. "What mischief will she be up to this time?" He said aloud.

Mirabel left the dinner table, as soon as she finished eating her food; she did not even bother to remove her plates. Her mother watched her leave the table, she did not want to question her about her attitude, as she was just too tired to start another fight with Mirabel. The morning episode, was still fresh in her memory. She had entered their room, intending to wake the children up. It was the first day of the holiday, and she decided to give them three extra hours of sleep. Annie was not on her bed, but Mirabel was still very much asleep. The air conditioner was at its coolest level, and Mirabel, had a blanket wrapped around her body. Mrs. Osasojie, went over to her, and pulled the blanket off her body; she shook her gently. "Wake up, sleepy head," she said quietly. Mirabel opened her eyes, and her mother smiled at her, "It is time to wake up," she said. Mirabel flung her legs at her mother, and Mrs. Osasojie, had to jump back to avoid been hit. "Why can't I get to enjoy holidays like other children, Mum?" she hissed. Daisy ignored her daughter's rude remark. "Where is Annie?" she asked Mirabel. "How am I supposed to know where Annie is? Check her bed; I want to be left alone," she screamed, her eyes flashing in anger. Mrs. Osasojie, looked at Mirabel again. What on earth, did I do, to get this kind of response from my daughter? She thought, as she grabbed Mirabel's night gown by the collar, and pulled her out of bed. "You are going to get out of bed this instant, or I shall punish you severely!" She pulled Mirabel through the corridor, and down the stairs, into the kitchen.

Annie was washing plates, Mrs. Osasojie's sister, Sophia, was sweeping the floor. "Sophia dear," Mrs. Osasojie, called as soon as she entered the kitchen, "find this young girl, something to do this morning." "Yes, big sister," Sophia replied, and took Mirabel outside. Mirabel had made up her mind, not to do anything in the house. I shall simply spoil anything they give me to do, she thought. Sophia, had washed some clothes, that morning, that needed to be hung up; she handed Mirabel, the clothes pegs, and showed her the clothes. She also told her to put the clothes, on the line, and showed her how to peg them. It was the easiest thing to do, and Mirabel, would have taken at most, twenty minutes to do it, but, she decided that, she was not going to do it at all. I shall teach them not to ever send me on errands, she thought. She looked at the clothes, they belonged to her parents.