Bare Nerves

Part II

We walked home in a tense silence which was only broken by Rina chastising me for my outburst.
   'What happens in the family, stays in the family, Joey! You know the rules.' She spoke with a tone of authority that I resented.
   'It's a stupid rule, Rina, and you aren't the boss of me, either. I'm older than you, so shut up.' I was sick of her playing mommy all the time. Ever since we moved here to live with our dad six years ago, she'd slowly started to get more withdrawn and less fun. I missed us 'getting up to mischief' as our granny used to call it.
   When we arrived home, Rina took her books out of her bag and sat down at the kitchen table to do her homework. She'd been ignoring me all the way home after I'd snapped at her and she barely looked up as she pushed out the chair across from hers with her foot for me to sit in. We had just started into our maths homework when we heard the dulled clatter of the loose brick on the porch step. We both tensed up, and Rina caught her breath, as the unmistakeable, heavy jingle of  our fathers keys in the door passed through the lock and into the air of our house. Rina's eyes were wide with fear. I just hoped he'd had a good day at work today. The door swung open and slammed shut.
   'Hey troops.' Dad sounded tired. He threw his coat over the back of a kitchen chair and tossed his keys onto the table. Then he kissed Rina on the top of her head, crossed the kitchen and ruffled my hair. 'Any post?' he asked, opening up a bag of trail mix and scarfing down one handful after another.
   'Nope.' I replied, casually, hoping he'd forgotten all about Rina's dentist appointment.
   'Cool.' he said, losing interest in us. He took a beer from the fridge and disappeared into the sitting room with his snacks. We heard the news channel on the tv and the sound of his beer can opening. Rina stood up and took Dr. Frank's note from her pocket.
'Don't, Rina. Just don't give it to him. He's forgotten.' I whispered, pleadingly.
'I have to. He'll ask eventually and I'll be in more trouble then for hiding the truth. Plus, if I don't do it now, I'll be freaking out until he asks.' She whispered back with a trembling lip. She had a point. It was better to get it over with. Dad would yell, hurl threats and insults and blame Rina for everything, as usual. I just hoped it would end there and he wouldn't do anything worse. I watched helplessly as Rina walked slowly into the sitting room with the note in her shaking hands.
'Hey Lovey, how'd it go at the dentist? All fixed?' he asked. I didn't hear Rina say a word in reply. I got up and peered around the doorframe. My dad was slouched in his armchair, reading the note in silence. He leaned forward in his seat.
'Oh shit,' I thought to myself, 'here we go.' I just hoped he'd scream out all his anger on the phone to Dr. Frank and leave Rina alone. Dad muted the tv, stood up and took out his phone.
'Frank?!' he roared, pacing the floor. 'My daughter just handed me your note. When I send my child to you for an extraction, I expect it to be done. Are you useless? Or are you fucking stupid like your ignorant bitch of a wife? The tooth is sticking into the floor of the child's mouth and causing swelling. If there isn't an infection there already, there will be soon and I'll have to fork out good money for a course of antibiotics. If that happens, you'll owe me for them, you hear me?'
The room went quiet as my dad paused to listen, still pacing.
'Well, if you think it doesn't need to be pulled, you're a fucking eejit. I've no dentist training and I can see it clearly does.'
Another pause.
'Okay, fine. I'll fucking do it myself!' My dad hung up the phone and flung the remote across the room. It hit the door and the batteries flew out. One sailed over my head and into the kitchen, the other caught Rina just above the eye. She barely flinched and didn't make a sound. She just stood there, waiting. She kept putting up with abuse from him and she didn't deserve any of it. Our dad wasn't like this when we used to live with our grandparents. When our granny got sick, they weren't able to care for us anymore. We were excited to move in with our dad at first and everything was great. When dad started to drink more, the abuse started. At first it was just a few cruel comments to Rina and me, but over the last couple of years, it had escalated to abuse. I wanted to leave, but Rina refused to even consider it. She thought that our mother would have wanted us to stay together as a family and look after our dad and I wasn't going to leave without her. Watching him slowly pick away at her confidence and her happiness was heartbreaking and it was pushing me to breaking point. I couldn't let him take Rina's tooth out himself. He was far too angry right now to do anything dexterous or gentle. He was going to hurt her and she was already in so much pain.
'Rina, finish your maths homework and make dinner for you and your brother. After that, I want you to clean your teeth and rinse with mouthwash. I'm going to the shops for a couple of things. All that stuff had better be done by the time I get back, you hear me?' he asked, threateningly leaning over into her personal space.
'Yeah.' Rina mumbled, quietly.
'What? I can't hear you. I'm sick of your stupid, fucking, mousey voice! I never want to hear it again. Now, DO YOU HEAR ME?!' he shouted, spitting in her face.
'Yes, Dad.' Rina spoke loudly and clearly, but her lip quivered in fear.
'Better.' our dad said, satisfied at her attempt to please him. His phone began to ring in his hand. 'It's that cunt again.' He answered the phone. 'It's none of your business now, Frank. Don't call here again.' He hung up and put his phone in his pocket. He had just pushed past me into the kitchen when it rang again. 'Gobshite.' he muttered, ignoring the ringtone melody as he grabbed his keys and left.