Party Favor

“My goodness, you have such lovely hair,” said Kaylee’s mother as she ran a brush through her daughter’s hair.

“So what?” said Kaylee with a sigh as she glumly regarded her reflection in the mirror. “I’ll never be as pretty as the other girls at school.”

“Now honey, don’t say that,” said her mother with a little frown. “I told you before that every flower in the garden blossoms in its own season.”

“Yeah, well, not much blossoming going on here,” said Kaylee, using her hands to squeeze her breasts together to try and make them look bigger.”

“Stop that!” said her mother, giving her a little swat on the arm with a hairbrush. “Sooner or later, someone’s going to realize just how beautiful you are.”

“I guess,” said Kaylee with another sigh, turning to look back at her mother. “Hey, what’s Eric doing back here anyway? I thought he was off to college.”

“Your brother’s still going to classes, honey,” said her mother, continuing to brush Kaylee’s hair. “It’s just that, well, he wanted to save up some money. That’s all.”

“Save up for money for what?” said Kaylee, turning to look back at her mother.

“Oh, something foolish,” said her mother with a frown. “Anyway, it isn’t important. He’s family, and that’s all that matters.”

“I don’t get it,” said Kaylee, shaking her head. “If I could get out of this crummy town, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

“Don’t worry about your brother,” said her mother, setting the brush down on the nightstand. “You get in bed, young lady. You’ve got school in the morning.”

“Fine,” said Kaylee, moping as she walked over to her bed and got under the blanket.

“There,” said her mother, giving her a kiss on her forehead. “Now you will have sweet dreams.”

“Yeah, right,” groused Kaylee, but a part of her wanted to believe her mother’s words.

***

A couple of days later, Kaylee spotted her brother unloading some boxes from the back of their mother’s car.

“What’s all that?” she said.

“None of your business, that's what,” said Eric, brushing past her on his way to the door leading down into the basement.

“Hey,” said Kaylee, following him down the steps. “Woah, you cleaned everything up down here.”

“Yeah, so?” said Eric, setting down a box on the old card table.

“So you never lift a finger to do any housework,” said Kaylee. “What’s going on?”

“I’m having a few friends over,” said Eric, taking out a rag and beginning to dust some shelves along the far wall.

“Wow! A party?” said Kaylee, her eyes lighting up. “Can I come?”

“It’s not a party,” said Eric. “I told you, it’s just some friends coming over to hang out.”

“Well, I wanna come,” said Kaylee as memories of her brother’s cute friends began popping into her mind’s eye.

“No way,” said Eric.

“Aww, why not?” said Kaylee. “That’s not fair.”

“You’re too young,” said Eric, brushing past her on his way to the stairs. “Plus, there’s gonna be alcohol and stuff.”

“And so what?” said Kaylee, trailing behind him. “I don’t care about drinking. I just want to hang out and have fun.”

“No, and that’s final!” said Eric, whirling to face Kaylee. “I want to have a good time, not have my little sister bugging everybody with her stupid questions.”

“You're the stupid one!” retorted Kaylee, sticking out her tongue at Eric.

Eric just ignored her, however, too focused on bringing in the supplies from the car. When Kaylee went to tell her mother about the grave injustice about to be perpetrated in the basement, she was shocked by her mother’s indifference.

“Look, he’s older now, honey,” said Kaylee’s mother, looking up from the bills she had spread out on the kitchen table. “I’m not a big fan of all the drinking, but that’s just what grown-ups do.”

“Aww, c’mon,” said Kaylee, stamping her feet. “The party is gonna be in our basement. He doesn’t have the right to tell me I can’t go.”

“Sweetie, why don’t you run along and watch a movie or something, hmm?” said her mother. “I’ve got to get these bills sorted, and then it’ll be time for me to make dinner.”

“It’s just not fair,” sulked Kaylee.

“Yeah, well life’s not fair sometimes,” said her mother, grimacing. “Sometimes your stupid husband insists on driving his motorcycle at a hundred miles an hour in the rain and goes flying off the side of a mountain road, leaving you to pick up the pieces.”

“Mom!” said Kaylee, bursting into tears as she turned and fled up to the sanctuary of her room.