In June I packed up my room and Ted held a massive garage sale. One more night in the mostly empty house and my uncles would pick me up, then my stepfather would finally be out of my life.
I sat in the only chair in the living room while Ted cleared things out of the family room, hauling them out through the garage. I didn’t talk to him any more than I had to; I’d answered his questions and more or less kept the peace over the year and a half, and now, as our time came to its close, I had nothing at all to say. But the mood was different now, as he also had nothing to say to me. He stomped by me and pushed into my room then into the room next to it, then back to the dining room and grabbed a stack of papers and a magazine off the end of the kitchen counter. I sighed and looked at my sandals. He strode back out to the family room then turned around in the entryway and said, “Get off your butt and help me!”
Without looking at him I said, “If it’ll get me out of here faster,” and got up.
The magazine slammed into the floor near my feet and the papers fluttered after it. It startled me and I looked up at him as he was coming toward me. I tried to get away and fell to my knees and he grabbed my arms. I tried to pull free, and I screamed and started crying. He pushed me down and straddled me holding my arms down.
“What the hell did I do that was so bad that you and your mother treat me like this?!” he screamed.
I turned my face away and he yelled again, “You treat me like an asshole!”
He got up off me and scooted away, settling against the wall at the far end of the room. He sighed and ran his fingers through his thick black hair and said, “You know your uncle won’t take this crap, right?”
I balled myself up on the floor in the fetal position and refused to make eye contact with him, though I could see him through my hair. He got to his feet and disappeared into the family room continuing out to the garage. I stayed there on the carpet, afraid to move. I fell asleep and it was dark when I woke up. The porch light was on and shone into the living room. I got up and went to my room. Ted wasn’t there when Will and Lawrence arrived in the morning.