Old Stone Chapter 7

Author’s Note: If you would like to read previous chapters of “Old Stone,” you can find them here:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

The characters are as follows:
Wade Rose – daddy
Vera Rose – mama
Erin Rose – 17 year old, daughter and oldest sister
Charlie Rose – 14 year old, daughter and middle sister
Kyree Rose – 10 year old, daughter and youngest sister
Tobin Lindor – old friend of Vera’s

I hope you enjoy the story…

The Entire Chapter is From the POV of Erin Rose

My nerves were frayed on the night of the Fall Festival. People never took to me real well because I was shy. I think they thought I was stuck up. Anyway, I didn’t have a friend to my name, and I regretted agreeing to do the fortune-telling. Our school was trying to raise money, so all the proceeds were basically donations.

As I waited for my sisters at the door, I repeatedly smoothed out the fabric of my bodice. My hands felt sweaty, and I knew my cheeks were red as could be. Why was it so hot in here?

My sisters finally made an appearance, and not long afterward, Mama and Mr. Lindor joined us, too.

Already, I could tell Mama was fit to be tied.

“What are you wearing, young lady? I thought we agreed you weren’t to have bare shoulders?”

This was typical Mama. When she was like this, she easily made a wasp look cuddly! Did she always have to criticize me? Nothing I ever did was good enough for this prickly old woman.

It didn’t take long for her eyes to narrow as she stared at me for a response.

After a time, I said, “We didn’t agree to that.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Her mouth became a fine line, and she looked like she didn’t have any lips at all. Then, folding her arms in front of her, she said with a voice that shook, “I’m telling you now, you’re not leaving this house with bare shoulders! It’s cold out and it’s inappropriate! Go get your shawl now!”

Gathering myself, I tugged at my bodice once more. Why was this so important to her?

“I don’t want to.”

I don’t know why, but the more she picked at me, the more I wanted to dig my heels in.

My sister Charlie glanced at the wall clock, then threw her hands up in the air. “Just do what Mama wants so you can leave! I’ve been helping her bake pies and cake all day and I’m wanting to read my book now.”

For the first time, it dawned on me that she wasn’t wearing a costume. “Why aren’t you going?”

“Because Mama needed help and I’m plum wore out.”

I glared at my mother. “Charlie should’ve been getting ready with me and Kyree instead of slaving in the kitchen.”

“Not Kyree, you’re supposed to call me Sheriff Rose,” Kyree corrected me.

“Whatever,” I said to her, making her frown. I turned back to Mama.

Mama said, “Charlie wanted to help me. It was her choice. She’s free to go to the festival if she wants to, but sounds like she’s got a good book waiting for her.” Then she snapped at me, “Are you going to wear your shawl or not?”

It was a dare, I was certain of it. Not wanting to disappoint her, I growled at her, “No, I ain’t going to grab it!”

When she opened her mouth next, I knew it was to say something more on the matter, as she was in a horn-tossing mood. To my surprise, she closed her mouth and said nothing further regarding my tasteless, bare shoulders.

Kyree’s eyes were rimmed with red, and she seemed on the verge of crying. I wanted to put my arm around her shoulders, but I was too vexed right then.

“Erin, I need you to deliver the pies and cakes to the dessert booth. They’re counting on them to raise money,” Mama said, apparently over the fact that I was outright disobeying her.

“Fine.” I said that with a snarl.

“Why are you always so mean?” Charlie demanded. “I need to talk to you.”

“Later,” I hissed as I grabbed Kyree’s hand and yanked her out the door.

We were pretty early so I could deliver Mama and Charlie’s pies and cakes to the dessert booth. Kyree and I pulled the wagon behind us where all the confections were.

As usual, she was talking a mile a minute, whether or not I responded to her.

“You know, you could talk the ears off a mule,” I groaned as we finally reached the booth we were after.

As soon as the wagon stopped, Kyree ran off with a group of friends. I called after her to meet me at the haunted house attraction at ten o’clock.

I vaguely knew the girl working the booth from high school. We didn’t acknowledge each other as I helped her stow the desserts on the appropriate shelves.

Leaving the wagon there, I wandered over to the haunted house where, inside, my table and crystal ball were waiting for me. I checked to make sure everything I needed was there, then I came back outside.

Something about being in there with the fog machines already cranking unsettled me, so I stood near the entrance thinking about the things a fortune teller should say to customers.

Realizing my foot was tapping, I held my other arm at the elbow. My palms were no longer sweaty. Instead, I shivered. But I was not cold.

Maybe the shawl would have been a good idea, I thought as I shivered again. No, I am not cold!

I turned my attention back to the business at hand, but my stomach churned as I thought about having to make up random things about strangers.

Taking a deep breath, and shivering (but I was not cold!), I ran some typical phrases through my head like, you have a bright future ahead of you, your children will adore you, I see someone tall and handsome… blah blah blah.

By then, my legs were a quivering mess.

Good grief, I thought, this isn’t that big of a deal. Calm down.

“Um… hello,” a man said as he approached me.

He seemed as uncertain about talking to me as I felt about reading peoples’ futures.

“Hello,” he repeated. He probably figured I hadn’t heard him.

I couldn’t lift my eyes to meet his. In moments like this, I froze statue still and couldn’t even speak. I began to wring my hands together. At least I could move those. If I didn’t acknowledge him, maybe he’d go away.

“I realize you don’t know me, but I thought I’d introduce myself.”

Taking a deep breath, my heart pounding against my ribs, I finally looked at him.

And audibly gasped.

He looked like a carbon copy of Tobin Lindor, but younger! And handsome! I mean, there were some differences. Like, his skin was a little darker, and he didn’t have Mr. Lindor’s hazel eyes. He also had thick, but short-cropped hair instead of that ridiculous toupee Mr. Lindor always had on. But other than that…

“I get that all the time when I come to visit. Tobin Lindor is my dad. I reckon we should get acquainted, seeing as how your mother is dating my father.”

“Oh, they may be dating for now, but I don’t see this as a long-time kind of relationship,” I said, being sure to correct whatever notions he had.

He raised his eyebrows. “Really? Because I think they’re great together. I hope they get married.”

“You’ve met my mama?”

“Well, sure. I’ve got another year of high school yet and I live with my mom, so I don’t get back that often. But last time they were in Ann Arbor where I live, they met me for dinner at Slurping Turtle₁. I love the Tokyo shoyu.”

“You’ve met my mama, and you like her?”

The corners of his mouth curved up into a smile. “Well, sure. Vera Rose, right? She seems real nice.”

Nooooooo. He couldn’t be talking about my mother. No way. Uh-uh.

“Why are you so surprised that I like her?”

Before I could really think of an appropriate answer, I blurted out, “Because it’s like she’s got horns holding up her halo most of the time.”

“Geez-Louise!” he howled as he laughed. It was like he’d never heard anyone say that before. Hidden Springs was definitely not where he came from. We all talked like that here.

Speaking of, his accent was all funny. “Geez-Louise!?” For real? What even was that?

“Look-it,” he said, more seriously, “I think their relationship is end-game.”

He spoke faster than I was used to, and he even slurred some of his words, but I was sure he wasn’t drunk. Ann Arbor must be a very strange place indeed.

“So, what about you? What’s your story?”

I smiled widely, using another phrase typically heard in our area, “Well, I’m the only hell my mama ever raised.”

This seemed to make him look closer at me. Then, he awkwardly said, “I’m Andrew, uh, Andy, by the way. You’re Erin, right?”

“The one and only,” I said with more bravado than I felt.

It didn’t take him long to leave me there, thank goodness. This whole entire situation with Mama and Mr. Lindor was more ghastly than I knew. What could be done about it?

Charlie and I were getting ready for bed. We shared a room with Kyree, too, but she was already asleep. She had a great night with her friends as Sheriff Rose. She talked again all the way home about every detail.

“…Then, Jenny told me she likes Albert. Can you believe that? I told her Albert picks his nose but she didn’t believe me. We got so much candy, and who do you think had the best costume? I didn’t win the contest but the girl who did had a real good costume. Guess what she was dressed as?” Before I could even answer, it was clear she wasn’t about to come up for air yet. “She was dressed like a spider! When she moved her arms, all the other arms moved, too. It was gross, but funny, and she deserved the prize. I got second place, but that nasty toad, Roger, told me second place is really first loser. Can you believe he said that to me? I didn’t get upset or cry, though, because you can just expect him to be the one to say things like that…”

And on and on it went. It was a relief when she fell asleep so easily. She was wore out, that was for sure.

“I need to talk to you,” Charlie said in a loud whisper.

I raised my hand indicating she should lower her voice even more. I don’t think I could’ve handled it if Kyree woke up.

“First, I got to tell you something, Sis.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding. She tilted her face toward me, eager to hear what I had to say.

“Some guy named Andrew approached me tonight and told me he’s Mr. Lindor’s son!”

“No!” she yelped, completely taken by surprise as I had been.

“Yeah, he’s from Ann Arbor and he talks funny. He said he lives with his mom there. And do you know what? There is a restaurant there called Slurping Turtle! He said he eats some kind of Tokyo dish or something. I can’t remember exactly what he called it.”

“Whoa,” she murmured. Then she smiled widely. “That means we might have a brother someday! That’s exciting since it’s just been us girls for so long. Do you think if someone picked on me at school, he’d give ’em what for?”

I stared at her, amazed at her ability to just accept all this without so much as a second thought.

“We don’t even know him. Not really, anyways.”

“Well, was he nice to you? Or mean?”

“Oh, he was nice. He thought I talked funny, but I thought he did.”

“I can’t wait to hear him say something,” she enthused. “Say, do you think we’ll meet him tomorrow?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s good to be home. I don’t feel like trudging all the way back to the Lindor house again. Not so soon, anyways.” I paused for a breath. “What did you want to talk about?”

This was serious. She got out of bed as I removed the pins from my hair. She stood beside me as she spoke, her voice even softer than before.

“Something’s really bothering you, huh? I asked.

She bit her lower lip and nodded.

“I couldn’t sleep last night, and I decided to take a walk. You know, like I do at home.”

I nodded and urged her to continue.

“Well, I knew there was a gazebo, and I thought it might be nice to sit there. But when I came to it, Mama and Mr. Lindor were sitting there on the bench. They were holding hands and talking very softly.”

“And you spied?”

She held her stomach, nodding once more as tears filled her eyes. I sat up more and took one of her hands in mine.

“Go on,” I said.

She sucked in some air before continuing. “I was behind them, so they didn’t notice me. I know I shouldn’t have listened, but Mama seemed so upset, I couldn’t make myself turn away.”

“Why was Mama upset? Do you know?”

She bit her nail and her hand was shaking a little. “Yes. She told Mr. Lindor that she always loved him, not Daddy. Daddy was actually really rotten to Mama when he found out she was pregnant.”

“Hold on a minute, you’d better start from the beginning.”

And she did. She told me the whole sordid tale about how Daddy had inserted himself in Mama and Mr. Lindor’s relationship. Apparently, Daddy was sweet on Mama, too, but she was pledged to Mr. Lindor. Mr. Lindor went off to college and in the meantime, Daddy moved in on Mama.

“He got her drunk and…” her voice trailed off.

“And?” I asked.

“And not long after, she found out she was pregnant with you.”

I felt sick as the realization of what happened to Mama washed over me.

“No,” I whispered, “Daddy would never have done that.”

“When he found out she was pregnant with you, he rejected her,” Charlie continued as if she hadn’t heard me. As if the firmness of her words could convince me of something so impossible.

“Daddy rejected her, but later they got married. He never even asked Mama properly for her hand. He sat an engagement ring on the kitchen table and just left it there.”

My head was reeling. How could Daddy have done that? Charlie must be mistaken in what she heard, but she fervently denied having misheard them.

“Mr. Lindor saw that Daddy and Mama were together and he bowed out. But she always loved him,” Charlie said. “And he always loved her, too.”

I sat there, stunned into a silence as I thought about how much I loved my father, and how I missed him because he died. I’d been angry that he was gone. And I just couldn’t see how anyone could ever call Daddy a horrible person or accuse him of these things.

“It’s all true,” Charlie said, her voice firm in her belief.

“No, it can’t be. Daddy loved us all and he was good to us.”

Saying that seemed to raise her hackles. She crossed her arms in front of herself and glared at me.

“Daddy loved us, sure, but he and Mama weren’t the loving couple you make them out to be. He did all right, but Mama always worked harder than him. Remember how much he drank all the time? And Mama always made excuses for him.”

I felt a sob and tried to choke it back, but it came out as tears fell from my eyes. If I believed this was true, then I was a horrible person, too! Thinking about Daddy that way shook me to my core.

But Charlie wasn’t backing down, so I was forced to open my eyes without the rose-colored glasses I’d been wearing.

Now I knew what Mama meant all the times she said, “Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.”₂

She was speaking from experience, and I was nothing but terrible to her.

Special thanks to Bee (Stories by Bee / Poses by Bee) for editing this story.

Thank you so much for reading, liking, lurking, and commenting! I hope you have a terrific weekend!



Credits:
Poses: BMIT/Bee (Poses by Bee) – Adult Walk and Talk
Lot: You can purchase Grandpa’s Grove from EA for 1,710 SimPoints HERE, Tobin Lindor’s house is a lot already in Hidden Springs, as are the Festival Grounds.
World: You can purchase Hidden Springs from EA for $19.99 HERE
Premium Content: The Punjab Partition (from the Dreams of India – 1,550 SimPoints – set) can be purchased for 28 SimPoints HERE.
Custom Content/Mods: Please click here to see a full list of CC & Mods that I use in every chapter: Credits

The Sims games © EA, created by Maxis.

Citations/Glossary:
1. Located in A², Michigan, there really is a restaurant called Slurping Turtle!
2. For those who like rabbit holes…I was unable to discern who the original author of this quote was because it’s a common saying that most people think of as “anonymous.” But this article had some interesting things to say about who said it and when: Good Judgment Depends Mostly on Experience and Experience Usually Comes from Poor Judgment.


© 2024 Copyright | KL Hawke & booomcha.com | All Rights Reserved.