So another one from me.

I hope you enjoy this one. And please leave feedback. ;-)

Escalation

Chapter 1

After Sarah had talked to Tommy and was now officially not part of Ojaj anymore, Sarah got –half-expected- a very urgent call from Nora who invited her to an only- family dinner tonight,which meant no spouses. Sarah tried to explain to her mother that now wasn´t a good time, that everybody was too unrattled to all get peacefully together, and without spouses,nobody would defuse the situation,but Nora simply said it was important to keep the family together in times like these. Sarah jokingly remarked that not even a hurricane could tear this family apart, but Nora wouldn´t take No for an answer and as usually Sarah folded though with a bad feeling in her stomach.

Like Sarah had expected the dinner turned out to be rather akward. Nobody spoke much and an umcomfortable bruised silence covered the entire dinner. Near the end Justin said only: „An evening without drama. That´s a first for me!"

Nora managed to smile a little and kevin added halfheartedly:"Yeah and it will stay that. A first."

Kitty looked how she often did as if she couldn´t decide what to make of all this and remained with a frown on her forehead and her slowly wandering gaze. Nora seemed to feel similiarly but unlike her daughter her indecisiveness was quite obvious.

She sat at the head of the table, seeked the look of each of her 5 children, opened her mouth numerous times,only to decide otherwise and closed it again. She decorated that with a smile that seemed forced rather than friendly which made all of it even more bizarre.

Justin however dared a short laugh, but fell silent pretty quickly in the face of the general silence.

In fact the only people who seemed rather fixed in their mood where those who made the others so uncomfortable.Tommy and Sarah sat opposite each other, in the middle of the table,enclosed by their siblings.

Sarah almost seemed as if she was somewhere totally different,while Tommy had an expression on his face that was unreadable but continuous and therefore even more unsettling.

While Tomm y stared at Sarah with that look, Sarah as the only one ate obliviously as if everything was okay. She wasn´t looking at anyone but her family knew very well that she was someone who generally didn´t miss a detail and sucked information in as a sponge.

When she was a child,she would occasionally give William detailed reports that reproduced precisely the diverse situations the family members were in. However tactless, she was never. Even as a child she had a very good feeling which news would create a joyful atmosphere and which would unleash a storm to rage through the family. Those she prudently kept to herself.

It was Kitty who declared with a doleful expression at the age of 8 that the valuable paperweight in Dad´s study lay broken to pieces on the floor. And as much she was excited to be able to deliever such important news, she was unprepared in light of the thunderhead that not only gushed on the malefactors Tommy or rather Kevin, but on the whole family.

One could say that Kitty often didn´t consider the consequence, but planned things precisely. Sarah on the other hand was very aware of the outcome and sometimes went too far ahead into how other people might react.

At the moment it seemed Sarah wanted to demonstrate with her subborn eating on when everybody had stopped that she was neither ready to discuss her leaving Ojaj not deal with any possible reactions.

Tommy opposite her grew more and more annoyed bis his sister´s behaviour. While in the beginning he had accepted her silence almost sullenly, as another affront on his person.that was not to be noted, now it was visibly difficult for him to say calm.

Had he glanced at the others before from time to time, now his whole attention was directed at observing Sarah closely.

The tension in the room became more and more tangible until Kevin couldn´t stand it any longer.

„You know what,guys. I hate to break the silence but this is getting ridiculously beyond-"

Sarah dropped her fork with a loud „kling", starred one moment intensively at her plate as if the half-eaten meal could give her some patience,shot an dismissive look at Kevin and finally said with a dagerous under-tone, again directed at her plate:

„It is NOT ME who made this p-e-r-s-o-n-a-l decision of mine into a federal matter. You all act like I just singlehandedly destoryed the whole family business which is-„

„WITH A VERY GOOD CHANCE T-R-U-E!" Tommy aggressively ended her sentence sharply.

„NO IT ISN´T TRUE.Sarah did no such thing!" Nora cut Tommy off quickly and, deeply startled by this sudden outburst of accusation.She slowly moved her arms ujp and down which was supposed to calm everyone down and nip the upcoming conflict in the bud. Nora wasn´t convinced like Tommy that Sarah was at least partly wrong,but she also didn´t understand her daughter´s choice, but when there was so much heat in the air, Nora considered it best to postpone the needed discussion and interfere before the big bang.

Besides Nora noticed that Sarah had turned ashen and her siblings strangely seemed even quieter than they were before – if that was possible.

Eventually Kitty chose to reveal her opinion and spoke with a voice that was supposed to be neutral and still friendly:

„I,um, know everyone´s upset."

Tommy muttered:"Tell me about it."

„But I think we should all remember that this primarily doesn´t affect all of us except Sarah and Tommy –after a look over to Nora- and maybe Mom, too. What I´m trying to suggest is to let them work this out ,just them and we ...um... continue dinner!"

Sarah a second ago still with a deep frown on her forehead now rolled her eyes and said slightly aggressively:

„You know what,Kitty,why don´t YOU go and... just work things out with whoever is willing to listen and I´ll leave in peace."

Again Nora got in: „Oh please. Don´t get it on with Kitty now. This is-."

Sarah: Mom. „All I wanted was-."

But Nora was unstoppable as usual: Sarah, you ARE making this into one big fight, which is so understandable but we haven´t even talked this through properly-."

Now it was Sarah´s turn to interrupt her mother:

„There is nothing to talk through.I made a decision and now none of you, absolutely noone, can accept that. You all think that all I am is being stubborn and spiteful,but even though you will never believe it, I had my reasons. Some that might not matter to you, but they do to me."

Sarah closer unusually dramatically for her. With a glowing glance she gazed around the table. Noone said anything and except Nora everyone had suffered a snub and Tommy also looked furious. Kitty was the only one who looked somehow superior, as if all that wasn´t new to her and as if she was simply spooked by the sudden outburst of her older sister.

Nora seemed quiet displeased, but her gaze was missing the will to fight. Instead she was worried and she said gently: „Sarah.." and reached for Sarah´s hand, but Sarah pulled her hand away, didn´t look her mother in the eyes, but seemed to fight with herself. Eventually she pushed back her chair,the uncomfortable sound was the only noise in the room. Sarah now hurried to get up to leave the room.

Nora´s gaze followed her tall daughter out of the room.

She emanated dignity and competence, but also was very controlled. Still Nora knew her daughter well enough to know that this was just a cover or say a shadow of what normally was. The last years had taught Nora not to take strong emotional releases lightly as the death of her beloved father and role model and particularly his decade-long affair with Holly Harper had left scars on Sarah´s life and feelings.

Sarah´s perception of the world had been tested amendments had to be made that were hard to adjust with Sarah´s regular view of the world.

When Nora now thought of Joe, Rebecca and the divorce, she noticed that not just all parts of Sarah´s former life came to an end, but that it all began with her father´s death. After Sarah´s marriage had ended, she had eventually given up her old job at the family business.

Although Sarah was an independent assertive woman, Nora knew that there were things that were just unalterable... they even had to be, because then Sarah would have to question all the other parts that were build on the first unalterable fact. When that happened, it became apparent that despite her exterior strength, Sarah was sensitive to shades and nuances and also was vulnerable in certain areas.

Nora was still deep in thought and looked confused when Tommy said loudly:

„I will talk to her I´m going to put an end to this.I-."

To be continued...