C a R t E r
My mother, the travel agent for guilt trips.
As soon as Carter stepped over the threshold of the house she knew from the expression on her mothers face that a mother daughter talk was imminent. And it wasn't going to be one of those mind expanding mother daughter talks she enjoyed ever so much either.
No, it was going to be the mother daughter talk of all mother daughter talks. And just to add salt to the wounds her mother was about to inflict, was Rudolph. She wasn't talking about the cute fluffy reindeer who pulls Santa's sleigh either. Nope, it was the Suave-Arts Dealer-I-Have-A-Corvette Rudolph.
Carter gritted her teeth as Sofia advanced from the kitchen into the hallway. Gritting her teeth in preparation was her way in maintaining damage control.
"I just had a wonderful conversation on the phone," her mother began, in that calm voice that set alarm bells off in Carter's head. "With Officer Anderton." Carter remembered him from the night of Erika's attack. She had fondly nicknamed him The-One-Who-Wouldn't-Shut-Up. "Yes he wanted to call and applaud your bravery for scaring Erika Simmons attacker off." Her mothers' voice had developed an austere edge. "He also found it strange that I, your mother, didn't even know about any such incident." She pointed toward the family room and Carter followed the direction, dropping down onto the plush cream flower patterned sofa. "Would you like to tell me why you felt you had to hide this from me." It was a demand not a question. "Because if officer Anderton found it strange that I didn't know about the attack, I found it very upsetting." The tone of her mothers' voice wavered and cracked. "I mean, has it become so bad between us that you can't even speak to me anymore?" She sobbed, Carter shifted in her seat. My mother, the travel agent for guilt trips.
Rudolph moved in to try and console her. Carter wanted to feel bad, but in reality she just didn't. She hadn't told her mom for a number of very good reasons. First of all, she knew that her mother would react, well, basically pretty much the way she was reacting now, then she hadn't wanted to cause her any unnecessary worry. And then there was the fact that what Carter had seen attacking Erika had made her feel like, well, a freak. Not to mention the reason that was loitering just out of reach of her mind. The one she didn't want to think about.
She opened her mouth to begin to apologise when Rudolph broke in. "Do you see what you've done!" He said, cradling her mother in her arms.
That was it! Any chance at an apology was lost with those five words.
"What I've done? We were fine until you came!" Rage was too diminutive a term to describe her emotional state right then.
"Not from what I've seen." Rudolph barked in reply.
"Like I give a shit about what you see!"
Her mother seemed to regain her voice at that point. "Carter, don't speak to Dolph that way!"
That was went gritting her teeth failed to maintain damage control. "See, this is why I didn't tell you about Erika! It's always Rudolph this...Rudolph that... Rudolph's superman. Dad would never have-"
"Carter!" Her mother bleated.
There she had said it, what she had been thinking for two months but didn't want to admit to herself. Her mother had put Rudolph above her in the hierarchy of importance. She had broken the cardinal rule of, family above all else. And Carter resented her for it. "Fuck this." Her voice was calm, but she stormed out anyway. She just felt tired. The final door of the house slammed shut behind her and she was standing on their gravel driveway.