“Four, Four, Four...”

 

“Jenny stopped that!” Mavis snapped in irritation. Shooting a glare at her daughter, she turned to her cooking.

 

Jenny didn’t stop. She now accompanied the number with a resounding bang of her head on the hardwood floor.

 

Mavis turned away from the stove immediately and went to her daughter. Trying to catch her flailing shoulders, she pleaded. “Jenny. Jenny, honey, please. Stop that.”

 

But Jenny just kept on banging her head. Mavis tried to cushion the blows with her palm. Jenny just pounded her head on the floor even harder. Mavis struggled to keep the tears from her eyes as she pleaded with her daughter to stop.

 

“Jenny, honey, please. I’m sorry I snapped at you. It’s just that mommy was so busy and…”

 

Mavis words were drowned out as the word, “Four, Four, FOUR”, got louder and louder.

 

Mavis swallowed her words with a strangled cry and picked her tiny daughter from the floor into a crushing hug. Immediately, Jenny went slack. She hung in her mother’s arms like a sack cloth waiting to be put down. There was no answering sign of affection. No return of arms around one’s shoulders.

 

“Jenny, honey, please don’t be like this.” Mavis whispered to her daughter’s ear. Trying to control herself, she kept her voice from breaking. “Tomorrow. Tomorrow. We’re going back to the doctor. I don’t care about what your father says. I can’t stand to see you like this.”

 

Mavis carried her five-year old child back to her bedroom and placed her gently on her bed. As soon as Jenny’s back touched the bed, she curled into a cocoon and covered her head with her pillow.

 

“Don’t do that, honey.” Mavis said. She tried to move the pillow away, but the arms just hung on tighter. Mavis sighed. “Tomorrow, we’re going back to the doctor.”

 

Moving away, Mavis kept the door to the room open in case anything happened. Sitting down at a chair that stood near to her daughter’s room, she looked at her hands, seeing the lines on her palm going this way and that, tracing them with her eyes.

 

Jenny didn’t use to be this way. Oh God, what happened to my little girl? Please, she’s my baby. I can’t bear to see her like this. Please God, if you take away Jenny’s illness I promise I’ll never get angry at her again. Just please, please, please, I want my little girl back.

 

 Mavis kept pleading and pleading in her head, looking at her palms and tracing the lines all the while.

 

“What is going on here?”

 

Mavis looked up. “I can’t stand it George. We have to take her to the doctor tomorrow. She’s getting worse.”

 

George’s face twisted into an angry visage. “Damn it Mavis, I told you we can’t afford the doctor’s bills. And besides, that damn asswipe probably doesn’t even know what he’s doing. Do you know how much he asked from us? $4,500 friggin dollars. He wants us to put Jenny in the hospital when he very well knows we can take care of her just as well here.”

 

“But George, Jenny…she’s getting worse.”

 

“No! She’s not getting worse Mavis. You’re just not taking care of her right.” And with that, George slaps Mavis’ face, hard. “If you didn’t sit on your ass so much every goddamn friggin’ day she wouldn’t be like this would she?”

 

“No George! No! I’ve been a good mother. I’ve taken care of her.” Mavis pleaded, her hands going to her cheek as tears started falling from her face.

 

“Really, Mavis? When? Was it when you decided let four men in here when you were drunk one night? Was it when you decided you just wanted to play around for a little bit.” George slaps Mavis again on the other side of her cheek.

 

“But I’ve been good since then George. I promise. I haven’t let anyone in here at all.” Mavis clutched at his clothes, twisting them in her hands.

 

“Really?” George asked, bringing his face close to her own, looking straight into her eyes.

 

“Yes” Mavis whispered.

 

“”But my dear, would you have been good if my brother John weren’t here?” George asked, his voice silky sweet as he indicated a man that had been previously sitting quietly in a chair in a corner of the room.

 

Mavis’ face twisted. “Your brother John does nothing. He didn’t go to Jenny when she was banging her head on the floor, did he? I did! I did!”

 

“Is this true?” George asked as he turned his face to his brother.

 

“Yes. You know I can’t get near Jenny, George. Apart from you, she’s scared of every other male. She’d bang her head on the floor and go wild if I went near her.” John replied quietly, his eyes going to his sister-in-law in disgust. “Besides, it’s the least Mavis can do after everything she’s done. And when Jenny is well, we can finally get rid of her.”

 

Mavis eyes went round in terror. “You won’t get rid of me will you, George? Please say you won’t get rid of me.”

 

“Honey, if Jenny didn’t cling to you so much I would have gotten rid of you weeks ago.” George put his hands to his wife’s throat and gently tightened them. “And I know, that you’re not as kind and soft-hearted as you act to be. You know Jenny hates that doctor. I wonder why. Oh…I know why, you just want to get rid of her honey.”

 

The hands slowly tightened. Mavis eyes widened as she grasped at the hands with her own, trying to make them let her go. “ You can’t bear to see her like this? More like you don’t want to see her at all.” The hands gradually cut off the air, and Mavis started to gasp and thrash. “Don’t want your guilt staring you in the face, honey. Mavis started gasping louder. “Because you destroyed her. You. You!” George suddenly let go of her, and she collapsed at his feet, gasping for air as great racking sobs left her body.

 

She curled into a ball and rocked back and forth.

 

Seeing her, then the door to his daughter’s room, George’s eyes flooded with pain. Looking at his brother, he asked, “John, what do I do?”

 

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