Saturday, December 27, 2008

"There's Daggers in Men's Smiles"

Standing in the kitchen, with a pot of water for my Ramen noodles, I had not been in the best mood, because standing in the other room was my mother's boyfriend. Richard is his name and he likes treating my siblings and I like dogs. I honestly think the man gets his kicks out of controlling other people just to feel powerful. And if he's not happy, I'm not happy. When he's not happy, he lets the world know all about it. So I flipped the switch on the stove and stood there a few seconds, just letting the water warm up in the pot. Not wanting to stand and wait long for the water to come to a boil, I walked into my room and searched for my book to read while I waited for my lunch to cook. Finding the right one, I plucked it out of my shelf and carried it back down the hall, to the kitchen. As I stepped into the kitchen, however, I noticed Richard... Standing by my pot of simmering water. He was in a bad mood beforehand, but now he was really up to something. About to yell at me? But I don't know what I did wrong.. His expression reflected great anger, and seeing that, I stopped by the kitchen's door and waited. He waited too, for only a second before he yelled at me, coming towards me and looming over my short figure to get his point across. Yelling about how I would burn the house down because I'm not watching the pot. Yelling about how it would be all my fault and how I should actually learn to do it right. My own anger was building up as he's telling me all this crap, so I said, "You're calling me stupid!?"
He smiled right then, seeing me become angry, with a dagger in his smirk and replied slowly, "you're stupid, just like your dad..."
He knows that gets me... And he uses that line all the time.
Our arguing continued for a time... But in all honesty, I hadn't known he would become upset when I left the boiling water, unwatched. At my dad's house I would always run off and do something else until the water was ready. I never thought the day would come where boiling water catches fire right in our very homes. It's a frightening thought, no wonder Richard was so uptight....