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Jessica wailed throughout the night. Maddox woke up mechanically. She changed the baby and fed her formula. Enola and Jack remained behind the bedroom's closed door. Neither of them emerged nor assisted Maddox with her nightly chores.
Maddox despised Jessica. She mistreated the baby, banging her head on the table when she lay her down to change her. Maddox left bruises on the tiny arms and never cleaned her properly. Jessica developed diaper rash and screamed most of the time. Still, Enola did not offer any help or advice.
"I'm just the babysitter," Maddox moaned to herself. Her life had changed drastically since Jessica's arrival. The baby demanded most of her time. Maddox did not enjoy the same summer fun as her school friends. She never went to the lake or spent time in the park. She missed Sailor most of all. "I hate you," she told Jessica every time she fed her or changed her diaper.
Sailor Kent stayed away from the trailer park. The town buzzed with gossip about Enola Kelley and Jack Meadows. Gertie Meadows ignored the situation. She moved stoically through town, completing her grocery shopping and visiting the beauty parlor on her regular schedule. Talk stopped when she appeared, only to start up again after she left. Gertie seemed oblivious to the wagging tongues. She disowned her grandson and never acknowledged her great-granddaughter.
Jack remained at the Kelley trailer. He took over Michael's place in the family but not his duties in the trailer park. Mikey tried to fill the gap his father left but could barely keep up. Eventually, the trailer park would hire new maintenance personnel. Mikey wondered what would happen to them when the new family arrived. They would either start paying rent or leave. It worried him.
Enola and Jack continued sitting around, getting drunk. They seemed oblivious to life. Enola considered returning to her beauty parlor job but couldn't move herself to reapply. Jack was unwilling to work. He belonged to Enola; it was up to her to provide for him.
Enola began receiving the widow's benefits from social security following Michael's death. She was not above claiming her three children and taking their allotment for herself. The money would keep them afloat, although it was only a stipend. Neither Maddox nor Mikey knew anything about the benefits their mother was receiving in their names.
Maddox escaped to the tree fort when she could. Arnold Gorey was usually there ahead of her. Their companionship grew closer, although they spoke hardly at all. Arnold lived in his own world filled with medication that left him in a trance. Maddox hardly cared. She enjoyed sitting next to him, plucking the frayed strings in her plaid skirt. They made a morose pair.
Jessica was a mess when Maddox returned. Her diaper overflowed, causing the small trailer to stink. Maddox cleaned her up roughly and dumped her into her mother's lap. Enola stared at the baby expressionlessly.
"She's your problem, Mother," Maddox hissed, her mouth pursed and her eyes slit. "You take care of her for once."
Enola stared straight at her oldest daughter with contempt. She didn't bestir herself. The baby remained on her lap, wiggling and cooing. Enola continued to sit. Jack looked up at the ceiling and at the far wall. He was no help either.
"You stole my boyfriend," Maddox continued. "You have the consequences in your lap. Why is this my problem? I didn't want a baby."
"You think I wanted one?" Enola snapped back.
"You didn't think about that when you were screwing my boyfriend?"
Enola Kelley set the baby beside her on the couch and rose. Maddox didn't see her arm swing back until her mother's palm connected with her cheek. Maddox shrieked and cowered back. Her cheek and her pupils stung. Tears flew from her reddened eyes.
"I wish it was you who committed suicide," Maddox yelled, "not daddy."
Enola struck her daughter again. Maddox continued to throw abuse. Jack sat on the couch watching, his eyes round with excitement. He loved watching mother and daughter fight. It turned him on.
"Your mistake," Enola hissed. "Poor planning, Maxi honey."
Maddox let out her breath. Her cheeks flamed, and her mind whirled. She couldn't think of a rebuke. Instead, she sat on the couch and cried.
"Accusing your father of rape was stupid and childish," her mother continued, standing above her. "You accomplished nothing except his suicide. Proud?"
Maddox looked up with tear-glistening eyes. Proud? No, she was not proud. She had no pride. She endured months of abuse from her mother and Jack Meadows. Maddox admitted accusing her father was stupid. It was the only thing she had in her arsenal without revealing the truth. The truth would have hurt Jack and pushed him out of her life. She admitted she still loved him. Perhaps, one day, he would turn from Enola and fall back into her arms. Everything she endured was for that one purpose.
Enola stood above her, staring with hard eyes. She never cared for her daughter or her son. They were obstacles in her path. She wished she never married Michael Kelley. Enola was a flirt from the time she turned thirteen. She teased the boys in school and let them touch her in private places. Enola first experienced sex at age fourteen. It was a random act with a boy she could not remember. Afterward, she could have any boy she wanted until Michael Kelley appeared in her life.
Michael fulfilled her like no one had before. She gave herself wholly and willingly. They married when she became pregnant with Maddox. Life seemed idyllic until she realized she hardly knew Michael Kelley at all. Then she understood that she didn't like him. He was lazy and shiftless. A tenth-grade drop-out, Michael worked pumping gas and then cleaning windows. Finally, he took on the job at the trailer park. They would live rent-free, and he would be responsible for maintaining the park's utilities and appliances. At first, it sounded good until they moved into the cramped trailer.
Pregnant with Mikey, Enola attended beauty school and took a job at the local hair salon. They struggled until Enola met Jack Meadows.
Jack took her back to her teens. She could pretend she was a young and fresh student again. Middle age did not exist for her. Enola could start over with Jack and forget Michael. She never thought about getting pregnant. Sex was the only thing on her mind. If she was satisfied, she was content.
Enola could not love Jessica. Motherhood didn't suit her. Maddox and Mikey suffered from a lack of a mother's love. Jessica didn't stand a chance of receiving her loving care. The baby was just another obstacle in her life's path.
"I'm tired of seeing your face, Maxi," Enola screamed, towering over her crying daughter. "Wipe those tears and start getting dinner." Grabbing Maddox's arm, she heaved the girl to her feet.
"I'm hungry," Jack stated from the couch. He had grown wider and sloppier during the past few weeks. His enormous belly overhung his gray sweatpants. He didn't wear a shirt. His taut nipples were dark red, almost brown. Straggly hair poked out of his navel, although the rest of his chest was bare. Jack yawned and stretched. "I could eat a bear. You got any bear, Maxi Pad?"
"When did I become your slave?" Maddox appealed to both her mother and Jack. "Clean and cook and wipe that monster's ass. That's all I ever do. I don't have a life."
"That's your life, sweetheart," Jack answered, pursing his lips and throwing her a kiss. "Get me a clean glass while you're at it." He lifted his glass of gin and handed it to her.
"Get your own glass," Maddox fired back. Drawing back her arm, she heaved the glass at the wall. It barely missed Jack's ear and shattered against the wall.
"Clean that up!" Enola screamed, dragging Maddox by the arm. She pointed menacingly at the broken glass.
"I will not!" Maddox yelled back. She tried to pull away, but Enola shoved her forward. Maddox tripped on the frayed rug and fell to her knees. Glass shards penetrated her skin, causing her blood to flow. Maddox began to cry again.
"You're worse than the baby," Enola announced, oblivious to Maddox's pain. "Cry. Cry. Cry. That's all you do."
"You would cry too if your mom stole your boyfriend," Maddox wailed. She picked up the broken glass, depositing it in the heavy, round-bottomed drinking glass. Rising, she shoved it into Enola's hand. "You are disgusting, MOM. A woman your age, sexing it up with a little boy. Why don't you grow up?"
Enola didn't respond. Instead, she tossed the contents of the broken glass into her daughter's face. Maddox shrieked when the sharp splinters cut into her cheeks and eyelids. Covering her face with her hands, she ran toward the bathroom and slammed the door.
Blood ran down her face in rivulets. The glass stung with gin. Maddox pulled out the splinters with tweezers and washed her face. She wet a towel and, sitting on the toilet, placed it gingerly on her cut skin. It soothed a little of the pain. When she felt better, she went into her bedroom to lie down. After a while, she heard the pizza delivery guy at the door. Maddox didn't have to worry about fixing dinner.
The following afternoon, Maddox had sex with Arnold Gorey for the first time. She took control of the situation and guided Arnold to his first climax. There was no emotion in the act. It was sex with no love.
Arnold meant nothing to Maddox. She was used to having sex with Jack. Her body yearned for it. Jack hadn't approached her since Jessica's birth. Craving fulfillment, she straddled Arnold and used him for her own satisfaction.
Maddox could not anticipate Arnold's emotions. Wrapped in melancholy and stoked on his various medications, the reclusive boy fell in love with Maddox Kelley. His days were filled with thoughts of her touching him, kissing him, straddling his erect penis. She knew how to control him; her sexual prowess excited him.
"I love you," Arnold's lips formed the words although he couldn't speak. He was never articulate except within his own mind.
Maddox laughed. Arnold drew her close, his mouth searching for hers. She pushed against his chest and backed away. She didn't want him touching her unless she initiated it.
"Leave me alone," she shrieked. Arnold cringed away; he did not like loud voices. Maddox climbed down from the tree fort and ran through the woods.
The tree fort walls were filled with poetry and exquisite chalk drawings depicting a couple having sex the following day. Maddox sat on her heels, staring at the fine artwork. Arnold had spent the rest of the afternoon drawing on the walls. He squatted in a corner, hunkering with his arms around his knees and his head down.
"You did this?" Maddox asked, approaching him. Arnold nodded but did not speak. "Wow." Maddox continued to study the pictures.
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