Infestation: A Small Town Nightmare (5 page)

"Yes, it has." Dave nodded.

"Amy!" Steven grabbed his niece and
hugged her tightly. "You've grown so much since I last saw you. Sis
surely has a woman on her hands now." He looked at Marie. "It's
great to see you. I'm really glad you came."

Marie's attempt to smile was
fruitless. She couldn't believe she was there again and wasn't sure
what she was walking into. They were all standing at the door,
feeling somewhat out of place.

"Come on in," Dave said to them.
"Everyone's here already."

"It seems awfully quiet," Marie
noted.

"Yeah." Steven grinned.

Sylvia Stokes—Marie's mother—was
sitting in her favorite chair. That old thing was around for the
better part of Marie's forty years of existence. Jan, the eldest of
the siblings, was on the couch speaking with their mother.
Vera—second in line to Jan, was in the kitchen busying about. The
kitchen was her domain and no one was allowed in there with her
during family functions unless she specifically requested
assistance.

All eyes were on Dave, Marie and Amy
when they walked into the living room.

"Hello everyone," Marie said. Dave and
Amy hailed as well. Jan and Vera glanced at each other, then each
responded with a simple, "Hello".

"Mom…" Marie went over and kissed
Sylvia on the cheek. If the woman's face offered any indication of
her thoughts, it was clear that she was not harboring good ones.
She looked stoically at Marie, Dave and Amy. "How are you all
doing?"

Amy went over and hugged her
grandmother, but Sylvia barely seemed to notice the girl. She
leaned to the side, retrieved a small blanket she had been knitting
and picked up where she had left off.

"We're doing good, Sylvia. How are
things with you?" Dave attempted to break the ice that was quickly
forming inside the room. He and Amy sat down together.

"Jan… Vera…" Marie hailed her sisters
again before sitting next to Dave. Jan and Vera didn't seem the
least bit enthused.

"Where's Ted?" Marie asked, looking
around.

"Ted! Marie's here!" Steven shouted
toward the back.

The kitchen, living room and dining
area were all set neatly in one large, open space. Cabinets lining
the ceiling and floor of the kitchen served as a boundary line
between it and the living room.

A tall, lanky young man in his
twenties emerged from a back bedroom with an equally undernourished
girl on his arm. Ted was a heavy drinker and the youngest of the
Stokes children who always got his way with Sylvia.

She still allows him to
treat this house like a motel
, Marie
thought as she was getting up to embrace Ted.

"Long time no see, Sis! What's
saying?" Ted voice slurred. "This here's…" He looked at the young
lady next to him. "What'd you say your name was again?"

"You know my name, you buffoon!" The
girl responded sharply. "Sorry, Ted's sister. My name is Sam… short
for Samantha." She extended a hand. "It's good to meet
you."

"Nice meeting you too," Marie caught
her hand.

"Amy, my girl!" Ted pulled up his
niece from the chair and gave her something similar to a bear hug
before turning to Dave and shaking his hand enthusiastically. "Good
to see ya, bro."

"It's good to see you too, Ted," Dave
said.

"Well, I know this is supposed to be
some kind of get-together thing, but…" he turned to Sam, "…what'd
you say your name was again?"

She gave him a reprimanding
glare.

"Oh, yeah… Sam," he continued. "Me and
Sam gotta hit the road right now. We'll be back in a while. Okay,
Mom?" He eyed his mother who looked back adoringly.

"You're not driving. Are you?" she
asked.

"No, mumsy. Ahh…" He looked at Sam.
She knew he had trouble remembering her name again.

"Sam," Dave reminded him.

"Right. Right. Sam here… she's
driving," Ted finally cleared it up.

"All right, son," Sylvia conceded.
"You be careful out there, okay? People in this town have gone
downright berserk lately. I don't know what in the world is wrong
with them."

Ted leaned over and kissed
Sylvia as she resumed her knitting. Amy sat back and watched her
uncle leave with someone she was sure was yet
another
stranger he had met and
shacked up with under his mother's nose.

"So where are your kids?" Marie asked
Jan. "And why isn't Betty here, Steven? She's not
coming?"

"Ah… no. She's at home," Steven
answered.

"This get-together was just for us,
Marie—Mom and her children," Jan said coldly.

Dave and Amy suddenly felt more
uncomfortable.

Marie looked at Steven all puzzled.
"Oh? Steven didn't mention that to me."

Steven looked as foolish as he felt.
"I didn't because it doesn't matter. What matters is that all of us
are here together for the first time in almost a year. We don't
know how much time any of us has left, so what's important is the
here and now, and for us to make the best of it."

Jan immediately crossed her legs,
picked up the remote control and switched on the
television.

"Vera, can I help you with something?"
Marie offered as her sister started to take the food over to the
dinner table.

"You can grab the macaroni pan if you
like," Vera said.

Marie quickly got up to assist while
Dave attempted to make conversation with the others. Steven
willingly engaged to lighten the mood.

While in the kitchen, Marie glanced
over at Amy a few times, hoping to see her mother or Jan
interacting with her. Marie knew they never liked Amy simply
because she was her daughter and it killed Marie inside.
Occasionally, Dave or Steven would address Amy so that she wouldn't
feel left out. Sylvia was still quietly knitting and Jan's eyes
were glued to the television screen.

"Congratulations on your book," Vera
said softly as she and Marie prepared the table.

"Thanks. It's nothing, really," Marie
replied.

"That's not what we heard. Practically
everyone in Bringham's talking about your debut best-seller. For
goodness' sakes, it's been all over the TV and radio. Your
accomplishment is no small feat."

Marie wasn't sure how to
respond.

Vera paused what she was doing and
looked Marie straight in the eyes. "Well, I'm gonna be completely
honest with you, Marie. You don't have that many fans here—not in
this family. To us, you're still the same Marie you were before you
got lucky."

"I didn’t come here expecting any
special treatment, Vera," Marie indicated.

"Good—because you're not getting any."
She unstrapped her apron and turned to the others. "Dinner's
ready!"

Over dinner, Dave and Steven dominated
the conversation that was otherwise non-existent. The women ate
quietly as the tension between them thickened to the point that
Marie felt she could literally cut it with a knife.

"Amy will be graduating high school
next year," Dave said.

Marie smiled at Amy.

"Are you still making the honor roll
like you used to?" Steven asked.

"Yes, sir," Amy affirmed, fiddling
with her food.

Steven looked at his mother who didn't
seem the slightest bit interested. "Isn't that great, Mom?" he
posed.

Sylvia turned to Amy. "Well, that's
very nice, Amy. You've certainly turned out to be a lovely, young
lady considering the circumstances."

Marie and Dave glanced at each other
and each tried to hold their tongue.

"Mom…" Steven was unimpressed by his
mother's choice of words and her vague implication.

"I'm just saying that she's come a far
way; that's all," Sylvia added.

"A far way from what, Mom?" Marie
found it impossible to overlook that remark.

"Can you pass the salad please?" Jan
asked her. "Look, Mom just paid Amy a compliment. Let's just leave
it at that. Shall we?"

Amy was still fiddling her food; she
had barely eaten. Marie could see that she really didn't want to be
there. Steven glanced at Jan, then at his mother who both seemed
unmoved by the tension within the room.

"So Dave, are you still doing
construction work?" Vera asked.

"Um… yes, I do," Dave replied. "I
bought the company I used to work for. Are you still
teaching?"

"As a matter of fact, I am." She took
a bite out of a bun.

Steven looked on, wondering where this
conversation would lead them. It was no secret that Vera disliked
Dave. In fact, pretty much all of them did except for Steven and
Ted.

Sylvia dropped her fork and wiped her
lips with a napkin.

"Enough of this!" She was glaring at
Marie who was seated at the opposite end of the long, rectangular
table. A repulsive look consumed her face. "Marie Stokes Adams, you
walk in here after nearly a year of not setting foot inside of this
house. You come with your family when everyone else left theirs at
home…"

"Mom, I already said that I didn't
tell Marie to come alone," Steven inserted.

"Steven, I am speaking!" Sylvia never
took her eyes off Marie. "You think that just because you're some
big shot writer that we have to bow to you? All of us at this table
know that you never gave a damn about me or anyone of your sisters
or bothers. That's why when your father passed away, you acted as
if we had all dropped dead too!" Sylvia was fuming—a rage that
Marie had seen countless times from her mother; a noxious spew that
was so often directed towards her, if not at her father.

Vera and Jan looked on quietly while
Steven lowered his head bracing for the worst. Dave and Amy watched
in shock and horror as they could not believe what they were
witnessing. Yet, strangely, Marie seemed calm as the verbal bullets
continued flying her way.

"You always thought that
you were something special," Sylvia went on. "Just because you came
out with the fair complexion, the nice hair, outsiders always
telling you that you were beautiful. Your father hammered the nail
into the wood by re-enforcing those things, but let me tell you,
Marie, that you are no better than anyone of your siblings and as
far as I'm concerned, your current social status is nothing…
because you are still
nothing
!"

"Now, you hold on a minute, Sylvia…"
Dave sprung up. "How dare you talk to my wife—your own daughter
that way?!"

Marie grabbed his hand. "Sit down,
honey," she said. "Everything is all right."

"No, it's not!" Dave
roared.

"Just please… please sit down for now.
Do it for me."

The peaceful look on Marie's face in
spite of what was happening, puzzled Dave. He slowly and
reluctantly sat down again.

Marie refocused her attention on her
mother. "Is that why I was the only one you allowed to bathe after
you in your dirty bath water up until I was twelve years old, Mom?
Did you do that to me because you felt that I was nothing? Is it
why you always compared me to the other young girls around my
age—always implying that I needed to look like them? Were you
trying to totally destroy my self-esteem? Is that why out of us
four kids, whenever it was mealtime I always got the last plate? Is
that why you never once told me you loved me when I heard you say
it to the others countless times while we were growing up? Need I
go on?"

Sylvia was just staring… and so was
everyone else.

"And you blame Dad for being the only
one in this family who made it his business to show me love and
acceptance? What type of person would he be if he didn't do
something to save me from the venom of the biggest snake I have
ever met in my life?"

Vera turned to Marie. "How dare you
call Mom such a thing?!"

"No, Marie. Let your sister finish,"
Sylvia said; her face now flushed with anger.

"I never once thought that I was
better than anyone in this family," Marie continued. "How could I
think such a thing when the person that gave birth to me made it
her mission to make sure I didn't think for a minute that I was
even worthy to be on this planet? If it weren't for Dad, only God
knows where I would be today. It certainly wouldn't be here at this
table with you being able to hold my head up high in spite of how
much you've tried to push me down."

Amy was stunned by her mother's
revelation and wanted so badly at that moment to just hug her as
tightly and as gently as she could.

"And you said I never cared about
anyone of you? I thought it was the other way around. Tell me
something, Mom. You say I don't give a damn about you, but who was
the one taking care of you and Dad all these years when no one else
even at this table bothered to contribute? Dave and I were
struggling most of those years and still, I sacrificed and made
sure that you and Dad had the things you needed since you both
retired. And since Dad died last year, whose money is still
faithfully deposited to your bank account each month to take care
of all your expenses? Who paid your medical bills six months ago
when you suffered that mild stroke?"