A Changing Season

Chapter 2 – September 8^th

Bang!

Something woke me up - some noise somewhere in the house. I looked at the clock and it said 4:30 in the morning. I yawned and tried to get everything working the way it’s supposed to. My eyes took a while to focus in the dimness, and when they did I saw Big Chief already up. He was bracing himself next to the door. He saw me looking at him, so he gestured that I should come over and help him.

Bang! There it was again.

Bang! Bang!

Someone was pounding on our door! It had to be Dad.

Bang! Bang!

It was.

“I am your father!” he yelled. “Open this door at once!” My fears had been realized. Dad must have come home last night in one of his crazy moods. It was good that I had made sure the door was locked last night. He might have broken in before Big Chief had heard him. That would have been bad.

Mom starting yelling at Dad, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. I braced myself next to Big Chief and asked, “Do you know what’s going on?”

Bang! The door bulged in, but we held on. Dad swore. “I am your father!” he yelled again. “You will obey me!”

“Oh, shut your damned mouth and leave them alone!” Mom yelled back desperately. “In fact, just leave period!”

Big Chief shook his head. “I woke up hearing Mom yelling at Dad about his drinking again,” Big Chief told me. “Then Dad started calling Mom lots of bad names. They went back and forth like that for a couple minutes, then you woke up.”

“Oh.” If that was the case, then I didn’t think I was going to get any more sleep before it was time to get up for school. Dad wouldn’t calm down for a long, long time.

The yelling moved away from our door, but it continued on just as loudly. “You’d love me to leave, wouldn’t you, you dirty slut!” yelled Dad, slurring the words together. “I saw the mailman come into the house looking for you today! You worthless piece of trash! You don’t treat me with respect! You don’t treat this family with respect!” Then it sounded like he slapped her.

Mom started in on him with a vengeance. “You were spying on me? What the hell were you doing here? You should have been at work!”