( I don’t know why I wrote this. Basically this is the youngest daughter (I decided to make the 3 daughters, 4) talking to a therapist, although maybe its just a friend. Don’t know. Might not even use this. But it was a way to start reconsidering the characters and thier place in the story. I forgot the name of the boyfriend of Becca’s, so its Chris Phillips now. I also don’t have a name for sister #4, and I’ve thrown out Chloe and Zoe as they are too close to the name of the actress I was pictureing for the role (Zoe D. is now Sister #4, while Terri Hatcher or whatever her name is from Desprite Housewives is currently Rebecca, I might change that).
“Describe your family.”
“Ok…Not an easy thing to do, considering how many people are in my family. I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish before the end of the session.”
“I can take breaks.”
“I have a father, a mother, three sisters, one brother-in-law, and two qausi-brother-in-laws, a aunt named Gladys and both my parents are dating other people.”
“That wasn’t very long.”
“You should know that you begin everything with an introductionary paragraph that covers the subjects being broached.”
“You see this as an assignment?”
“Sure. Sounds like something I might have gotten in English class when they were trying to get us to write better so the tests at the end of the year made them look better. Anyway, you wanted to hear about my family.”
“Yes.”
“I guess I should begin with my mother and father. Mom was a stay at home mom till I reached high school. She had gone to college and gotten a degree in Linguistics and law and worked as a translator at the local courthouse. That was where she met my father. He was the co-partner in a start-up publishing company that was being sued by a writer for failing to publish is work. Turns out it was so bad that the Judge dismissed the charges and almost made the poor guy pay a fine for bringing the book in front of the court.
Mom probably would have stayed working, but after my second sister Becca was born, it just became too difficult for her to juggle working and taking care of us. Dad was making enough money so she was able to quit and stay home for awhile. Although she still taught a night class at the local community college for Spanish just to keep in the habit and keeping herself from going completely bonkers. “
“And your father?”
“Dad worked hard to make his publishing company one of the best in the area, and actually helped create a secondary office across state, and one in New York, which he opened a few years ago. Its still growing, especially since they added a self-publishing section to the business.
Dad’s really smart, especially about business. Lately he’s been kinda crazy, but we figure he’s going through his mid-life crisis and are allowing him a little bit of leeway. But he’s still pretty sharp when it comes to business decisions.” She paused for a second. “Mom and Dad got separated when I was 17. That was ten years ago, although they never really got a divorce. I know Mom’s thinking of filing. She met a new guy a year and a half ago. His name is Alex and he’s really a great guy. He’s perfect for my mom. They met when Mom started working as a teacher full time while taking classes to upgrade her degree. Alex taught history, particularly American history.
Dad on the other hand is dating a girl named Kari. Kari is nice, and probably has more of an idea of social norms then Dad. She’s barely out of high school, and the only reason she’s not half-way to a masters degree by now is that her parents are weird and feel she should get married and that’s it. But she’s really intelligent so I’m not quite sure why she listens to them or why she dates Dad”
“What about your sisters?”
“Well, the oldest is Deidre. As with most oldest siblings she’s the one whose got the responsibility issues. Thinks she needs to take care of everything, that everything we do that causes problems is some result of some failure on her part. Granted, she’s been better once she had her own two children to turn the mother act on. Two teenage boys, Aiden and Adric. She’s married to Derek, has been for 20 years. Derek is very laid back, which is good because Deidre needs someone to keep her from worrying herself off a cliff.
Rebecca is the second oldest. She’s Daddy’s little girl. Took business administration and accounting and is going to be put in as a Vice CFO of the publishing house. She’s just as good as Dad when it comes to numbers. She’s engaged to one of the bigger writers, Chris Phillips.”
“Ah, yes. Writes Mystery novels with romance thrown in. I read his last book, Georgia.”
“Yep, that’s Chris. They are supposed to get married next month, and its one of the main focuses of the family right now, besides Becca trying to get familiar with the set up of the company from the current vice CFO. But she worked for another publishing firm so she’s going do fine with that nomatter what she thinks.
The last before me was Julianne. She’s a writer, lives in Pittsburgh. Almost went into medical school but decided against it at the last minute. She still has some training though, and if she wanted to, I’m sure she could still become one if she wanted. She has a sensitive soul though, so I’m not sure she would make the best doctor. The failures would tair her up too much. Anyway, She’s the only one in my family without a significant other, though it really depends on who you asked. She used to be engaged to Micheal Hennessy, my sister Becca’s best friend from elementary school. They broke it off about 13 years ago, after their daughter died. Most of us believe they are still in love with each other, but the pain from that was too great for them to suffer together so they had to go both ways. Julie claims he only asked her to marry him because of the baby, and Mike won’t talk about it. But both date other people but nothing lasting.
Mike’s a semi-brother. He grow up in the samehouse. His parents were travel reporters, and more often then not his grandmother would be watching him. So he would come over all the time, and after awhile he was practically family till Julie hit her last great growth spurt and realized guys didn’t have cooties. It kinda hit them over the head, and they’ve been dating since she was 16 and he was 17. Lasted almost 4 years before the big break up. “
“And how do you fit into this family picture?”
“That’s a hard one. I’m the baby, 4 years younger then Julie. I think I was a last attempt to have something to focus their relationship on for my parents, but I don’t hold that against them. I’m not as motivated as my sisters, nor as worried about everything. TO be honest, I really don’t have a role other then to be there.”
“So perhaps that is why you are here. To figure out your role in the greater picture.”
Sokorra Lewis 