Young Writers Society

This is the second installment of my story about Jess. Although I have spent hours on this peice I am still struggling to put it together properly. Any advice would be much appreciated.

The rain pelted down as Jess waited outside her classroom for Daphne to come and join her for the long walk home. She couldn't help but notice the large amount of children who were holding books and coats above their heads and running to waiting cars. A fleeting pang of jealousy stabbed at her before her thoughts shifted to the day that was now behind her.

The day’s weather did not reflect how Jess was feeling. In her mind god had answered her prayers. There had been no teasing today. Due to the rain the children had been forced to stay inside the classroom under close surveillance. Therefore the opportunity for bullying had been greatly reduced. The morning’s events had been long forgotten, and Jess had enjoyed a great day at school. Mrs. Baillie had been just as kind as ever and Jess had loved being allowed to sit in the class library to write her special stories, whilst all of the other children were made to sit at their desks and do the allocated spelling and sums. All the while Jess was learning. And the release that the writing brought certainly seemed to be helping to reduce the girls emotional outbursts in the classroom.

Mrs. Baillie had noticed something different about Jess much earlier in the year. There was something about her that simply didn't sit right. There was something that she just couldn't put her finger on. Since that time she had done her best to help. By allowing Jess to express her feelings through her writing Mrs. Baillie was starting to get a clearer picture of the child’s family troubles. Jess would often write about her life at home and this had given Mrs. Baillie and the other teaching staff enormous insight...

“Are you ready?” Daphne’s voice suddenly sang out above the roar of the rain.

“Yep, where have you been?” inquired Jess as she simultaneously spun around and out of her day dream.

“We had to stay in; some of the kids were talking too much. Sorry about that.” Daphne replied apologetically as she bent down to fasten the buttons on Jessica’s rain coat. “Come on then we better get going, or mum will wonder where we have got to”.

As the girls walked through the door they were immediately met by the savory smell of mince stewing away on the oven. The fire in the lounge was blazing and a small blue baby’s bath half filled with warm water lay in front of it. The girls’ mother was sitting on the tattered sofa reading a magazine, a cigarette in her free hand. Nearby on the stained carpet, Natalie was sitting playing with her dolls. The dolls were broken; almost all were missing a limb or were damaged in one way or another. However this didn't seem to deter the girls from playing with them.

“Hello,” Daphne cried, “Sorry we’re late. We had to stay in today because some kids in my class were talking.”

“Who was talking?” Natalie chimed in.

Natalie always wanted to know all the latest news from school. It was her fifth birthday in a couple of weeks and she was keen to learn all that she could about the wonderful place that her older sisters were always speaking of. She knew that it wouldn't be long before she would be joining them there.

“OK, come on you two, get out of those wet clothes and get into the bath”, their mother instructed from the comfort of the sofa.

One at a time Daphne and Jess stripped off and each took a turn to warm up in the tiny baby bath. It wasn't an overly cold day. It was the beginning of spring and although the girls had been a little bit cool in their wet clothes the temperature outside was fairly pleasant.

After their bath both Daphne and Jessica sat in the lounge and watched the small rental television that sat perched upon the old china cabinet. Their mother struggled to get up out of the sagging sofa. Using the side rest as leverage she managed to climb to her feet and pick up the heavy baby bath that was still half filled with water. Cautiously she started to make her way towards the bathroom occasionally slopping water over the sides as she went.

“Mum seems a bit happier now”, Jess commented recalling the mornings events. “I wonder when dad will be home.”

“Shush!” Daphne snapped, knowing very well that her mother may not have been out of ear shot.

Upon returning from the bathroom the girls’ mother dished up three generous portions of mince and potato and called the girls for tea. All three girls jumped up and took their turn to take a plate. They made their way through the dinning room towards the lounge, passing by the dinner table which was piled high with old newspapers, dirty ashtrays, and other miscellaneous items. The old Formica dinner table was reserved for Christmas day alone. Through out the rest of the year it was used as nothing more than storage space and the children had become accustomed to eating off their laps while watching TV.

The mince was far from pleasing, it was watered down and had no seasonings added. There were more vegetables than meat and although none of the children particularly enjoyed it, they were hungry, and they knew better than to complain. Still it was hard to enjoy, especially when they could see their mother in the kitchen feasting on a dinner of crackers and cookies.

After dinner the phone rang and the girls’ mother moved quickly to answer it. She sat down and made herself comfortable on the hall way chair stretching her legs across to the wall opposite. The girls sat in the lounge and as the fire died down they played happily with the dolls that Natalie had left lying there earlier. The games they played were a far cry from the life they knew. Perhaps these make believe games were more about the family life that they dreamed of, not about the reality that they lived.

Suddenly they heard the familiar sound of car tyre's on the gravel driveway. They all jumped up at once and quickly took their dolls to the bedroom. Their mother had also heard the car pulling in. She quickly ended her conversation and raced out into the lounge to collect up the dinner plates that the girls had left lying around.

“Quickly,” she called clearly in a panic, “Come and get these dishes done. Daphne you wash, Jessica and Natalie can both help with the drying.”

At once the girls ran to the kitchen and immediately started on the huge pile of dishes. Their mother took a clean plate from the cupboard and dished up a generous amount of the left over mince and potato. She then placed the meal onto the bench, lit up another cigarette and began to pace the dinning room floor.

“There’s too many dishes here mum, I can’t do them all!” cried Natalie before even getting started.

“Just take turns!” Their mother snapped. “You dry ten dishes and then Jessica can dry ten. There’s not enough room in that kitchen for all of you at once anyway!”

Reluctantly Natalie started to dry her ten dishes as Jessica went into the lounge to watch TV while awaiting her turn.

Suddenly the door flew open and the girls’ father stumbled through.

“Where have you been?” their mother asked tentatively

“Can’t a man even get through his own door before being bombarded with questions?” Their father slurred. The smell of alcohol on his breath was intoxicating.

He made his way into the kitchen pushing past the girls in the process and grabbed his dinner plate from the bench. It rocked back and forth erratically in his hand. Jessica sat holding her breath, watching silently from the lounge. She expected that at any moment her father’s dinner would end up all over the floor which would almost certainly result in her mother facing the consequence of her fathers anger. He dangerously lunged from one piece of furniture to another, knocking some papers from the table as he made his way into the lounge.

“Gidday Jess”, he murmured jovially as he bent to sit down in the seat next to her loosing his balance in the process.

Jess quickly shuffled over to avoid being sat on. She kept her eyes peeled on her fathers dinner and hoped that she would not be covered in the mince and potato that was casually sliding across his plate as it tilted from side to side.

“What’s wrong?” her father accused throwing his plate down and slopping it all over the couch. “Are you too righteous to even sit by your own father these days? You are getting just like your mother!” He shouted as he toppled to one side.

“What’s your mother been doing all day anyway? Look at this place, it is like a pig sty!” he accused as he looked at the food smeared all over the sofa and saw the papers that were now scattered all over the dusty floor. “Can’t a man even expect to come home to a decent meal and a nice clean home these days? Bloody useless, the whole friggin lot of you!”

With that he went to lie down and Jessica quickly jumped up from the couch to make room for him. She ran outside and into the cool night air, tears starting to emerge from her beautiful big brown eyes. She raced towards the garage before crawling along the wide piece of wood that jutted out from top of the hill, the slope rapidly dropping away beneath it. The scaffolding had been left there since her father had built the garage many years before and Jessica had used it to sit on many times.

Jessica hung her legs over the side and they rested just a couple of feet from the sloping ground below. She placed her head in her hands and began to cry uncontrollably. She thought about her life and she cried for the loss of happiness that she, her sisters and her parents had come to know and to accept. She cried for the guilt that she now felt at upsetting her father.

Upon hearing Jessica’s sobs Princess came running over and sat on the grass next to the grounded end of the scaffolding. Jessica shuffled towards Princess and leaning out wrapped her arms tightly around her loyal companions neck.

“You’re my best friend”, Jess cried burying her head into the dogs lush coat.

Princess lovingly nuzzled her master. Using her snout she gently pushed the girls face away just enough so that she had room to give the child’s brightly colored cheeks a generous licking. After some time of sitting silently snuggled into the dog's coat, Jessica raised her head and began to tell Princess all about the day’s events. Like any true friend Princess just sat quietly by her side and let the girl speak.