Attitude--Part 1(Our Story)

Inside the house was nearly as dark as outside. The humid, low clouds reflected the storm that was brewing in the household that June afternoon. It had all started with four year old Leah...

"Mo-o-o-o-o-m!!"

The garage door slammed open, and then closed forcefully. Leah--with a tear-stained, swollen face and stringy blond hair damp with sweat--came flying into the kitchen. She stopped at the sight of her sixteen year old sister.

"Where's mom?" she whined. "Ruth, where's mom?"

Achingly, Ruth held her head in her hands. With the sudden hot and humid weather they had been experiencing, she had a terrible headache and wasn't feeling well at all. "You need to adjust your tone before I tell anything to you, young lady!" she said tersely.

Leah burst into tears as stomped her foot. "B-but Esther and her friends are having a Popsicle, and I want one t-too!"

Ruth's brown eyes narrowed as her sister's chaos sent a fresh burst of pain through her head. "Stop thinking of yourself!" she shouted. "Mom's sewing upstairs, so why'd you have to scream at me?"

Leah gave a fresh sob and sprinted up the stairs. Ruth moaned as she watched her go. Next thing she'll do is wake up Baby Jonathan from his nap!

Giggles and girlish voices from the garage broke Ruth from her thoughts. The peace and quiet, already cracked by Leah, shattered completely as ten year old Esther and her two friends swung open the garage door.

"Hey, Ruth!" Esther said brightly. "Can you ask mom if Monica and Leslie can--"

"No!" Ruth snapped. "I won't, and you can't anyway."

Monica and Leslie, Esther's friends, exchanged glances and then the former leaned forward to whisper to Esther. With her sensitive migraine, Ruth heard everything clearly.

"Hey, Esther, maybe we should leave your sister alone for a little."

But Esther had immediately flared up at Ruth's tone. "Well, excuse me, Miss Grump!" she sparked. "I--"

None of the girls had noticed Mom coming down into the kitchen. Leah had found her re-doing the sleeve to her new dress for the fifth time, and then the sewing machine had become un-threaded. That, combined with Leah's selfish behavior, had pushed even patient Mom to the limit. The pettish argument of her two oldest daughters served as the boiling point. Even then, she didn't burst yet.

"Hi, Monica and Leslie," Mom said with a strained smile. "Esther needs to go inside now. Goodbye!"

Only when the door had closed behind the two girls did Mom turn to her children.

"What is all this about?" she thundered. "Esther, couldn't you have got your sister a Popsicle?"

"She was whiny! She didn't even say please! She..." Esther trailed off when she realized that Mom wasn't paying attention to her.

"Ruth, Leah tells me that you yelled at her. Explain!"

Ruth felt like bursting into tears. "Leah came in whining and sniveling, and then she stomped her foot at me and I have a migraine and I can't find the ibuprofen!" Her voice broke into a wail.

"Can't I have a moment's peace to sew?"

"But I want a Popsicle!"

"Why can't I play?"

"This isn't helping my headache!"

And then, to top it all, Baby Jonathan started crying.
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This post is continued in Part 2.

In Christ,

Princess Izori