THREE: THE FAMILY

Three

The Family

“It’s my wedding day, bitch! Rise and shine.” The dreaded sound of my oldest sister, Geneva, interrupted my dreams; yet, I kept my eyes closed. One more second of peace before I had to wake and face a day full of celebration that truly should be heralded as if it were a funeral, rather than a wedding. Any man tricked into marrying one of my sisters was asking for a hell he had no idea existed.

“There are things to do and we need your help, as much as that pains me,” she said the second part with disgust in her tone. It pained me much more, I was sure of it. Refusing to help made life here even more miserable. I kept telling myself that having Geneva gone would be better, but I knew she wasn’t really going to leave. She would just be ruining a man’s life, much like my mother had my father’s life, and I’d have to witness it. After the honeymoon was over, she would be here often.

The pillow I had covered my head with was snatched away. I groaned, throwing my arm over my eyes to cover them from the light coming through the windows. She had opened the curtains to add to the annoyance. “What do you possibly need me for this early?” I grumbled.

“You know what I need you for, so get up and stop being a lazy bitch,” she snarled back at me.

My eyes had just been assaulted by the sunlight. The weather should make her happy. Why did she need me? The only thing she could need me for was to fix the weather.

“I see sun.” I stated the obvious then squinted as I moved my arm from my face.

“If you’d get your ass out of bed, you’d see it’s not going to last long. I need dry grass and sunshine. I want an outside wedding. It’s sunny now, but this is going away soon. Get up!”

“Can’t I just dry the ground later?” I asked.

“No, you can’t just dry the fucking ground. The rain is coming in and staying. Besides, what would Miles’ family think if the only dry ground for miles was in our backyard? Think, you idiot!”

Tossing back my covers, I sat up still squinting at the sunshine. She was right of course. Our backyard being the only dry ground would make no sense. “If you’ll leave me alone the rest of the day then I’ll do it,” I told her.

She let out a short, hard laugh. “I’ll leave you alone, but momma won’t. Today is about me.”