Kate, Page 3

Chapter03 - Sophie

  During the next few hours Rita walked aimlessly about the countryside with these new events churned through her mind. Growing weary she entered a small grove of cotton wood trees to find a fallen tree trunk offering a place to sit and think.

  Several possibilities concerning Sophie becoming a part of the family circled through her mind. News of her father's marriage came totally unexpected without Rita ever having given thought to the prospects of her father remarrying. Rita often felt twinges of guilt aroused by thoughts of moving from home and leaving him to care for the boys and placing an extra burden of housekeeper on her father.

  Rita quickly reached one absolute resolve. There was no way she and Sophie could live under the same roof; leaving only one acceptable solution, she would move out.

  Thoughts of leaving home were always part of her plans made during the past six months, but she never arrived at a definitive answer regarding where to go and how she would support herself. Suddenly she found herself at the end of a decision timeline forced upon her by this unexpected stepmother situation.

  Amid the darkness of her thoughts, one bright ray of hope shone through; the prospect of getting a job at the air base. In the meantime this was the lowest point in her life she could remember, but on the other hand she was heartened by recalled words spoken to her by the air base personnel officer, telling her she was highly qualified and encouraged her to consider taking a civil service job following graduation.

  Rita returned home well past dark to find the house quiet except for squeaks from her father's bed as he and Sophie moved about. Rita was no longer naive about sex after having read novels describing sexual performance between lead characters in minute detail. When a junior and later as a senior in high school she listened to the more adventuresome classmates tell about having made out with their boyfriends and precautions they used to keep from getting pregnant, but until now she never seriously thought about being in bed with a man. The reality of her father having sex with a slob like Sophie and doing it in the next room caused her stomach to wrench.

  Rita never remembered her mother in detail, but the few memories she held were always close to her heart. Hearing her father in bed with some bar-chippie further compounded the hurt and disgust she was feeling. In a few minutes bed sounds were replaced by a mixture of voice pitches created by muffled snores seeping through the thin bedroom wall.

  "The old bag even snores like a pig," Rita thought. "God, it'll be good to get out this house and away from that old whore.

  If this is a sample of what sex is about, then you can deal me out. I sure don't want some guy reminding of Sophie by running his hands over my body and sticking his thing inside me. There must be more to life than having to sleep in the same bed with a crummy slob."

  Rita changed into her pajamas while thinking about her father and Sophie. Lying down with the bed covers pulled over her, she was soon asleep.

  Remaining in her room Monday morning, Rita heard without actually listening to the house sounds about her. This was a new experience for her to be in the house, yet no longer a part of it as she listened to the morning routine. She could faintly hear Sophie complaining about how poorly the kitchen was organized and she would soon have everything put into proper order. As usual Rita's father remained quiet since he seldom talked very much of mornings anyway. Hearing Sophie complain caused Rita to begin feeling a little sorry for father.

  "It must have been Sophie's idea to get married so the old hag could have free room and regular meals," thought Rita. "It's easy to understand how a pushy woman, like Sophie, was able to take advantage of her father's loneliness brought on by him thinking about me planning to leave home soon after graduation." Rita's thoughts were interrupted when she heard her father tell Sophie.

  "How about laying off of Rita? After all, she has been running this house ever since her mother died well over six years ago. And there was no reason for you to come down on her so hard yesterday along with all this carping you've doing about her this morning."

  Hearing her dad stand up for her caused Rita to smile inwardly and at the same time thoughtfully cheer him on.

  "That's telling the old bitch, Daddy. Keep up the good work."

  "Well! I just didn't want her to get the idea I was going to play second fiddle to some young girl hardly dry behind her ears," spouted Sophie.

  "You could have waited a few days to see how the wind would blow and give her time to get used to another woman being in the house," cut in her father.

  Hearing her father take Sophie down a peg raised Rita's spirits; she didn't feel quite so alone anymore. Not wanting to hear more of their conversation, she turned on the radio and began straightening up her room as a means to kill time until the mail arrived.

  Rita missed breakfast by remaining in her room. At ten-thirty squeaking brakes of the mail carrier's pickup signaled the mail arrived. Bounding from the house and running to the mailbox, Rita arrived just as the mail carrier set his old pickup in motion to rattle on down the road.

  Sorting through the junk mail advertisers, her heart gave a flip when she saw a brown envelope with an air base return address. With shaking hands she ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter. Quickly scanning down the page her eyes found the magic words.

  "You are qualified for and hereby offered the position of clerk/typist starting immediately. You are request to report to the personnel office at your earliest convenience." Rita let out a yell second only to her birthing announcement.

  "Sophie, you old bitch! The house is yours. You can rearrange the kitchen from now until doomsday and see if I care! Good-bye!"