sisters
... that looks out through a window towards the backyard. Heather and Michelle were sitting at the table already dressed for school waiting to eat breakfast. Heather, the baby of the family, was sitting on her knees so that her head was just over the edge of the table. Being the baby of the family she was pampered and usually got everything she wanted. “Josh can you make me some pancakes?” Heather asked me. “Sure, what kind do you want?” I couldn’t say no to her cute little six year-old face, which was resting on the edge of the table. She was wearing her new white summer dress with flowers on it and her baby soft blonde hair was pulled into a braid. “Chocolate chip!” she said smiling, making her cheeks show her dimples. “Chocolate chips in the morning before school? You’ll be run ‘in around all hyper.” She looked at me confused, and I wanted to make them for her, but she wasn’t supposed to have sweets until snack time, and I didn’t want to spoil her snack. “How about I make some of my pancakes just the right size for you, nice and small,” I said knowing that she liked my pancakes, especially when they were made just for her. “Can I have some too?” Michelle asked. Michelle, a tiny 8-year-old and the middle sister, who seems to always get left out of everything, sat across from Heather, swinging her legs off the end of the chair. I seem to be the only one that notices that she always gets left out, so I try to include her in everything. I nodded my head and smiled in agreement and turned back to the stove to turn on the burner. “Okay, but tomorrow maybe chocolate chip?” Heather said, dimples in full sight. Although Heather was little, she knew that she would most likely get her way; she is so smart for her age. I didn’t know what to say, and just continued to make the pancakes. The blow dryer had turned off up stairs and I could hear Emily running around, back and forth from her room to the bathroom. Having put all the dishes in the dishwasher and making sure Heather and Michelle were ready to go, I put on my jacket and grabbed the keys to the car. Emily was still running around up stairs so I yelled up to her, “Time to go!” Emily uttered something, but I didn’t hear it. Heather, Michelle, and I walked out to the car and waited for Emily to come rushing out the door. She came flailing out with her coat under one arm, her backpack hanging off her left shoulder, and her purse on her right. She looked pissed for some reason. “We’re going to be late,” she said. Emily always thought that nothing was her fault so she blamed us for not telling her what time it was. Heather, Michelle, and I just sat there and didn’t say a thing. On the way to school I could see Michelle looking at me through the review mirror. She smiled and asked, “Can we get a movie tonight from the movie store?” I looked back at her through the mirror and responded with a, “We’ll see.” She gave a smile of contentment, and I drove into the parking lot. The school parking lot is a place where mothers’ drive as if it is a race to see who can get to the front door first. The lady that is in front of our car is looking into the overhead mirror fixing her eye shadow or applying lipstick, and not even paying attention to anything in front of her. I hate when mothers’, who are suppose to be careful act like they don’t notice anything. I pulled up to the front door of the school and with kisses and exchanges of goodbyes Heather and Michelle got out. Michelle opened the door and waited for Heather to unbuckle her seatbelt and scoot across the back seat to the door. In her sweet toned voice, “Bye, Bye,” Heather says trying to slam the door that is twice her size. Melissa and I continued on to the Dearborn High School. Dearborn High is a large school with lots of rich snobby kids like the ones that Emily hangs out with. Unlike myself who is kind of a middleman with many acquaintances. I never see her during the day until it is time for us to leave. We separated in the hallway and I said, “See ya later.” She was too busy with her friends to say anything back, but I knew she heard me. *** After I picked up everybody from school and stopped at home for a quick bite to eat, we headed to the Marsha’s School of Dance where all three of them were members. The girls walked into the dressing room together, and within a few minutes they all came out in tights and leotards. Whenever I see Heather in a leotard I can’t help but remember the time when she was dressed for dance and I was cutting the grass in the front yard. Heather was in the back of our minivan, waiting for me to get done so that I could take her to dance. All of a sudden I heard her scream and turned around to where she was. She had tried to get out the back door and got her leotard caught on the lock. She was hanging there with her legs dangling, and I didn’t know what to do, laugh or go help her off, but I made it over and pulled her off the lock. It was the biggest wedgy I had ever seen. We laugh about it now. I sat on the wooden bench outside the dressing room and looked at around at all the dance photos of the instructor with famous people. There were pictures of Marsha with Patrick Swayze, with Sylvester Stallone, and even one with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the middle of one of the frames it read “Disney World 1996. Emily had told me that she talked with Mary about going this year. Mary said that if Emily could come up with the money to support the trip she could go, but a couple grand is hard to come by when you don’t have a job. Michelle came over to me while I was sitting on the bench outside the dance room door, and asked me to come in to watch her dance. “Today is parent’s day and all the parents come in the room. Will you come in?” She always wanted to show me how she danced. Sometimes at home she and Heather would dress up in their leotards and put on a dance show for me. It was always funny because they would try their hardest to put on a good show in hopes of winning approval of their skills, especially Michelle. I walked into the dance room and looked into the many mirrors that covered the walls. Michelle began to stretch out on the balance bar, looking over to make sure I was still there and smiling and then going back to her stretching. The teacher got them all together to do their number, and I watched Michelle find her place on the floor. She seemed so small compared to the other girls, who were at least three or four years older than she was. During her dance she would look over at me to make sure that I was looking at her, and I smiled to let her know I was watching carefully. The class ended and Michelle came right up to me, still trying to catch her breath, “How did I do?” she asked. I put my arm around her shoulder and she looked up at me for an answer. “You were the best in the class,” I winked and then gave her a kiss on the cheek. She didn’t say anything as we walked out of the class, but she didn’t have to. Her huge smile said it all. She likes it when I compliment her, and because mom and dad aren’t always around I am the one that does most of the complimenting. Heather and Emily had already gotten dressed and they were waiting for us outside the dressing room. I crouched down beside Heather so that we were almost the same height, “How was it?” She smiled with her dimple impressions, saying, “Good, I did a plea.” “Great job,” I said, and she grabbed my hand so that we could walk out together. Emily didn’t have anything to say. I could tell she just wanted to get home. When we got home there was a message on the answering machine from Mary saying I should use the money she left in the cupboard for pizza. I ordered the pizza double cheese for Michelle and Heather, and another with veggies for Emily and me. While we were eating the phone rang and I thought it would be Mary calling to say they were on their way home. It was Emily’s boyfriend Jason though, and I wasn’t too pleased when I answered. “Hello, no sorry we are eating right now, but I’ll tell her.” I didn’t like Jason that much. He was a druggy and a drunk, plus he was my age and I didn’t like that my sister was hanging around with him. They had been going out for only a couple of weeks and I had told her of his past and the things that he does, but Emily doesn’t listen sometimes. Emily tells me that she wants to figure things out by herself and that I shouldn’t always try to protect her, but I can’t help it. “It was captain dip shit; he wants you to call him.” I didn’t even want to tell her that it was him, but if I didn’t and she found out she wouldn’t talk to me for a long time. It had happened before when I didn’t tell her that another guy called to go out with her. I hadn’t liked the way he sounded on the phone so I just thought it would be best not to tell her. That didn’t work out like I planned though; she didn’t talk to me for a week until she wanted me to drive her to the movies with her friends. “Ok, thanks,” she said, cutting her pizza with her knife and fork. I heard the phone ring again, but this time I let Emily get it. Within a few minutes Emily came down stairs into the basement where Heather, Mi...