Page 124 - Reason To Sing by Kelita Haverland

Reason To Sing

looks very pleasant from the outside. Nice cars in the driveway.
White picket fence. Just one big happy blended family.
No. More like a family that’s been put in a mix-master and
turned up to the highest speed.
There isn’t a whole lot of parenting going on either. The
old man rules by fear and intimidation and the lovely new
stepmother is passive and probably just as fearful of Mike as we
all are. Evelyn has her own brood to deal with, so my sister and
I are pretty much raising ourselves. We do keep in touch with
my Grannie but she lives in Lethbridge. Aunt Lucille just tries
to keep out of my stepfather’s way. She is wise to his tricks and
I’m sure she would rather not stir the pot. She doesn’t want us
to feel any more stress than we already do. And quite honestly,
I don’t think anyone has a clue as to what is really going on. It’s
pure insanity. With all that is happening behind the scenes, I
just try to focus on Vian and myself.
I continue to hide my true feelings about Mike’s
introduction of Evelyn to our lives and home. Our house is still
full of MY parent’s belongings. There is not much evidence of
Evelyn’s family here. It sure is strange when you think about it.
And stuff happens. Really weird stuff that I have no
clue what to do with. Like the other night when the happy
newlyweds were going out for dinner. As I stood in the same
hallway where months before I had discovered the tousled
sheets, Evelyn walked out of the master bedroom dressed in
one of my mother’s outfits. It totally caught me off guard.
I was stunned. How dare she? How could she? How could
HE? I truly wanted to understand but my heart was silently
screaming.
My guess is Evelyn was caught between a rock and a hard
place. I know Mike bought that particular outfit for my mom
and, remembering his cheapness aided by his insensitivity, he

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