Sullivan's Chance

Sulivan's Chance- Chapter 2

Chapter 2





         Rowan quietly opened the back door of her trailer.  Her mother wasn’t due to be home for another several hours.  She slipped inside and softly pulled the door closed.  She could hear the unmistakable sound of her father snoring in the den.  Rowan laid her book bag down on the kitchen table and headed to the refrigerator to look for something to cook for supper.  Since Patrick had moved out, Rowan had taken on the role of cook; as well as laundress and maid.  She didn’t mind doing the household chores. She knew her mother worked hard to keep the family afloat, and would come home exhausted most nights.  Rowan pulled some leftover baked chicken from the fridge and made her way to the oven to start heating it up. She had just placed the chicken in the oven when her father came stumbling into the kitchen.


“What’s all the banging about?”


Rowan slowly turned and faced her father. “I’m cooking supper Dad”, she said.


Rowan watched him closely trying to determine how bad off he was tonight.  His eyes were almost always bloodshot and he never shaved or combed his hair.  He was wearing a pair of plaid boxers and a white undershirt.


“Sounded like you were tearing down the place to me”, he huffed.


“Would you like some aspirin Dad?’ Rowan asked.


He narrowed his swollen red eyes at her. “Why would I need any aspirin girl? Nothin’ wrong with me. Just makin’ sure no one was tearing down the place.”


Rowan rubbed the bridge of her nose.  She knew this was going to be a long night and could already feel a headache coming on.


“Well I think I need some, I have a headache,” Rowan said as she walked over to a cabinet for some Tylenol. 


“Do whatcha’ want then”, Mr. Cassidy snapped, “Just quit banging around in here.”


Her father turned and walked back into the den and lay back down on the old couch.  Rowan heaved a sigh of relief.  She did not feel like dealing with one of her father’s tantrums tonight.  Rowan did her homework at the kitchen table while the chicken cooked.  She had just finished cooking the side dishes when her mother walked in the back door.  “Hey mom”, Rowan greeted her.


“Is supper ready yet?”, Mrs. Cassidy grumbled while dumping her purse onto the kitchen counter. 


“Yes mam, you’re right on time”, Rowan answered with a smile. 


Mrs. Cassidy grabbed a plate from the cabinet and proceeded to load it down with food.  Rowan stood back and waited while she did the same with a second plate and took it into the den to her father.  By the time both her parents were fed, there wasn’t much supper left.  Rowan took what was left and sat down alone at the kitchen table.  She could hear the muffled conversation of her parents in the other room.  It always amazed Rowan that her mother put up with so much from her father.  She waited on him hand and foot. Rowan felt that her mother was enabling her father’s terrible habits, but knew better than to say anything about it.  Rowan had learned her lesson when it came to saying anything negative about her father.  Her mother had backhanded her across the face once for suggesting that her father get up off his lazy but and get a job.  She had kept her thoughts to herself since then.  The phone rang and jolted Rowan from her thoughts.  She quickly jumped up to grab the phone, knowing the shrill ring was probably killing her father’s head.


“Hello?” she whispered into the phone.


“Ro, is that you kid?”


Rowan pulled a chair closer to the phone and sank down onto it. “Patty!”, she exclaimed. “Yes it’s me!”


Patrick made a point of calling Rowan at least twice a week.  Rowan knew it was his way of taking care of her even from thirty miles away at college. 


“Everything okay over there?”, he asked with concern tinting his voice.


“Yeah, everything’s fine. How are you? I miss you!”


Rowan heard Patrick’s deep laugh.  “I’m great”, he laughed. “Just trying to get my last few credits to graduate. I miss you too by the way, a lot!”


Rowan felt tears sting the backs of her eyes.  She refused to let Patrick know just how desperately she missed and needed him. She wanted him to finish with his degree and make something of himself.  Already he had accomplished more than their parents.  Against all odds, Patrick Sullivan Cassidy had received an academic scholarship to a community college and even managed to make the deans list his first semester.  Patrick had promised Rowan that he would come back for her once he graduated. This was his last year, and though Rowan loved her mother dearly, she was ready to get away from home.  The older she got, the more verbally and physically abusive her father became.  It had been a month since the last attack.  Rowan had kept the news from Patrick. She knew that if he found out, he would try to make her father pay.  Up until Patrick left, Mr. Cassidy had never laid a hand on Rowan.  He had simply taken his anger out on Patrick and their mother.  But the day after Patrick left for college, Rowan became the target.


“How much longer do you have Patty?”, Rowan asked. 


“Only six more months kiddo. But then I will have to find a job and a place to live. So it may be more like another year before I’m able to come get you.” 


Rowan pushed the pain his words caused aside.  She knew it wasn’t his fault, he was right about needing to be stable before taking on more responsibility. 


“Are you gonna be okay Ro?” Patrick asked. 


“Oh yeah”, she assured him, “That’s not to much longer anyway.”


Patrick sighed into the phone. “I’m wish I could just sneak you into my dorm”, he said sadly.


Rowan laughed. “I don’t think I would enjoy living in a guys dormitory Patty.” 


Patrick laughed, “Yeah I guess not. Plus I would probably have to beat the guys off of you with my fist.”


Rowan rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m still just as short and just as skinny as I was when you left.”


Patrick chuckled into the phone, “You’re beautiful Ro, you just can’t see that yet.”


Rowan heard a thumping over the line. “Crap, look Ro, I gotta go. But you be safe and I’ll try to call again tomorrow night okay?” 


Rowan wiped at the tears running silently down her cheeks.


“Okay”, she whispered trying to hide the fact that she was crying. “I love you Patty Cake!” 


“I love you more Ro Boat. I’ll talk to ya tomorrow.”


Rowan held the phone to her ear for a minute after Patrick hung up.  He still had the ability to hold her together even from a long distance.  Rowan slowly stood up and placed the phone back on the receiver.  She walked into the den and quietly picked up the empty plates laying on the coffee table.  Her father was once again passed out on the couch with a bottle of Vodka hanging limply from his hand. Her mother was no doubt already asleep in the bed.  Rowan tiptoed into the kitchen and began to wash the dishes. Once she was finished cleaning, she grabbed her book bag off of the kitchen table and made her way to her bedroom.





      Rowan threw her bag onto her twin bed and started to dig around for her pajamas.  Her room was small, but tidy.  The walls were made of brown paneling, but Rowan kept posters and magazine clippings taped to them to make the small room feel less like a cave. There was a single window in the room, but half of it was covered with cardboard after a rock had been flung through it. Rowan kept the threadbare curtains closed to keep from having to see the broken pane.  The carpet in her room was orange shag that ran throughout the entire trailer.  There was no possible way to decorate with it, so Rowan chose to decorate around it.  The only furniture in her room was her twin bed, a chest of drawers, and an old vanity with a full-length mirror that had belonged to her grandmother.  Rowan found her pajamas and threw them onto the bed with her bag.  She then opened her closet to look for something to wear the next day.  Rowan frowned at her selection.  She pushed through her ragged clothes and pulled out a faded blue button down, short-sleeved shirt and a pair of blue jeans.  They were slightly worn at the knees, but Rowan only owned three pair of blue jeans, so her choices were limited.  She had taught herself how to sew out of pure desperation.  The ability allowed her to let out hems, replace missing buttons and repair small holes and imperfections. Rowan laid her clothes across the chair sitting in front of her vanity, grabbed her pajamas off of the bed and headed for the shower.  She showered quickly, careful not to wake her parents, and quietly made her way back to her room.  Rowan sat in front of her vanity and brushed out her long dark hair.  She stood up in front of the mirror and put her hands on her narrow hips.  I need to gain weight, she thought to herself while taking in her spindly shape. She pushed her chest out and pulled her shirt tight trying to reveal any semblance of her breasts.


“I don’t even think a padded bra will help these babies”, she whispered to herself.


Rowan spun around and flung herself across her bed in exasperation.


“I don’t know why I care what my body looks like”, she said aloud to herself. “It’s not as if anyone would look anyway.”


Rowan flipped onto her back and stared up at the water stained ceiling.  “I need to stop having pity parties all my by myself”, she laughed.


Rowan pulled a worn afghan over her, closed her eyes and rolled to her side. That night she dreamed of a blond haired, blue-eyed knight in shinning armor driving a red pickup truck.