Abused Tomato Sauce

She grasped the girl by the throat and shook as hard as she could. "Damn rodent! Can't even clean up after yourself! Leech! Little brat! Filthy disgusting..." Running out of names, Bridgett groaned and tossed the sibling to the floor mumbling, "Hate babysitting."

Tonight Bridgett's parents had left her in charge of her four younger brothers and sisters. It wouldn't be so bad if only the siblings would help out with the housework. Mom always had a cow whenever she'd come home and the place was even a little messy. The girls never lifted a finger to clean and it was simply impossible to get Dave to do anything.

Dave was sixteen and somewhat manageable, if people just stayed out of his way. Though Bridgett was a few years older, Dave had height and muscle on his side of their arguments. Alex came next, age fourteen, then Shelly, twelve, and finally, Joe, nine years old. The fourteen-year-old was the one Bridgett had tossed to the floor.

Alex sat threatening to "tell Mome when she gets back." Bridgett sighed, "Go ahead, but she'll take my side. She knows how rotten you brats are." Her voice continued to get shriller until she was standing tip-toe over the shrinking girl.

"Get away from me!" Alex yelled. She was tired of Mom leaving her to the claws of Bridgett, but now that Alex was older, she could be just as mean. To prove that last point, she shoved her older sister against the pantry shelves, disturbing several cans of tomato sauce and tumbling them onto the kitchen floor.

Recovering, Bridgett grabbed a fistful of Alex's hair and yanked her head to foot level, shoving a boot in her face. "Oh suck my big toe, bitch!" Alex bit for the ankle instead and got a taste of imitation leather mixed with flesh. Bridgett yelped, cursing, "You stupid brat!" and kicked Alex's offending teeth off her leg.

Deciding the fight was over, Bridgett turned around to the sink and began to fill it with dishwater. Alex saw a dirty dishtowel lying at the foot of the washing machine. She silently picked it up and approached her sister. She heard bridgett mumbling as she slammed the dishes into the rinse water and then to the drying rack.

Alex touched her mouth where Bridgett had kicked her and felt a very swollen bottom lip. She guessed that it must have split wide open from the amount of blood she found on her hand. With a sneer, Alex wrapped the ends of the towel over the knuckles of both her hands, and silently snapped the center into a taut cord.

Bridgett suddenly felt the towel drawn across her throat and dropped a dish back into the soapy water. She angrily elbowed her sister in the ribs. Alex held tight to the frayed towel while Bridgett groped for another means to free herself from strangulation. A tin pizza pan was within her reach and she banged it over Alex's head several times. The towel still dug into her neck, cutting off oxygen.

"Had enough, bitch?" Alex screamed in Bridgett's ear. "You gonna leave me alone now?"

Bridgett managed to sink her fingernails into Alex's cheek as the words were spat. Alex shrieked and shoved Bridgett against the sink, shaking the pipes and splashing dishwater on both of them.

While the two struggled over the sink, Dave and Joe were playing Nintendo in Mom's room, ignoring the viscious fight. Shelley was down the hall, in her bedroom, feeding bits of celery to a hamster as it sat on her shoulder. The parakeet was just outside the kitchen, in the living room, chirping wildly and scattering feathers over the carpet in its panic.

Finally disturbed enough to act, Dave calmly paused his game and strolled into the kitchen. He saw Bridgett splashing water onto the floor as Alex tried to choke her with a towel. "What are you doing?" Dave asked incredulously, as if he'd never seen them fight before. The girls paused for a moment in their battle to reason with Dave.

Bridgett got defensive, "The lazy thing her refuses to wash the dishes and now she's attacking me. She's just a mooch and won't help in the housework. I'm the only one who does anything around here and I'm tired of it!" Bridgett said as she briskly filled a glass with cold water and proceeded to pour it over Alex's head. Alex dodged and most of it landed on the floor.

Dave was tired of settling their fights and decided to start one of his own. He himself was tired of Bridgett's constant bossy attitude. As he stood in the doorway of the kitchen, he noticed a few cans of tomato sauce lying at his feet. While the girls resumed their bickering, Dave picked up two of the cans, took careful aim at Bridgett's head, and hatefully said, "Hey Bridgett! Catch!" With the words barely out of his mouth and Bridgett oblivious to his meaning, the first can struck home, in the middle of her forehead. The second was never thrown because she had fallen with the first blow.

Alex stood, dirty dishtowel in hand, jaw unhinged, and eyes bulging. Dave was amazed at what he had done and rambled on about how he had told her to catch and that it was an accident. The injured sister remained on the floor focusing her eyes at Alex's feet.

Curious about the sudden silence, Joe peeked around the corner to the kitchen. All he saw was Alex, looking a little wet by the sink and Dave, looking a little guilty by the pantry shelves. Though Joe could not see Bridgett, he knew from the looks on their faces that she was lying on the floor between the sink and the table. He whispered excitedly, "What happened?"

Dave shrugged. Alex stepped over Bridgett to get a more objective view of the incident. She moved beside Joe so she couldn't see anything except the tomato sauce can lying in front of the refrigerator. Joe asked her, "What'd she do to you this time?"

Alex shook her head, "Don't know. But she deserved it."

"Don't worry about it. She'll be okay," Dave said as he took Joe by the ear back to the Nintendo in Mom's room. Alex watched them leave and decided Dave was right. She walked into the living room and turned on the T.V. to quiet down the excited bird. Alex then continued on down the hall, past Shelley's room, and out the front door.

Shelley saw Alex pass her doorway as she left the house. It was raining, so something must have gone on with Bridgett to make her mad, she thought. Shelley just hoped that she could avoid Bridgett's wrath for tonight and be allowed to cuddle her hamster in peace.

After the front door slammed, Shelley took her hamster to the kitchen to get a coke or maybe scrounge up some snacks to eat. By the sink, she noticed a pair of black imitation leather boots attached to Bridgett's body. The older sister pretended to be mortally wounded and refused to move out of Shelley's path.

"Okay, you can move!" Shelley insisted. She didn't want to put up with the hormonal Bridgett tonight. The body on the floor didn't acknowledge the girl's request. Shelley stormed back to her room to gripe about her sister to her rodent.

Four hours later, at about midnight-thirty, their parents came home. Mom gasped at the sight of clean dishes, swept and vacuumed floors, dusted shelves, empty trash cans, and, in general, a perfectly cleaned house. The four younger kids were gathered in the living room watching their favorite adventure movie.

Joe and Shelley both sat on the floor with cokes in hand, watching the television intently. Dave mumbled, "It's about time ya'll got home." Alex loudly began to brag about her newest football injury on her face from the neighbor boy. Bridgett stood by the pantry shelves reorganizing misplaced cans. Her bangs hung neatly over her forehead as she placed a dented can of tomato sauce on its proper shelf.

-Rachel Johnson, 1992