And out begging she went.

Telling the story of her discovery here, crying over there.

She begged for prayers for her cause with full confidence that God heard the plea of a lowly bastard and would take pity.

 

 

 

The Woman with the Rock in Her Shoe  had struck a note of fear through our home. Blarney Boy, now formally branded a thief, might aim to hurt someone in the night. The Sad Girl was now officially afraid of a violent Blarney Boy slitting her throat while she slept. It was a simple case of stage fright but it left her body numb and frozen on the stage.

 

Within two or three days, a former police detective, hired by Brother II, arrived to administer a polygraph test to Blarney Boy. The gentleman set up his equipment in a quiet room. Blarney Boy was summoned. He was sweating profusely as he walked like a condemned man into the room occupied by the police detective and the machine of truth. The door closed. His fate was now in mechanical hands.

 

A troubled Sister Who Shall Not Be Named, the twins beside her, waited in the kitchen with the others. It’s not known if she expected Blarney Boy to pass or fail the lie detector test.  It can be hoped she was contemplating the importance of truth. Truth, in spite of how dirty, was always better than a lie. Regardless of the polygraph results, it was cruel and insensitive to inflict her with the emotions of second guessing her husband. There could have been another way if cooler heads had prevailed. Why didn’t they lock up the money then discreetly fire Blarney Boy? The Greek chorus seems to think there was another reason for the accusation against him that has yet, even after all these years, to be disclosed.

 

Tension griped the stage. As the clock finally ticked off an eternity, the former detective emerged from the room, equipment in hand. Blarney Boy followed wearing a triumphant grin. The Sister Who Shall Not Be Named was relieved and confident in the innocence his smile proudly proclaimed.

 

Later at the deli, a frustrated Brother II disclosed  the lie detector had proven Blarney Boy innocent of all thievery charges. Blarney Boy, in the entire time he knew our family, had not even pocketed a penny from the floor or any item from the deli or home without permission.

 

The Woman With the Rock in her Shoe informed Favorite Sister that the polygraph test showed Blarney Boy to be possibly a pilferer who may have stolen small amounts of cash totaling only a few thousand dollars.

 

The Sad Girl, and anyone who she has asked, never saw the actual written report issued by the former detective.

 

( Again, we have two nearly contrary stories concerning the same event. I appeal to all the characters to please follow the same script and stop improvising!)

 

The Sister Who Shall Not Be Named shared in Blarney Boy’s triumphant acquittal, grinning from ear to ear with an “I told you so” expression on her face and on her lips. Their vindication was short lived. There was no apology written in the script for the expectant couple, prepared to magnanimously forgive their accusers.

 

Both Blarney Boy and The Sister Who Shall Not Be Named mouths dropped open when the Woman With the Rock in Her Shoe hissed at them both to immediately depart. She promptly rephrased her edict telling The Sister Who Shall Not Be Named that she could stay with the twins but Blarney Boy, precious Blarney Boy, now dubbed “her husband”, must vacate the premises directly.

 

Stunned as their world fell apart, the two of them went into their apartment and shut the door on the maddened Woman With the Rock in Her Shoe.

 

They both remained ensconced in their room behind a locked door as the Woman With the Rock in Her Shoe’s wrath swiftly turned into a panicked terror. She would have Blarney Boy out of her home that night. She was thoroughly convinced that Blarney Boy would slay her while she slept or set the house on fire to massacre us all.

 

As the late afternoon progressed into evening, the kitchen once again served as the stage scenery while the performers gathered to discuss the dilemma at hand.

 

The Sister Who Shall Not Be Named and Blarney Boy had shut the door on the cacophony rumbling across the theater platform. They were ignoring the Woman With the Rock in Her Shoe’s sentence of banishment from the family stage.  Undeniably, the Sister Who Shall Not Be Named was struggling for a piece of serenity and a miracle to resolve the dilemma of being abruptly made homeless by a once loving mother.

 

The zero hour had arrived when the Sad Boy, at the request of a hysterical Woman With the Rock in Her Shoe to bring the act to a conclusion, volunteered to play her emissary. He was brave enough to face the beast of Blarney Boy. The Sad Boy knocked on the apartment door. Brother II towered over the Sad Boy as he tried to hide behind him, not willing to face the unscripted response of the door opening head on. The Pretend Father stood behind in the doorway, shaking from the cold hands of stage fright. He was unable to act in this scene. The Sad Girl stood to the side as well, just watching the live performance.

 

On cue, Blarney Boy opened the door as the Sad Boy’s accented voice told him the hour was late; it was time to go.

 

Blarney Boy sneered, his words accusing the Sad Boy.

“Who are you to kick me out?”

 

The Sister Who Shall Not Be Named took the opportunity to slip between them, then past Brother II and Pretend Father, to enter the kitchen. She wanted to speak to the Woman With the Rock in Her Shoe to plead with her for sanity and mercy.

 

Blarney Boy backed away from the open door. The Sad Boy entered the small apartment to talk to him with Brother II following behind.

 

In the kitchen, where the Sad Girl stood listening, the Woman With the Rock in Her Shoe firmly held on to her script. She was deaf to her daughter’s plea for mercy. The stage reverberated with her cold refusal as a now screaming Sister Who Shall Not Be Named stomped from the kitchen in frustration and resentment.

 

Her hope for compassion crushed, an impassioned Sister Who Shall Not Be Named entered the apartment looking to vent her growing rage. A heated discussion was underway between Blarney Boy, the Sad Boy and Brother II. The Sad Boy’s back was turned toward the door where the agitated Pretend Father still stood. The Sad Boy was taken unaware as the Sister Who Shall Not Be Named jumped on his back from behind, stealing Sister II’s line screaming,

“Leave my husband alone!”

 

Blarney Boy took the opportunity to sucker punch the Sad Boy in the eye while the Sister Who Shall Not Be Named had his arms pinned. The Sad Boy tossed her from his back only to be restrained by Brother II, now afraid the Sad Boy would beat Blarney Boy to a bloody pulp. And he would have.

 

Smiling like a big shot, Blarney Boy helped a smug Sister Who Shall Not Be Named gather the twins and some suitcases to exit the stage with a bang.

 

 

Goldilocks