Mira didn’t mind being grounded all that much–she’d do her time for sneaking out without complaining–but she was getting a bit of cabin fever from only being able to be at school or at home all the time. In order to be able to get out of the house now and then, while still obeying her mother’s grounding rules, Mira started volunteering at the Truelong Tutoring House for three days each week after school. There, she was able to tutor the younger kids, as well as some of her own peers, and take care of the little ones at the on-site nursery.
Being one of the brightest students in her class, Mira had no problem getting into the volunteer program, and the school appreciated her help. Mira found that she had an aptitude for teaching and very much enjoyed it.
Matthew was still struggling at school, both with his grades and with his classmates. His homework was getting harder and it took him longer each night for him to complete it.
Dimitri Ivanov still hadn’t let up, and he made an effort to give Matthew a hard time every day. Brittney considered calling Mrs. Ivanov and informing her of her son’s behavior, but she worried that doing so might make things even worse for Matthew.
To escape from thinking about his problems at school and his lack of friends, Matthew took up writing as a hobby, and often sits at the computer by his mother’s drawing table typing away, coming up with fantastical stories of far away places. But writing is only the beginning. Matthew does almost everything by himself these days. He plays in the backyard, swims, jumps on their trampoline, plays video games–all the things every other boy his age does, but Matthew does them alone. Brittney often watches him in the evenings while he’s out back wondering what she could do for him, but she knows that it’s just a phase of his life that he’ll have to work through on his own; she can’t force the other kids at school to like him, she just has to give him as much love at home as she can to make up for it.
It makes her sad because he’s such a great kid, and he’s going to grow up to be such a great person; but for the moment, there’s nothing she can do but wait and hope that he grows out of this awkward phase.
Matthew’s school had other plans, though. The following Thursday, Brittney received a phone call from the school counselor regarding Matthew’s seemingly antisocial behavior.
“Hello?”
“Hello, may I speak to Mrs. Delven, please?”
“This is she speaking.”
“Mrs. Delven, my name is Lorraine Cantina, and I’m a counselor at Truelong Elementary School where your son Matthew attends. I’ll be frank with you; Ms. Natcher expressed concern to us that Matthew is too antisocial for his age. She believes it may be unhealthy for him, and to be honest, I agree with her. Boys his age need to socialize and partake in activities with other boys their age. Matthew spends far too much time alone.”
Brittney had to take a deep breath before she let herself respond. She understood where Ms. Natcher’s concern was coming from, but she truly wished she’d keep her nose in her own business, or possibly take a look at the other kids that purposely ignore Matthew or bully him every day. “I understand the situation, but I don’t know if Ms. Natcher has really looked at the big-picture of what’s happening. Matthew has been bullied regularly by some of the other boys in his class since he started at Truelong.”
“I see. Who are the other boys in question?”
This was the part Brittney had wanted to avoid, the part where she’d have to involve the school, and therefore the other boys’ parents, and potentially make things overall worse for Matthew in the long run instead of improving anything. It was unlikely that the bullying would stop just because the boys got in trouble for it. If anything, it was likely to increase their aggression towards Matthew. “Please understand, I was hoping to avoid getting the school involved in this situation. It’s just a schoolyard spat; the boys need to work it out for themselves.”
“The problem, Mrs. Delven, is that by Ms. Natcher filing this complaint, I am required to follow-through with it, and I can’t just look the other way when I know Matthew is having problems here at school.”
Letting out a long sigh, Brittney acquiesced. She was glad that the school was so concerned about her son’s welfare, but she’d rather they leave matters alone. “The ringleader of the whole thing seems to be Dimitri Ivanov. Dimitri’s friends bully Matthew as well, but they seem to only do it because of Dimitri.”
“All right, we’ll look into the matter, but know that we’ll still be keeping an eye on Matthew. Good day, Mrs. Delven.”
“Goodbye.” And good riddance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On top of everything else that had been going on, Abigail decided to move in with her long-time boyfriend–her rather aged boyfriend, Lucky Perkins.
The rest of the family really didn’t understand her interest in him, but they were happy that she’d finally found someone. However, that left her and Brittney’s mother, Sasha, living alone in that huge, drafty house they’d grown up in. Worried about her mother’s age and failing health, Brittney offered to let Sasha move in with her and the kids, and Sasha accepted her invitation.
Since they didn’t have a bedroom to spare, her mother had to share a room with one of the kids, and Mira agreed, however begrudgingly, to let Grandma share hers. There was plenty of room in Mira’s bedroom already; they just had to push Mira’s bed closer to the wall and set up the second bed for Sasha.
Most of the time, it’s been a great help for Brittney having her mother around. Grandma has lots of time on her hands to help the kids with their homework and tidy up the house while Brittney works on her sketches.
The only problem comes when Sasha has one of her episodes. Sasha has had all the early signs of Alzheimer’s for years, but it’s recently reared its ugly head. Moving out of the home she’d lived in for almost fifty years seems to have affected her more than could have been predicted, and often while she’s at home, now that she’s living with Brittney and the kids, she’ll have moments where she doesn’t know where she is or why she’s there. She’s even had moments where she talks as if Trinity, Brittney’s father, is still alive.
It’s hard on everyone, but it’s worst on Mira and Matthew. Brittney just tries to keep her mother home and busy doing the things she loves to do, like painting and spending time with her grandchildren, to get her through the days. According to the doctors, though, Sasha may not be with them much longer, and they’re unable to tell at this point how much more her Alzheimer’s will develop.
The Taylor Legacy 