Suzie’s House 401 : Verbal Abuse

By the time Miranda made it home from the ad agency, she’d broken the heel of her newest Charline De Luca shoes – the red ones with the pony tail of fringe hanging off the back. Before that she’d taken a verbal beating from her boss for ordering the wrong size graphic sheets for a set of billboards, and spent hours dodging a client who wanted more than to place an order and have lunch with her. She was hungry, tired, and tense.

In short, all she wanted was to sit down to one of Suzie’s dinners, settle in the den for some TV, then head for bed. She walked past the den to see Drew sitting as still as a statue with his hands hovering over the keyboard of a laptop.

“Creepy.”

There weren’t any good smells coming from the kitchen. Suzie was no where to be seen and no one was cooking.

“Oh. Right. It’s my turn.”

She threw what was left of her shoes in the garbage, then stuck her head in the refrigerator. Could she order pizza again? No, she’d done that last time it was her turn. There were still a few slices left. Ah, jackpot! Suzie left a big pot of stew and there was some home made bread in the breadbox. Miranda put the stew on the burner and set it to low.

The front door slammed. Miranda stuck her head into the hall, intending to scold Ben for being so noisy.

It wasn’t Ben. It was one of the girls – the mousy one. Emma? Right, her name was Emma. Miranda had been seeing her around more and more.

She’d dropped something on the floor and stooped to pick it up. As Miranda stalked toward her, she realized it was some flashy kind of mask. Emma dropped it two more times before she managed to get back to her feet. By then Miranda was right in front of her.

“Hey. Let me see that a minute.” She took the mask from the girl.

It wasn’t as flimsy as she’d first thought. It wasn’t hard-shelled like regular masks either. This would be great to have around Halloween.

“Nice.” She reluctantly handed it back. “Look, kid. This might be a boarding house, but it isn’t a public building. You can’t just come and go as you please.”

Emma’s face went pale. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. The hurt around her eyes made Miranda feel like she’d kicked a puppy.

“I… I’m not!”

“Aren’t you the one who slammed the door just now? Don’t you have your own home to go to?”

“I… but….”

“Hey! Emma! Hurry up!” Tracy’s voice came from upstairs. “We’re all waiting.”

“Right! Sorry!” Emma ran up the stairs, feathers and ribbons trailing behind her.

Miranda groaned and covered her face with her hand. She must look like a complete ogre. Well, that was par for the course today. She dragged her sorry butt to the kitchen to see if there was going to be enough stew to feed everyone.

If you enjoy Suzie’s House and would like to see more, please leave a comment. Suzie’s House is powered by its readers.