By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/@GeeGranny on Twitter
Artwork by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee
The water was still ... the air quiet ... not even a sea gull sang. Something bumped her leg ... not hard ... and she was too young to know ... the things it could have been.
She was afraid ... the water came up to her throat. She was ten years old ... the big sister ... she could do things her little sisters couldn't do. She thought she could.
The sand seemed so far ... she could see her step-mother, two little half-sisters sitting there ... she knew they were watching her. She wondered for a moment 'why?' didn't her step-mother call her back.
Her step-mother was always getting on her. At this moment ... she was too young to wonder 'why?' her step-mother called her half-sisters back to the shore ... she just watched as they walked out of the water into their mother's arms.
She saw them walk away to the big, colorful towel laying near by. By now, she was wishing she had followed them. She had stepped in water a little deeper than she was tall ... water choked her.
The big sister ... stood with her head tilted to her right shoulder ... looking back to land. She wanted to get back badly ... she was going to panic ... she was afraid. Help me! Of course, no one heard her ... the words 'Help me!' were only thoughts in her mind. She felt she needed to be quiet.
Little by little ... the little girl took step by step toward the sand where everyone was sitting ... watching her. She 'sort-of' wondered why no one called her name ... she was too young to think any farther than that.
It was when she was an adult she would know ... this particular flash-back always played out in her mind. Why didn't her daddy, step-mother call her back to safety? She knew when older ... looking back at this memory ... she would never have let a little child wander so far out ... into the ocean ... unless ...
Children are very innocent ... trusting. They don't know when someone is always evil ... especially when that someone smiles as they hurt them. They smiled ... so, that meant they didn't mean to hurt them. No one smiles at a child ... then, abuses them ... do they?
The little girl learned better ... her step-mother appeared to love her in front of other people ... then, threatened her if she told any differently ... especially to her grandmother ... her step-mother was afraid of her husband's mother. Her husband's mother was wealthy, held the purse strings ...
Something black rose out of the water close by ... she was too young to know what it was. She was feeling fear ... of what, she didn't know. She stood still as the little waves of water rocked against her chest. The shore seemed so far away ... everyone seemed tiny.
One foot in front of the other, the little girl walked toward the only people in the world that was her ... loving ... family. Still ... no one called out to her ... no one come to help her back. She had to do it alone.
Soon ... the water only came up to her knees ... she wasn't afraid now. She splashed out of the water ... her step-mother seemed angry at her. "Gloria Faye!" she called. "Get over here, sit down ... you are grounded ... you can't go out in the water again!"
No hugs, no smiles ... only angry eyes flashing with fire. The little girl did as she was told. She didn't mind being grounded this time ... she didn't want to go back out into the water.
She sat on the towel watching her little half-sisters play in the waves. Laughing, squealing each time a wave splashed them ... her step-mother was constantly telling them not to go too far ... something bad could happen to them
For a moment, the little girl wondered why her step-mother let her go out so far. Soon, it was forgotten ... life happened. As she became older ... she would play back the ocean scene in her mind. Why?
One day the little girl grew up ... as she became older ... her grandmother told her about the insurance policy she'd taken out on her as a little baby. Her aunt promised her if anything ever happened ... she'd make sure she got it.
Life happened ... unknowing to the little girl who grew up ... her aunt died at the same time ... she, herself ... was fighting the battle of her life . Who was calling her husband to know what was happening ... telling her husband not to tell her grandmother? It was her step-mother ...
As life sometimes happens ... things don't turn out as they should. The little girl who grew up ... who fought for her life and won against cancer (non-Hodgkins lymphoma) ... began to visit her grandmother. Her grandmother seemed shocked to see her ... she had been told that her oldest granddaughter was on Death's bed.
One day not long before the grandmother died at 100 years old ... the little girl who grew up, won the battle with cancer ... went to visit her dear grandmother.
Her grandmother seemed nervous ... she looked at her, said ... "I've made a terrible mistake". The little girl who grew up ... didn't question her ... she hugged her grandmother, told her everything would be alright.
Later, she found out that her grandmother had died ... her step-mother and father and half-sisters got her insurance policy. Her step-mother had kept up through her husband about her battle with cancer ... feeding her grandmother lies. Her grandmother took her policy ... cashed it in ... gave it to them. Also, someone got enough to pay for a house.
Oh ... not only that ... her grandmother cashed in the life insurance policies on the little girl who grew up to fight cancer ... plus her son's insurance policy, and the little girl who grew up to fight cancer ... her two grandchildren's policies.
Her step-mother won ... when the father died ... everyone got his estate ... excepting his oldest daughter ... the one who grew up to fight cancer, won.
When it was all said, done ... the step-mother began calling the girl who grew up to fight cancer. She was very sick ... only she would never say what with. The little girl who grew up to fight cancer ... went to see her.
She and her husband took the step-mother out to eat. They didn't really have the money to do so ... they really didn't want to go see the step-mother ... but, they did. You know how it is when ... you don't want others to think bad of you.
The step-mother was very thin ... she sat in front of her meal ... she never ate one bite. The little girl who grew up to fight cancer ... looked closely at her ... she thought ... cancer.
Not long after visiting her ... she found out her step-mother was dying from ... kidney cancer. Strangely ... the little girl who grew up to win her battle with cancer ... grieved over a woman who had done everything to try to ruin her life. Now ... she was dying.
The step-mother had known all along she had cancer ... made sure to take care of her two daughters, and grandson she'd raised. She took so much from her ... step-daughter's life ... but, who did she call when she was dying? The strange thing was ... she never-ever told the step-daughter who grew up to battle cancer ... that she had cancer.
Karma bit her step-mother in the ass ... she did such an awful thing to her step-daughter who loved her no matter that she treated her badly through the years.
Her step-daughter cried when she heard her step-mother had died ... she never hated her for trying to destroy her life ... took so much from her, and her son and her two grandchildren.
No matter that Karma bit her step-mother in the ass ... her step-mother won ... even if she died with cancer. She took care of her own in the best way she knew how ... she did. She did it at the expense of her step-daughter ... the oldest daughter her husband had ... the daughter she pretended to love ... truly hated.
No matter ... Karma bit her in the ass ... she won.
Note by this Author:
True story/photo owned by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee ... the little girl who was afraid out in that big ocean ... the little girl who grew up to battle cancer ... won.
It's strange how the dots connect over time ... not all is as it appears to be. I've known love from my ... family ... in the strangest of ways. Love that was really hate ... it all began when I came into this world. I've wondered ... why?
Now ... it no longer matters ... why? I have lots of things to keep me writing always ... I make all my heart-aches into stories, now. They no longer have the power to hurt me. So, don't feel sorry for me ... each life's events put strength in my backbone ... it may knock my ass down on the ground ... no matter how bad it hurts ... I dust my pants off ... get back up. I have my Grandma Alma's fighting spirit.
It took growing up to realize how evil my step-mother was ... deceitful. She did it all under the guise of ... love. I loved her. Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee
I am so sorry you grew up in such conditions. I am glad you made it in this mean old world! I am even more happy that you beat cancer. May God always bless you and keep you safe and healthy! Love, Ms. Nancy
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