Penetrating Words

Prompt: Write a story that solely consists of dialogue. (No dialogue tags, actions, or descriptions. Just pure dialogue!)

Penetrating Words

Here me out Violet. You live in my house; I expect you to live by my rules.

Mother, stop trying to ruin my life. Just because you had an overbearing mother doesn’t mean you have to be that way with me. I need to be my own person.

You can do that Violet by learning to be responsible by respecting my authority.  I set a curfew to protect you, not to stifle your lifestyle. If your father was here, he would have something to say about your attitude.

Stop mother! He is not here. Stop dragging him into our affairs when he is not here to help you or me. From what you told me his track record for financial and moral support ranked lower than oozing slime.

Look, I don’t disagree about your father. Since his departure it has been you and me. Life has not been easy for us. I don’t want to lose what we have together all because of a curfew violation. I am so afraid to lose you because you are all I’ve got. Please help me to better understand you as a person, Violet. Share with me more about who you really are. I just know the little girl that I raised over two decades ago no longer exists. Then one day I woke up to discover a beautiful, intelligent woman in my midst. Tell me about the Violet you are and want to be.

Well, for starters I don’t like eating fish sticks anymore.  I wear my hair up in a bun, no longer with pigtails or braids. I wear the same lipstick, rouge, and eye shadow as you do because honestly, I borrow from you.

Oh, that explains why my supply seems to run out so fast. Needless to say Violet, you look amazing with my makeup! As a favor to me, if anything runs low, plese let me know sooner than later?  I’d hate to be caught looking my real age or like that of a not so friendly ghost. Actually, Violet, anything in this house belongs to you as well. It always has been once you became sixteen. Even my car I share with you equally.

Thank you, Momma. Is it okay I can still call you that?

Oh, my precious Violet, yes. You are and always will be my sweet child. Nothing you could ever do would separate me from you. When you enter into a serious relationship, I am there with you as a guide and as a friend, but mainly as a loving mom. I want to be an integral part of your life without conditions or mandates. I want our relationship to be open and honest.

Open and honest? Then why have you never really shared much about my father? I never knew him. In fact, I have no idea what he even looked like. The only picture you shared with me was the two of you when you were teenagers in high school. If you are going to be honest, then I need to know about him.

Your father and I were very young when we met. We were still in high school. It was a torrid romance. We could not keep our hands off of each other. My parents were not thrilled about him. His father was indifferent to our relationship, but neither family could keep us apart. You might say it was a weak portrayal of Romeo and Juliet. Soon after graduation we decided to leave town. I had hoped we were going to elope, but your father only had one thing on his mind. His hormones raged. I wanted to be married before we had intercourse. That never happened and your father viciously and repeatedly raped me until one night I had enough and returned home. I would have expected a drawn-out chastisement from my parents and I would have deserved it.   Your grandparents were so loving to me and remained so after I learned I was pregnant with you.

Momma, why didn’t you report the rapes?

Violet, my love, I thought about it, but it would have been his word against mine. He did not force me to go with him as I chose to leave. Plus, the rapes occurred in another state and the logistics of establishing a case against him would have been a nightmare.

Did you ever see my father again? Never any child support? Why did you say earlier he would have something to say about my attitude?

I lied to you. I was hoping to keep a fatherly image of him alive in you. And no I never saw him again.

Oh, Momma, I am so sorry you were so abused and so hurt. I love you so much.

Thankfully Grandpa and Grandma helped me with raising you in a loving home. After Grandpa died Grandma was never quite herself. She turned ornery and has taken her grief out on you and me. I have tried to intervene when she verbally assaults you. I often wonder if after these years of having both of us in her home she harbored deep seated resentment. Soon I will have to put her in a nursing home because she has been dangerously careless and forgetful. She needs twenty-four hour supervision. In the meantime, we need to reconcile our differences and speak the truth. I have no more ghosts in my closet to share with you. Why are you crying?

Because I have failed you Momma! I have not been remotely honest with you. All I wanted was to be free and enjoy life apart from Grandma and your prying eyes.  I wanted my complete independence to choose what I would want to do and to whom I would see. My late-night hours were filed with raucous partying and clubbing with my girlfriends. I would sneak back into the house during the wee hours of the morning. You never knew.

Being with your girlfriends is not criminal until you recently slipped up by missing curfew in plain view of me. Did you plan on getting caught last night?

I don’t know. Maybe. But there is more. My late night rendezvouses involved meeting men.  My encounters started out innocently as casual dating.  Then something inside me said there must be more. I wanted excitement. I wanted power over the relationship. I offered enticement to titillate and arouse my date.

Violet, where are you going with this?

Momma, I am a prostitute! I am a lady of the night; a full-blown whore!

Oh this is my fault, Violet. I have been such a terrible mother!

No this has nothing to do with you, but everything about the choices I have made. Now I have to suffer the consequences of my actions.

What do you mean?

Momma, a few nights ago I was feeling nauseous. I had been gaining weight around my ankle and finger joints. I purchased a pregnancy test at the pharmacy. It tested positive. I am pregnant and I have no clue who the father would be. I thought it would be best to get an abortion.

Oh Violet, I said that nothing could separate my love from you and I mean it! Even if you decide to have an abortion. But remember this. A man full of sexual rage raped me, impregnating me with his seed. As much as I hated what he did to me I decided that the baby I would birth was innocent of his action and evil. I knew within me a child of God grew and He would not leave me on my own to raise you, Violet. I have had shortcomings along the way. I hold no regrets at giving you life, my sweet baby girl. It may be your choice to end the pregnancy; in doing so you will never know the beauty, love, and wonder of that child even without a father in his/her life. Honor God by honoring the life of your child.

Momma, I will need your help. You did not abandon me and I do not want to abandon this child in my womb. My love and faith in God will prevail despite my weak, sinful choices.

Understand this Violet, God has made a way, when there seems to be no way.  Each new day is full of His love and strength. ‘For God created my inmost being; He knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful; I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Violet, this is God's Word taken from Psalm 139: 13-16.

NIV= New International Version

Author: Pete Gautchier

Acknowledgement: Reedsy.com