Strangers

'Come to downstairs honey, here is a young lady dying to meet you!'

Katherine breathed deeply. His father loves to exaggerate things. Nobody is dying to meet her, at least not her step-sister. There is a well structured border around her and she does not wish to break it down. She closed Wuthering Heights after checking the chapter and checked herself in the mirror. She knows that she needs to be pretty young girl who is talkative and supporting in this family gathering but is there even a family? His father left her for 6 months, he should have been working in Turkey by helping other children. He already had children but it was not enough for him. She was not good enough for him and her brother was far from home, who does not need an adult around him anymore. Her mother left, too. Everybody leaves. Sometimes they come back. With a brand new mommy and her doll.

‘Let me introduce you lovely Ece. She is my daughter, Katherine. And Katherine, this is Serpil. I hope you will like each other’s company since that we will live together from now on.’

A nervous laugh. Shattering lips. Curious eyes. Almost red in fever Katherine. Ah, the doorbell rings, let her open it. She is like the woman of the house. She pays the bills, she gets the newpaper, she cleans the house and cooks for herself. Now Serpil will do all those things? What she will cook, some local food? Has she even ever been in America before? It will be a weird Christmas this year. Let her hug his brother Andrew. He has the nicest girlfriend Amelia. Blonde hair, big blue eyes, big and smiling mouth. Always brings a present for her.

‘So dad, you did not come from Turkey alone, huh? I guess they were very friendly in there, that is what I heard.’

Yeah friendly or motherly whatever. They are here now. This is their holiday. She loves his brother but can not he care a little bit more? Is it normal having a new mother and a sister out of blue?

‘In Turkey they do not celebrate Christmas guys. Only New Year’s. They cook the most amazing food, I am telling you their cuisine is the best and Serpil is the best chef I have ever known. They have pilav, dolma, kebap, baklava, kadayıf… Gorgeous table. People gather around and have dinner all together. They get a Christmas tree if they want it but it is not a cultural thing. And today we are not having turkey as we normally do but instead we will have karnıyarık and pilav. Then we will play tombala together.’

‘What the hell is tombala?’ Katherine thought. ‘Oh, sorry, did I think that out loud?’ I never meant to offend you precious Serpil and Ece. This time she thought from inside. She tells things she should not suppose to say and keeps good words to herself.

Serpil took the salad and passed over to dad. ‘You know, we do not have to do the things I do. You can see me as a household or guest whichever suits for you. I understand that it is all so sudden and maybe a shock to you. Take your time but I will be here. You may be good friends with Ece. Isn’t it nice to have somebody around? You can share your secrets, hang out after school, learn from each other. I hope you will like that in time.’

She is used to be alone. She does not have many friends anymore. Books are her friend and she has lots of them. She has another world in her room on her own. She is good at being alone. And she did not like karnıyarık anyways. She wants turkey, rice and gingerbread cookies. She wants to wait for Santa. He does not have to be real. She loves their traditions.

‘Dad, can we look at some albumes? I haven’t seen them for a real long time and I want to Show my childhood to Amelia.’ Classic Andrew. He only cares about Amelia. At least he has her. She wished that she had her too. Anybody, really.

Late at night she won the tombala. She took all the Money in the table. Some of them were Turkish liras, it is a sad thing that they forgot to exhange. It does not worth much around here. She can barely buy maple syrup for pancakes for tomorrow morning. At least she can have pancakes of Andrew. They can fight over the blueberry part. They can discuss about the best peanut butter brand. Regular stuff. Their traditions. After that, everything will be normal again. Not normal but similar. She can live on her own. She does not have to talk to the strangers. She can sleep in her room, on her own. She can see her mother in her dreams.

10.00 am Saturday morning. Voices in the kitchen. Smells like pancakes. They are not ready yet, there is no smell for burnt blueberries. Coming down from the stairs.

‘There you are! We are baking krep for breakfast with my mother! I wanted you to taste them. It is like french crepes but I like to fill them with cream cheesec and jam and then wrap them like burritos. So good!’

So there is not even pancakes. Some burrito stuff. It doesn’t taste bad though. Better to keep that idea for herself. Maybe she can eat one more with chocolate spead. And add strawberries like Ece does. She looks cute. She could be her best friend if they were not step sisters. They could fight over the fig jam. They could go to school together and gossip about boys. So fig jam, it does not worth much here.

‘Do you know what I thought? MAYBE we can put another bed into my room I have plenty of it anyways and the guest room is so tiny. Ece can stay with me. Just and idea, whatever.’

For the first time she did not murmur or roll her eyes. She actually talked. It does not worth much around here.