A Tale of Two Sisters

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS

Tanya’s phone dinged with an incoming text. She looked at the screen. Delta.

What the hell does she want?

Tanya clicked on the icon, and the message appeared.

“Dad’s dead. See attached info.”

Tanya clicked on the attachment.

Today we announce the passing of Gregory Wilkins, beloved husband of Jennine, father of Delta and Tanya  Services will be held …

“Hmph”said Tanya, out loud. “About time.”

She closed the text, and called her husband Leroy.

He answered almost immediately.

“Hey, what’s up?” he said, concern in his voice. Tanya never used to the phone — it was either text or in person.

“My dad died.”

A moment of silence.  

“How do you feel about that?”

“I’m not sure. Am I glad the old bastard’s dead? Damn right. Am I sad he’s dead? No, but I’m sure that there are people in the world who will mourn his passing. Like Jennine. Definitely Delta. Nobody else, probably. Definitely not me.”

“How’d you find out?” 

“Delta.”

Leroy was shocked. “She called?”

“No. She texted.”

“Ah. That way you couldn’t hang up on her. Smart.”

“I almost deleted the text without looking at it. I’m not sure that I did the right thing reading it. Maybe ignorance is bliss.”

“I’m on the way home right now. I should be there in about ten-fifteen minutes. We’ll talk more then.”

“‘K. See you then.”

Tanya hit the end icon, put her phone on the coffee table, and sat down.

So, her father was dead. She figured that made her an orphan. But she’d thought of herself that way since her mother had died twenty years previous. In fact, she’d thought of herself as alone in the world for quite some time. She hadn’t spoken to Delta in nineteen years, and rarely thought about her unless she called, or texted, or sent an email, or even on two occasions, an actual letter. Once, Delta had shown up at her work. When the receptionist had asked Tanya if she wanted her sent back to her office, Tanya had said no. Delta had waited the entire day until Tanya had finished work, trying and talk to her as she left her place of employment. Tanya had walked away, gotten in a cab, and had gone home. She'd left Delta standing on the sidewalk watching the cab drive away.

Tanya ignored every attempt Delta made to contact her.  

She wasn’t sure why she’d opened the text this time. She never read or acknowledged anything from Delta. As far as Tanya was concerned, Delta had died nineteen years previous.

*****

It had been a hot day. Tanya and Delta were eighteen that summer. It seemed to be hotter than usual, but didn’t they say that every year? Every year was always the hottest summer ever.

Life was normal — not great, but normal. Both girls had summer jobs at the same restaurant — Delta was a hostess, Tanya a server.  

They had both finished high school in June, and were heading off to university in a week. For the first time in their lives, they were going to be apart. Delta was going to stay local, but Tanya was headed for the west coast. This was her second-to-last day of work, then it was “Arrivederci, Hicksville,” and she’d be gone. 

Her parents hadn’t been able to pay for university, let alone the cost of two kids at university. Delta was staying close to home so that she wouldn’t have to pay for accommodation and food, and all the extras that pile up when you move away from home. Tanya, on the other hand, had been working like a fiend since she was fourteen, and had managed to squirrel away enough money so that she didn’t have to take out a student loan — at least for the first year.

It always irked Tanya that her parents — well her dad, more than her mom — hadn’t planned for their daughters’ futures. They weren’t poor by any stretch of the imagination. But they weren’t rolling in it — not like their Grannie Wilkins, their Dad’s mother. But still, think about the future, people. Apparently, their dad had other, more important things to spend money on … like drinking, and gambling, and clothes, and new cars, and well, himself. So, because he never said no to himself, he had to say no to his girls.

Tanya was old enough to know that things weren’t really what they seemed. Their family had problems — didn’t all families? But probably not like theirs, though.

A few years before, when she had first spoken to Delta about the things going on at home, it was like they lived in two different homes. Tanya saw the dysfunction, Delta thought that their family was perfect. That infuriated Tanya.

She knew that their father drank too much. When she tried to talk to Delta about it, Delta just said that everybody drank, and didn’t Daddy deserve a bit of a release? He worked hard, and needed to unwind.

By the time she was fourteen, she also knew that her dad was abusive. First, it was the verbal  Their mom was a gentle soul, one who loved her daughters fiercely, and would stop at nothing to protect them. An unkind word never left her mouth. But, despite that, her father belittled their mother, told her that she was worthless, that marrying her was a mistake. Both girls heard it, but Delta chose to ignore it.

And there were times when her dad had turned his rage on the girls. At first it had been both of them, but Delta had learned to apologize for the imagined slight that their father raged about. Tanya had not. Instead when she was fifteen she had stood up to him and challenged him on his words. The first time that she had spoken out to defend herself, her father had been stunned. Then came the fury. How dare she talk back to her father! Who did she think she was? But it had changed the dynamic. 

Her father was wary of her from that point on, but he didn’t relent. Instead he focussed on her shortcomings, belittling her the way he belittled their mother — trying to wear Tanya down. Her father would complain to her mother — loud enough to make sure Tanya heard — about what a colossal disappointment Tanya was. He even ranted that he wished Tanya had never been born, only Delta.  

Tanya learned to ignore it. And, she made sure that she was either out of the house, or locked in her bedroom when he was home.  

When Tanya had complained to Delta about the things that he said about her, Delta took her father’s side. Tanya was stunned. She and Tanya were twins, the closest bond that two people can have. They had always stood together, although Tanya realized that perhaps she did most of the standing up, and Delta metaphorically and literally hid behind Tanya. But they always presented a united front. Until now. Delta was … was what? Abandoning her? No, not really. But, she wasn’t Team Tanya/Delta anymore. Not only did this confuse Tanya, it hurt her deeply.

Their father’s rage had increased towards their mother. Her mother occasionally had bruises and cuts that she tried to explain away by saying how clumsy she was. Tanya knew better. She had never seen her mother trip or fall or stumble. She was anything but clumsy. If asked to describe her mother she would have said graceful.

Tanya was sixteen the first time she saw her father lay hands on her mother. He’d grabbed her by the arms, and had shaken her like she was a rag doll. Tanya had run in and tried to protect her mom. Her father had pushed her away — the first time he had laid hands on her, as well. Instead of rushing back in, Tanya had run into the kitchen and picked up the wall phone.

“You leave her alone, or I am going to call nine-one-one!”

He had let go of her mom, and taken two steps towards Tanya. Tanya had dialled nine-one, and had her finger poised over the last one.  

“One more step and I hit the last number.”

Her father had stopped dead in his steps. He was a manager at the family business, a pillar of the community. He couldn’t afford the scandal.

Her father had backed down, and had left the house without saying a word. 

“Thank you,” her mother had said. “But please don’t do that again. It’ll only make your father angrier.”

Her mother was a guidance counsellor at the high school — the same high school Tanya and Delta attended. None of them needed the whisper of the scandal that a police report could stir up. But she couldn’t let it go.

“He has no right to treat you this way. You are better than that.”  

Her mother was ashamed, Tanya could tell. 

“You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“No, Mom, he isn’t supposed to do that.”

“I know,” her mother said, “But if he’s focussed on me, he’s not focussed on you.”

“He shouldn’t be focussed on anyone. He needs to stop, or you — we — need to leave.”

Tanya looked up an saw Delta watching from the living room. She had seen the whole thing, and had decided not to help. Tanya realized that Delta would probably tell her dad what Tanya and their mother had said. Tanya’s heart grew a little harder that day.

A couple of weeks before they were supposed start to university, Tanya had asked Delta who she would live with if their parents separated. Their parents seemed to be moving towards a separation.  Their father was abusive, a bully, and always drunk. It was no way to live. The only reason that he still had a job was because it was the family business, and his mother was his boss. He never laid hands on their mother again, at least when the girls were home, but he was still verbally abusive to Tanya and their mom. Their mother had had enough. 

“Daddy, of course.”

Tanya had known that would be her answer.

“Why?”

“Because he needs me.”

That statement struck Tanya cold. Was their father abusing his daughter in another way? She felt nauseous.

“What do you mean he needs you?” asked Tanya, her heart hammering in her chest.

“Well, he’s struggling right now, and if mom left, then who would feed him? Make sure that he had clean clothes? Drive him home from the pub, after, you know, a long night?”

Delta had become their father’s chauffeur in the last year and a half since she had gotten her license. 

“You know,” she continued, “Do everything that Mom should do.”

“Everything?” asked Tanya.

Delta’s face registered slight confusion, then realization dawned on her.

“Eww! Gross! That’s disgusting! Don’t ever say that again. That’s your father you’re talking about! You keep your vile insinuations to yourself! Only a sick mind would think of that!”

The distance between them opened up farther that day.

On the night in question, both girls were working the late shift at the restaurant, and it was close to midnight when they headed home, Delta driving. 

They both knew a chasm now separated them, but both decided to ignore the elephant in the room. They were not as close as they were. In fact, Tanya had begun to think of her sister more of an acquaintance, rather than her twin. They made small talk, a lot — school, their friends, their jobs. There was no more “important” talk. So now they only spoke in generalities.

It had been a busy night, and Tanya had made a killing in tips. On the way home, she had Delta stop at the bank, so she could deposit her money directly. Their father had stolen her tip money before, always saying it was a loan, which was never repaid. Since then she made sure to deposit her tips in the bank before she went home.

The first thing they noticed as they drove towards home was the smell of smoke. The next thing was the emergency vehicles tearing by. Both wondered out loud what was going on. When they turned on to their street, and were horrified to see their house engulfed in flames. They pulled up to the house, and ran towards the flames.

There father was standing on the curb, watching the house burn.

“Daddy!” called Delta, running to him. “Are you okay?”

Tanya scanned the crowd for their mother. Then she noticed the EMTs loading a stretcher into an ambulance. She ran towards them.

“Is that my mom?” she asked them. Neither EMT answered her, they just closed up the back doors, and drove away. They didn’t use their lights.

The night was a blur. Their mother was dead. Their father’s story was that their mother had been drinking, and some how the fire started, and he managed to escape, but mom was too drunk to make it out.

Tanya called bullshit on that story, immediately. Their mother didn’t drink. She believed that someone had to be sober, and she elected herself, because she couldn’t trust her husband.

The autopsy confirmed Tanya’s belief. Her mother had died before the fire started, and a fractured skull was the cause of death.  

Their father changed his story. He said their mother had started the fire, and then had attacked him. He fought back, and had hit her with the fireplace poker. By that time the fire was raging, and he only had time to save himself.

Delta believed him. Tanya certainly did not. Neither did the jury, which sentenced him to fifteen years in prison for the murder of his wife.

*****

Tanya had never spoken to her father again. And now he was dead.

The doorbell chimed.

Leroy must have forgotten his keys, she thought, as she opened the door.

Instead of Leroy, there stood Delta. Tanya started to close the door.

“No! Wait!” she stuck her foot in the door to stop it from closing. “He did it. I know he did it!”

Tanya stopped and looked at her sister. Nineteen years was a long time, and the years had not been good to Delta.  

“He confessed,” she blurted out. “On his deathbed. He told me everything. You were right. He was a murdering son of a bitch. He killed our mother.”

Tanya said nothing.

“You were right,” Delta repeated. “I should have listened to you. You were always right. I’m so sorry for everything that I put you through. Can you forgive me?”

Tanya looked at her twin for a few moments, noting the hope on her face. She opened the door a bit wider,  

“Come on in,” she said.