Page 6 of Conri

Cynthia searched the entire house for her sister.The little bitch was dating when she told her that she wasn’t to do that until she’d dated them first.And if she thought that she was going to be all right with her running off like she did, then Cynthia was going to show her a thing or two about that as well.

She didn’t like that everyone thought that Cass was prettier than her.She didn’t see it.Her sister was so plain that she just didn’t even think of her as passing nice looking.Cass didn’t care if she had freckles all over her face, nor did she ever go and have her hair done up into a nice style.Her sister was just painfully plain.And she didn’t like her.

Ever since she’d been fourteen, Cynthia had been the center of attention.She’d gotten her boobs early and didn’t have any trouble using them with the boys to get them to like her.Cass had been born about the time she was able to get out on her own at sixteen, and it had been a competition since in getting boys and now men to look at her.Not that Cass cared if they looked at her.No, she was more into playing chess with their father and mucking out stalls around the ranch.

Once, she’d caught her hosing off at the stalls outdoors and had about fifty men watching her.Not really that many, but it seemed like it to her.Cynthia put a stop to that right then and there by going to her daddy and making it so that Cass no longer worked in the stalls.That was the first of many things that she put a stop to concerning her little sister.And now she was flaunting dating in her face.

Looking in the mirror in the front hall, Cynthia could see that she was beginning to look her age.Forty wasn’t anything that she could do anything about, but she’d not been married yet, and no suitors were coming to the door anymore just for her.And even though she’d never had a child to term, her body was beginning to look out of shape in places that she didn’t care for.

She had saggy upper arms.Her thighs were full of cellulite, and no matter how tight her pants or stockings were, she couldn’t hide it from anyone anymore.She also had a floppy neck.Chicken neck, one of her now no longer friends told her.While she was beginning to look like a forty-year-old single woman, her sister was at the prime of her life and didn’t seem to be getting anything that she had when she turned twenty-four.

Reduced to calling her, she wasn’t surprised that she’d not answered her phone.Pulling out her list of things that she’d done to piss her off today, Cynthia wrote down that she was to answer her phone when she called.It was mandatory for her to be able to speak to her at all times.

“Daddy will take my side on this.Her leaving the house is a big no-no, too.How am I supposed to keep track of her if she’s not here?”Mother came into the room she was in, and Cynthia told her to go away.“I’m busy doing things in here, Mother, and you’re not helpful with me concerning Cass.”

“Why don’t you leave her alone, Cynthia?She’s a grown woman and knows her own mind.If she wants to date everyone in the county, that’s no concern to you.”She told her that she didn’t understand what her dating could do to her.“Nothing.You wouldn’t be dating the men that she does anyway because she’s so much younger than you are.”

“What a nasty thing to say to me.I’m just as pretty as she is.More so, actually.She won’t even put on blush when she goes out.Or lipstick.How do men even find that to be appealing?”Mother asked her who knew the minds of men nowadays.“I do.And she’s not going to go out with men that might want to date me instead.I’m the oldest, and if she thinks I’m going to be all right with her taking over my dating pool, then she’d better be careful that I don’t ruin that ugly face of hers.”

“Cynthia Jane Warmer.What a terrible thing to say about your own flesh and blood.You should be ashamed of yourself.”She told her that she wasn’t and that if Cass decided to go against her, she’d teach her not to cross her.“I just don’t understand you at all anymore.You’re one argument away from having a stroke the way that you’re acting.You don’t want to go back to that home, do you?”

“No, never, and you’d better watch yourself, too, mother.I’m not so sure that you’re not going to be on my list of things that I have my daddy take care of for me.”She asked her why she thought that her husband would do anything against her.“Because I’ll tell him what I want, and he’ll do it for me because he loves me more than he does you.You’ll see.I’ll have you both in trouble if you don’t watch it.”

Mother left her there without another word.It was just as well; she didn’t want her around anymore anyway.Mother was forever telling everyone how old she was, and it was reflecting badly on her to know that her mom was in her sixties.Howie was still in his twenties—he’d just turned twenty-nine a few weeks ago.It was bad enough that her father had this brain tumor thing and was taking all the attention from her anyway.Now, her mother was acting up.She decided to call Howie to find out what he was going to do about Cass dating.

After telling him everything on her list, she asked him which ones she could cross off that he was going to take care of for her.He blustered around for a few minutes, trying like her mother did to figure out why she’d care about what their little sister was doing.

“Because she’s annoying me to no end.This whole dating thing has to stop, and you should be upset, too.”He asked her why, as if he couldn’t figure it out on his own.“You’ll see what is going to happen.I’m going to have to take charge of her, just as I should have done when she was born.Mother has let her get by with too much, and now my daddy is going to have to take her on to keep her in line.I have rules.Rules that she’s breaking.”

“You see, that’s where we differ.I don’t care who she dates, and it has no effect on me whatsoever.So long as we’re not dating the same person, I’m fine with her—” She told him not to be disgusting.“I’m just saying, Cynthia, you should be finding yourself a husband and leave her to her own self.There is nothing to be done about her dating, and I hope she finds someone that treats her right.”

“You bastard.Why is it just me who has to do everything?Well, there’s no hope for it.I’m going to have to get into her business and make sure that she’s not doing anything to harm me.She will, too, just because I told her not to do it.”Howie asked her if she was off her meds again.“I don’t take those anymore.I’m better without them.Besides, that’s nothing to do with Cass.She’s behaving badly, and it’s reflecting back on me.”

“You’re insane.Again.I’m going to call Mom and Dad and let them know that you’re not taking your meds.You were told not to stop taking them about fifteen years ago when you had that episode.Remember that?They had to lock you into one of those homes.”She said that they were wrong to do that to her.“It saved your life, didn’t it.”

“I was just fine.And I don’t know what you’re talking about saving my life.I was doing things that needed to be done, and I was getting them done when I was taken to that home.”Howie told her that she really did need to get back on her meds.“I’m not going to spend the rest of my life doped up because some quack said I was mentally insane.”

“He didn’t say that.He never said you were insane.He said you have a chemical imbalance, and when you’re on your medications, you do better with everything.You’re not thinking well, and that’s going to get you into trouble again.”She hung up on him.He wasn’t making any sense when she was talking about her sister, and he was going on about meds.She didn’t need them for the first time in years.She was thinking right.

“He’d better not tell Daddy either.I’ll show him how all right I am if he does.”She tried to call Cass again and when some man answered.“Who is this, and what have you done with my sister?”

“Nothing.She’s having a nice dinner with me.”She screamed at him.“You must be the older sister that I’ve been hearing about.You might as well get used to the idea of the two of us seeing one another.She’s my mate.”

“I don’t care what she thinks she is to you.You’ll be dating me first.And if I decide that you’re not good enough for me, which I’m thinking right now isn’t going to happen.I’ll allow her to date you.But just because she’s broken the rules, I’m going to marry your ass and see how that goes with her.I’m her boss.”He laughed.“What do you find so funny?Nothing that I don’t approve of either, I’massuming.”

“Your dad approves, so I’m not worried about you.”She asked him what he’d done with her daddy.“He’s having dinner with us right now.Never have I seen a man enjoy a shake and French fries like he does.I’m guessing you don’t approve of him having a good dinner with me, either.Well, Cindy, you’re in for a lot of things not going your way in the future if I have anything to say about it.”She screamed again, this time right into the phone.

“You put my daddy on the line right now, you idiot, so that I can have a private conversation with him.”He said he’d put it on speaker.“You’ll do as I tell you, or so help me, I’ll ruin your fat face.Then who would date you?No one, including my sister.Better yet, let me talk to her.I have a few things that I need to tell her about right now.”

“No.”

She waited for him to say that he was joking or to at least put her sister on the phone.But he didn’t say anything at all for several seconds.When she told him again, the line went dead, and she couldn’t believe what was going on with her family right now.Someone had actually hung up on her when she was trying her best to do right by them.

“I’m going to kill them all.Starting with that man.”She realized that she hadn’t gotten his name and was pissed about that too.Holding her head, she needed to lie down or be sick again before she dealt with anyone else in her family.They were all getting on her last nerve.

Her room was a mess.She’d had a temper tantrum earlier when one of her new dresses didn’t fit her.They’d either given her the wrong size or something.Now, every article of clothing was lying on her floor, and a couple of drawers had been pulled out and emptied and scattered all over the room.Christ, she hated messes but was too sick to be able to find someone to take care of it now.

As soon as she laid down, she had to rush to the bathroom.It wasn’t her lack of meds that was making her feel this way, but the anger she had toward her family.Throwing up several times, most of it bile, she crawled through her room’s mess and laid on the rug that was by her bed.She couldn’t get up another time.

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