Ditching Duties

            Even with a newborn in the household, time steadily dragged on through monotony, barely letting me clutch a thing. I had plenty of nothing to distract me in finding those words to describe my life. Oh, how tragic it all was!

            Odessa woke us up often. Aspen complained, calling her a stinky butt, and all I could do was roll my eyes. Did she think she was any better as a baby?

            Aspen was quickly becoming a teenager though, always on the phone, so I didn’t bring up any similarities. Teens didn’t care about anything but themselves. And phones. She ditched her strange stuffed animal for texting.

            She still cleaned and did homework without being asked.

            Aspen spent less and less time inside the smelly cramped shed. I couldn’t blame her. She reasoned that she just really enjoyed the outdoors, so I decided to put a light by the front door. Maybe she wouldn’t go blind from straining her eyes then. I didn’t want to get stuck taking care of a blind daughter the rest of my ho-hum life.

            I got the light up none too early. Despite not having high hopes for her, I still wanted a good look at the person I’d created.

            I was right to not expect much. I almost felt sorry for her; she was turning out worse than me, and that was really saying something. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Neither had I though.

            Aspen set to work caring for her sister right away, while I went to bed.

            This became a reoccurring theme. Teenagers turned out to be the best thing in the world! Besides money and fame that is.

            Stuck on maternity leave and not having to get my hands dirty with the baby that put me there gave me a lot of free time. I read romance novels that were more like smut. In all the filthy scenes, I pictured my real self and Darnell (or Dean).

            That made it hard for me to turn the pages though. He still hadn’t called. Perhaps he’d simply lost my number.

            I had worries that he would never show up again, and that I would die alone. Those needed to be pushed aside though. I would show that witch that I had found true love even in the hideous curse she put upon me!