From start to finish, she never noticed the padlock on the freezer. She never once opened it.
An hour later.
The front door swung open and my brother came barreling in.
He was wearing a pair of light-up sneakers, running back and forth in front of Grandmother.
"Grandma, look! Aren't my shoes cool?"
"So cool. My handsome grandson looks good in everything." Grandmother gazed at him, her face soft with adoration.
Light-up sneakers. I'd mentioned those to Mom once.
She beat me for it.
"If it weren't for your school subsidies, you think I'd even let you go to school?"
"I gave you a chance to make something of yourself, and instead of studying hard, you learned how to be jealous of what other kids have."
I never brought it up again.
But when my brother mentioned something he wanted, even in passing, they remembered. They always remembered.
Everything Herbert wanted, he got without effort.
Everything I wanted stayed a dream.
Because I was just a bucket of water, destined to be poured out sooner or later.
Herbert was the bloodline of this family. The only heir.
"Lisa, where's Kate? I haven't seen her."
"Her? Probably still off somewhere sulking. She hasn't come back!"
Slap!