Chapter 21: Avoidance

Cree Diarmid, despite being the only child of party loving deadbeat parents, and partly due to the input of her Grandpa Luke, has developed into a random but interesting teenager.

She has her father's hazel eyes and her mother's full mouth, long dark hair and fine boned artistic hands. She has a passion for both art and photography and is determined to master both. But Cree has not gone unscathed by the neglect she suffered as a young girl with bouts of neurotic behaviour striking unexpectedly from time to time. She will compulsively check the stove, check the taps, or brush her teeth multiple times, probably a sign of her insecurity. On the other hand she loves blobbing on the couch watching TV for hours at a time, mindless soaps and the cooking channel.

Today is one of those days, where she can't stop brushing her teeth. This is the fourth time she has trekked to the bathroom to check the taps were turned off on the sink and then brush her teeth.

Why the anxiety?

Well, after several stints in assorted SYRUPS Rehab facilities and several years of treatment, Leonie, her mother, is finally home for good.

She's home and she's also looking good, right? But has she really changed? How will she and Cree get along now, given that she has never been much of a mother to Cree before? Will Cree be able to handle her mother's sudden reappearance? Still, everyone deserves a second chance.

(NB: SYRUPS = Severe Yahooing and Repetitive Unremitting Party Syndrome)

Cree handles her mother's reappearance by choosing to do anything rather than be at home. She tries hanging out at the nearby cafe - Koffee and Karaoke. But there are usually only weirdos and elderly people hanging out there.




So she starts hanging out at her school friend Olivia's place. At first Olivia thinks its really great to have Cree over after school, because her parents are still at work.

"Hey let me just do this chemistry homework and I'll be right with you! If I don't do it while it's all fresh in my head, you know, I'll just be blank later and won't have a clue what I'm doing. Have you done yours already Cree? Oh my God you are so good! I guess you're smart and fast at homework because your Dad's a teacher right? It must be so awesome to have a teacher as a Dad AND also a Dad as a teacher of course! Hahaha. We can make hot chocolate and watch SimTV in a bit, I have a stash of cookies somewhere too. I hide them because my brothers and sister always steal them. You're sooooo lucky Cree not having a brother or sister to steal all your stuff. I am sooo jealous! It's great that you can come over here to hang out. We can read magazines and....hey can you put on make up? You always looks so pretty, like you're a real expert. Could you do mine?"

"Umm sure" said Cree. But it took Olivia hours to finish up her chemistry.

 The next day Cree sat patiently while Olivia did calculus.
"Sorry Cree, but I have to get this done. It's so overdue."
"Don't worry" said Cree, who was just happy to sit. She looked around, the house was quite bare she thought. She watched the clock tick by and then she went home.

A few days later Olivia was fighting her way through a history essay.
"Stop staring at me Cree! It's hard enough trying to sort this all out in my head and get it down on paper in some sort of sensible order without you sitting there all up to date with every subject just watching me!"
"Sorry." said Cree, not really knowing what else she could look at. 

The following day when she showed up at Olivia's house, there was no one home. She waited for a while to see if Olivia was just running late. But she didn't show up. Cree called her mobile and left a message. But after that Olivia stopped being home when Cree came around.

In desperation Cree took up jogging after school. She would run a lap around her neighbourhood, which took a couple of hours if she paced herself and stopped every few lamp posts to stretch. but the nights were getting darker and the weather was turning very wet.

Mrs Ogilvie who lived in their old house saw Cree running past a few times and called her over.
"You'll get pneumonia running around in all this weather!" she cautioned.
"I'm okay Mrs Ogilvie. I just hate sitting around at home, you know. I get so bored...."
"Come in, Cree. We can have a nice cup of tea and a chat. Call me Melania....my boys should be home soon. I want you to meet them."
Melania had two sons called Kuyper and Carson who both went to the Dribbledine Sports Academy out of town. She had seen Kuyper around, she recalled.

He had yelled some comment when she twisted her ankle as she was passing their gate, on her way back home from her run. It had sounded like "Have a nice trip, chicky?"  But she had been in too much agony to take any notice.

Cree ended up visiting Melania each afternoon when it was wet, which was better than running in the rain. Melania seemed to like her company, but every day she forced Cree to play chess with her. Cree went along with it for a while, but she hated chess and Melania took it so seriously. Eventually it just got too much to bear. She never did get to meet Kuyper or Carson properly, they seemed to have so many after school activities, they were never home.

One evening as her Grandma was cooking dinner, she was talking about how Jethro had recently retired from his job at the salon.
"I'll never retire!" her Grandma was ranting. "You'll need to put a laptop with me in my grave, because I'll still have the strength to work, you can be sure of that!" she was fond of saying this a lot. But knowing that Jethro would be home a lot more got Cree thinking.

Cree decided to go over and see her Great Uncle after school.

She picked up a box of his favourite strawberry cupcakes from the bakery on her way over to try to sweeten him up. At first he was delighted.
"Oh you sweet girl! How lovely of you to think of your old Uncle. You are so thoughtful my dear! It's been so long since I indulged in something so decadent."
"Well I thought you deserve a treat to celebrate now you're retired Uncle J. And I don't ever come and see you often enough! I really should spend more time over here....don't you think?" Cree tried not to sound too eager.

But Jethro was not fooled.

 "Now Cree," he was suddenly serious and looking at her closely. "What is going on? Don't try to kid your old Uncle now, I've known you since you were a wee tiny baby. I can tell when you're not happy. Is this something to do with your mother coming home?"

This was why Cree loved her Uncle Jethro so much. He just knew how she felt without her having to spell it out to him.

With that, the flood gates opened and Cree told her Uncle everything. Like the good friend that he was, he listened as Cree poured out her anxieties and her feelings.
"Dad is hardly ever home. He's either at the school or playing with his band. Mum is just hanging around the house all the time, she makes me feel uneasy, like she's watching me all the time but she never actually talks to me or asks me what I'm doing. I think she hates me Uncle. I think she blames me for making her sick."
"Hush now girl. Your Mum has had her problems, I won't deny that. But she wouldn't harm you...."
"That's just it Uncle, she doesn't want anything to do with me. Harm or help, she's not interested in me at all. It's like she wishes I had never been born. And I can't be in that house by myself with her, I can feel her hating me."

Jethro sighed, "Cree, she doesn't hate you. But if it helps, you can come over here after school for a few hours on weekdays. I'll let your Grandpa know where you'll be. And tonight you can stay for dinner, I've just made your favourite - Autumn Salad."

Cree sighed with relief, thanked her Great Uncle. While he was on the phone to Luke she grabbed a plate. It was indeed her favourite - and probably only her Uncle Jethro knew that.