“What did your father have to say about it?” Teal asked.
“I don't have a father. Mother darling got pregnant when she was a teenager and my grandparents made her have me as a punishment. They are very religious and we had to live with them. Mother darling's not sure who my father is. The best she can remember is she was at a party where she had sex with three guys.”
“Three in one night?” I asked.
“That's what she claimed.”
“Some mother,” Teal said.
“I didn't exactly have a choice, you know. From the sound of things, you're not that much better off.”
“Yeah, well, at least I'm sure who my father is,” Teal said.
“Doesn't sound like he wants to be your father,” Robin batted back.
“How come you don't get along with your parents?” I asked Teal. Talking at least passed the time and stopped me from thinking about the horrible ride.
“They had me late in their marriage. I was an accident for sure,” she replied bitterly. “I have a brother who's much older and he's by far the favorite. He works with my father in his business. No one had any patience for me. I'm sure they're just as happy to get rid of me as Robin's mother was to get rid of her.”
“She'll be sorry,” Robin swore. “If she ever does become famous, I'll tell the world how Mother darling treated me.”
“Why do you call her 'Mother darling'?” Teal asked.
“Just to annoy her. You've heard of Mommie Dearest, right?”
“Yeah,” Teal said so vaguely I was sure she hadn't. I hadn't but I didn't say so. What difference did it make? I thought.
“My daddy wouldn't have put up with this,” I told them. “He was hoping to take me back as soon as he got himself a position where he didn't have to be on the road all the time.”
“Sure he was,” Teal said.
“He was!” I insisted. “If he didn't get himself killed, my aunt and uncle would never dare to do something like this to me.”
“What about your mother?” Robin asked.
I told her about how she had deserted us in Atlantaand how I had gone looking for her in hopes of our starting a new life.
“Get real, girl,” Teal said. “Those kinds of dreams are for girls who still believe in the tooth fairy.”
“I'll choose my own dreams, thank you,” I said, but not with a great deal of confidence.
They were both quiet for a while, thinking. I guess in our secret heart of hearts, we were all longing for someone who would care enough about us to keep such cruel things from happening to us. Those kinds of people were just impossible to find for the three of us, I thought.
The van continued to ride over smoother roads. After a while, especially because of all we had already been through, the monotonous sound of the engine and the squeaks and moans in the metal were hypnotizing. We were all having a hard time keeping ourselves awake.
“I'm tired,” Robin said. “I can't believe how tired I am. I feel like I just went through a torture chamber.”
“I hate to think what awaits us at Dr. Foreman's funny farm,” Teal said.
We were all silent again, each of us thinking about that, I'm sure. I know I managed to drift off for a while, but when I woke, I was sore and achy all over. I heard the other two rustling about. Finally, we felt the van turn sharply, speed up, bounce hard, then come to a stop. I didn't know about the other two, but I was sweating so much, I thought I would slide out of the van.
The door was opened and we saw a pole light shedding illumination on what looked like a gravel driveway. M'Lady One was there at the opened doors.
“Get out,” she ordered.
We crawled to the doorway and climbed out of thevan. Across from us was a long, two-story, pitch-roofed, pink-stucco Spanish colonial house with an upper-level, full-length porch. The railings looked quite fancy. I could see the six doors that opened onto the porch. I imagined each one opened onto a room, and I hoped each of us was to have one of those rooms. All I could think of was dropping my head on a pillow and curling up on a soft mattress.
“All right, follow us,” M'Lady One ordered. “This way.” She started around the van.
Why weren't we going directly into the house? I wondered. We were all so tired. Surely they were tired, too. There just couldn't be more to this orientation. The three of us stumbled after them. Robin kept looking from side to side like someone who wanted to break loose and run, but all I could see through the darkness was a corral, another barn, and a large shed. There was no road and there were definitely no other houses anywhere nearby. There were no cars going past and no sign of any road. Just a mountain range in the distance, silhouetted against the blue black sky, now dazzling with stars.
Where were we exactly? I had no sense of direction, but because of how long it had taken me to get here by plane and van, I was sure I was at least halfway across the country. It was a frightening thought, to realize I was so far from anywhere and anyone I knew. Vaguely, I wondered what my old friends were doing at this moment. I envied them for being asleep in their own beds. I even envied the ones I knew shared beds with younger brothers or sisters.
We were directed off to the right and brought to what was outside showers. There were no stalls, just three showerheads over a concrete floor.
“Get
