19. Chapter 19 #2
Bec’s smile vanished. “Mom and Dad are free spirits. They live on about ten acres of land, mostly subsistence farming.”
Mila hinted that Bec’s childhood hadn’t been the best. I looked over her head at Danzig. He nodded his head, he wanted to know more also.
“Was that a hard life?” I asked.
“In some ways,” she said. “Mom and Dad built our house, and it wasn’t well insulated.
Winters were hard and by the end of them, we wouldn’t have much food left.
I hated spring because I associated it with being cold and hungry.
The moment Mila was old enough to drive, she would bring us food several times a week during the winter months.
She’d also invite me to spend a lot of the winter bunking in her room.
As much as I wanted to stay with her all winter, my parents were worried staying with her would corrupt my chi. ”
I blinked. “Your chi? As in the Chinese philosophy of lifeforce energy?”
She nodded. “Yeah, they had a very strong belief that electricity was destroying people's bodies and souls. I was lucky that I almost never got sick because they didn’t believe in doctors or modern medicine.”
“That sounds almost abusive,” I said.
“In some ways. But they were also really wonderful,” she said.
“They encouraged me to be creative. No matter what grade I brought home, they told me they were proud of me. Every wall in the cabin was covered in books, and we would take turns reading out loud at night. There were some good times, but there was also a lot of discomfort and food insecurity.”
“Tell us about it,” Danzig requested. “If you want to.”
She gave a little shrug. “It’s not a big secret or anything.
Their only source of income was from selling handcrafts and produce, and it was never much.
There were weeks we couldn’t drive the ancient truck we had because there was no money for gas.
Other times we’d eat nothing but yams because that was what was ripe.
Both my parents are really tall. Dad is about six foot two, and Mom is almost that tall, but I’m only five foot three inches.
I honestly think it has to do with malnutrition when I was growing up. ”
I could feel that my brother was as upset as I was.
Our entire childhood had been nearly perfect.
Mom made sure we had everything we needed when we were tiny serpents.
Later, when we learned to shift into our human form, she took us on a tour of the world.
Even when there was danger, we rarely knew about it because Mom was so good at being far scarier than anything else.
We ate as much as we wanted. We experienced, learned, and enjoyed life under the care of Mom. It was hard for me to imagine a parent being perfectly fine with feeding their child a paltry amount of food.
I wanted to find Bec’s parents and shake them for making life so hard for their daughter. I knew that wouldn’t be an acceptable thing to say, so I kept quiet.
“I can feel you guys are upset about it,” Bec said.
“Don’t be. Everything changed when I got to school.
Well, not right away. At first, I hated school.
My clothing was always dirty because washing without a machine was time-consuming and a lot of work.
Same with taking baths with no hot water heater.
The other kids called me stinky. All of that changed when I got to fifth grade. ”
“What changed?” Danzig asked.
“Mila,” Bec said with a chuckle. “She shoved my bully to the ground and adopted me as her friend.”
I thought about how protective Danzig was of me, and me of him. “Did you have any brothers or sisters?”
“No. It was lonely, but it was probably for the best. After Mila became my friend, I kinda got adopted by the rest of her siblings as one of them.” She smiled at the memories.
“I loved the way they all had clothes that fit, electricity in their house, hot water in their bathroom, and all kinds of machines that made everything easy. My first experience with a microwave was mind-blowing!”
“I agree, microwaves have been one of the best things ever invented,” I said.
“Even though my parents didn’t approve, I spent as much time at Mila’s house as I could,” she said. “I don’t think Mila realizes how much she saved me back then. She was the one who encouraged me to go to college and later to law school.”
“How did your parents feel about you becoming a lawyer?” Danzig asked.
“Disappointed,” she said, blinking rapidly. “They weren’t happy about college, but they understood how much I loved learning. When they found out about law school, they didn’t talk to me for several years.”
“That had to have been hard,” I said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
She let out a long sigh and leaned her head against me.
“Actually, I was relieved. The relief made me feel guilty as hell. For two and half years, I didn’t have to hear them lecture me about the evil of microwaves, Chinese food, or deodorant.
Except for being worried that they might be hurt, it was amazing. ”
“What do you mean that you worried about them being hurt?” Danzig asked.
“First, I have to explain that Mom didn’t think she could get pregnant.
When she realized she was, she never saw a doctor or had a checkup.
I was born on Mom’s forty-seventh birthday and they had me at home, with a neighbor acting as a midwife.
Honestly, now that I know all the things that could’ve gone wrong, I’m amazed everything worked out so well.
” She shuddered. “When Em was born early and couldn’t breathe well, she had to be in the NICU for several weeks.
If that had been me, I wouldn’t have survived. ”
I fought my temper. “I’ll be forever grateful that nothing went wrong.”
“Same,” Danzig said. “I can’t imagine a world without you in it.”
She gave us a half smile. “Anyway, all of that was to demonstrate how anti-doctor and anti-hospital they are. They’ve been lucky that nothing serious has ever gone wrong with their health, but they’re both in their seventies. One fall could be disastrous.”
“We could help,” I offered. I wasn’t sure how, but there had to be some way to make sure her parents were looked after.
“No need. I hired their neighbor’s son to go over and help them three times a week,” Bec said.
“They think he’s doing it for a share of their crop, but they never seem to notice that he doesn’t collect anything.
Anyway, he calls me every couple of weeks to tell me how it’s going.
At least they’re always happy. I don’t know what I’m going to do when he leaves for college next year. ”
“We’ll find someone else,” Danzig said.
She patted his leg. “It’s my problem, not yours.”
“You’re wrong,” I said. “It’s our problem.”
She shook her head, so Danzig added. “If our mom was ill, would you say we were on our own?”
“Of course not,” she said, and her pat to his leg turned into a slap. “I hate that you used logic against me. It’s not fair.”
Danzig grabbed his leg, pretending to be in pain. “Why would you hurt me like that!”
She snorted out a laugh and relaxed again. “You’re an adorable drama serpent.”
I barked out a laugh, and Danzig shot me a frown. “That is not my new nickname.”
“Sure, sure,” I agreed. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone in the Lobo Gris pack!