Chapter 7 - Gen 2 - part 1 - Tapestry

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My Mother always laughs at me, she says I'm just like my Dad, I take my moods out on the piano keys, and I suppose that is exactly what I'm doing right now.  I need something to take my frustration out on after the night I've just had to endure.  I'm playing with anger and the piano keys are taking quite a bashing.

After a very long night in a police cell with no sleep, having to listen to drunks yelling and cell doors clanking shut over and over all night long, Forrest in a nearby cell shouting abuse at me until they moved him to I don't know where.  The cell itself was awful, for company all I had was just a thin smelly mattress on a metal frame that they called a bed and a toilet that smelt like it hadn't been cleaned in months.  I spent the whole night sitting on the cold floor staring at the door, while I listened to the none stop racket, waiting for it to open and for them to let me out.  The whole experience was awful and I really don't want to have to go through that again.

What made it worse was knowing that after only a few hours Sunny had been and collected Maize and Carmine, Alpine had collected Cinnamon, but me, I was just left there all night by my parents.  Left to rot for all they cared, while I worried myself silly over Mosaic and Strawberry, not knowing how they were, that was the most frustrating part of it all.

If leaving me there all night was Dad's way of teaching me a lesson I'm really not sure what lesson he is expecting me to learn from it!!

I knew it wouldn't take long before my piano playing caught his attention, I heard the door open but I don't look up because I know exactly who it is going to be.

"So they let you out of the cells then!!"  I heard Dad's voice behind me "Have they charge you with anything??"  I ignore him and carry on playing hitting the keys a little harder than I was before. 

"Tapestry stop that!!"  when I carry on ignoring him, he grabs my arm pulling my one hand away from the piano keys.  "You are going to hurt yourself if you don't break the piano first!!"

"Like you care if I hurt myself!!!!"  I shout at him as I stand up, knocking the piano stool flying.  Without another word I walk out of the room slamming the door behind me.

I went up to the kitchen to make myself a drink.  I am a little surprised that the house seems to be empty, I can't hear or see anyone else around and I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that I wouldn't be alone for long and that Dad would follow me.  I just know I have another one of his stupid long lectures coming!!!   He made himself a drink and sat down oposite me at the table, at first he didn't say anything he just sat there looking at me over the top of his mug as he drank his coffee.

"Why did you just leave me there all night?!"  I asked him angrily  "Sunny and Alpine collected their sons - so why didn't you??"

"Besides being in theatre trying to clean up your mess - I'm done making excuses for you Tapestry, I'm tired of trying to protect you when you never listen."  he says as he puts his mug down on the table.  "Its about time you start to suffer the consequences of your own actions, I thought a night in the cells might make you think a little!!"  He crossed his arms across his chest and sat there looking at me, I'm not sure if he is waiting for me to respond, but I don't  "You obviously don't want to listen to anything we tell you, which is only ever for your own good - maybe the only way that you will ever learn is the hard way!!"

He picked up his cup and started drinking again, I don't say anything, I don't trust myself to.   "You know you are damn lucky you are not in the same boat as Forrest right now, you fractured Pines skull with that rock, you made a right mess of his head, you smashed his skull like an eggshell, I know I was the one in theatre who had to fix it!!!  You are very lucky it didn't fade him, a head injury like that would have finished many people off!!!!"   I look up at him, fudge!!  I didn't think I'd hit him that hard - did I?!   Well I hope his head hurts, payback for stabbing Mosaic!!  "and you haven't even bothered to ask how your brother is!!"

"I know how he is, he's fine!!"  I replied without looking at him   "I spoke to Coral earlier, she told me they removed the knife in surgery and he will have no lasting damage other than a nasty scar ...... happy now??!!"

"No I'm not happy ..... I'm far from happy ..... you shouldn't have put your brother and everyone else in that situation in the first place!!!"

"ME!!!  It wasn't my idea, I hope Mosaic told you the meadow was his and Carmines brain storm, not mine!!  I didn't want to do it - I only went because he was so dead set on going with or without me - I couldn't stop him!!"

He knew all this, he knows that for once I was not the ring leader, Mosaic was,  he knows that I prevented Coral, Juniper and Honey from getting involved, but still that doesn't get me off the hook ..... he still blames me for it.

The revenge attack yesterday I could have stopped it, I am the only one who knew first hand just how dangerous the Freeze kids could be, I was there with Storm, I knew they would possibly have knives, I knew what kind of people they are and how they fight - but still I let my brother and 'friends' all go ahead and walk into a very dangerous situation that none of them were prepared for - a situation that could have ended in another fatality - if I'd hit Pine just a little bit harder - if one of Strawberry's broken ribs had punctured a lung - if that knife had gone into Mosaic a few inches to the left or lower, it could be a whole different story today, it might not have been just Storm we were mourning ......

..... and why was any of this happening in the first place ..... because of me ..... because of my inability to listen.  Stay away from Fern, that's all that they asked of me - but I didn't.

All of this boils down to me and my actions - and while everyone around me gets hurt or worse - I walk away unharmed and I am still none the wiser to all the problems that my actions cause.

"Go take your medication, there is something else we need to talk about!!"  he says as he stands up, picking up both of our mugs then starts to wash them in the sink. "You also need to take a shower - you stink!!"

Walking out of the kitchen I only get as far as the top of the basement stairs.  That's when I heard the strange crying noise, at first I don't know what the noise is, it sounded a little like a cat, but the noise is coming from inside the house and I'm curious to know what it is so I followed it.

As I get closer to it I realized it sounded like a baby crying.  As soon as I walk into the nursery, which is where I follow the noise to, I can see the tiny baby lying in one of the cots.  I didn't even know that Cotton has come home - I wander when that happened?

She keeps on crying and nobody seems to be coming.  I know that Dad is in the bathroom and I have no idea where anyone else is, I suspect that there is only me and Dad home because the house seems pretty quiet and deserted, I guess they might be at the hospital with Mosaic.

Dad is busy so that only leaves me, I pick Cotton up out of her cot.  Even though I'm holding her she still carries on crying, at first I'm a little nervous, I've never held a baby before, a little scared that I might drop her, she's so tiny I'm also scared I might hurt her if I hold her wrong.  After a few minutes of holding her close to me she stops crying.

I hold my little sister up to look at her as I bounce her up and down, I remember watching Uncle Mulberry doing that to my cousin Blueberry when he was a baby.  Suddenly she let out a really loud belch which makes me laugh.

"Ewww somebody has got no manners!!!"  I say out loud which makes Cotton laugh, well I think it is a laugh, it is a funny baby noise anyway.  "You don't want Dad to hear you belching like that - I'll let you into a little secret shall I, he's a bit of stuffed shirt as you will find out!!"  she seems to like me talking to her, she keeps letting out what sound like little giggles.

I start to feel very tired, remembering I've had no sleep all night, I needed to sit down at least.  I look down at the baby in my arms who seems to be smiling back at me, she seems quite happy for me to be holding her, I'm just about to put her back into the cot when it suddenly doesn't feel right to just put her back in that big cot and leave her in here all on her own, so I decided to take her with me down to my room..

I sat down in the rocking chair with her and we start rocking.  She seemed to like it, she lay there quite happily gurgling away so I carried on rocking the chair and I let my mind wander.  Chewing over in my head what Dad had been saying, then I start to think about Storm and his funeral that is coming up at the end of the week that I'm really not looking forward to.  I am still waiting for someone to actually stand up and point the finger at me and say that Storm faded because of me, it's my fault he's gone, he faded trying to protect me ....

Suddenly the door burst open and Dad came in looking very panicked.  He stood there just staring at me for a moment as the expression on his face changed from panic to anger.

"Now What the Fudge do you think you are playing at??!!"  My Dad shouts at me, he looks pretty pissed!!  Berry - I just heard him swear, I've never heard him swear before, at least not directly at me.  "What are you doing with Cotton??!!"  he snapped.  I didn't like the way he is looking at me its like he doesn't trust me with her, I wouldn't even put it past him to think that I might intentionally hurt her.

"We were just rocking, she likes it - she was crying so I picked her up."  He took her out of my arms carefully and started walking out of my room with her  "You ...... come with me!!"  he said as he got to the door, so I followed him, wandering what has got his knickers in a knot now!!??

We didn't go far, I follow him into the music room, next door to my room and he placed Cotton in the cot that has always lived in the corner of the room.  My old cot, as apparently the music room used to be my room when I was a toddler.  I noticed that the cot has had all new sheets put on it, for as long as I can remember it has only ever had a bare plastic mattress in it.

After settling Cotton down he turned on me.

"I don't want you touching her again, do you hear me!!"   he shouts at me quite angrily "She is not a doll that you can just pick up, take off and play with!!"

"I do know ..... I'm not stupid!!"  I snapped back at him

"You can't just take off with her without telling anyone!!!" boy he really is mad  "She was supposed to be in her cot in the nursery, I look and she's vanished, what do you think that did to me?!  You scared me half to death I thought someone had snatched her!!"

"Sorry, I didn't think."

"No you never do think .. do you Tapestry ... that's your problem ... you do what you want, when you want, you never think about how it might affect other people!!!"

 I had scared him half to death, he had gone to use the bathroom and when he went to check on Cotton she was gone.   After everything that has been going on lately, he thought the worst, he even went as far as to think that one of the Freeze kids might have come in and snatched her.  He also thinks I'm not responsible enough to look after her and especially not wander around the house with her, he thinks I'll put her down somewhere get distracted and forget about her.

"Just another perfect example of what I was saying to you only 10 minutes ago, you just picked her up and wandered off with her without even thinking ........ and didn't I tell you to get a shower and take your medication!!!"  he is now getting really angry

"I forgot!!"  and I had, I'd been distracted by Cotton crying, that's how easy it is for me to forget what I'm supposed to be doing .... and I suppose I can see his point when he says I am not responsible enough to be wandering around with the baby.  He took me by the arm and marched me too the bathroom door.  "Now get a shower, and hurry up, I haven't finished with you yet!!"

When I walk back into my room I didn't expect Dad to already be in there, dressed and stood holding my medication tub in his hand.  "You've been in my bag!!"  I snap at him, he knows I hate it, so why does he always keep on doing it?!

"Don't even go there with that one again Tapestry!!"  he says as he thrusts the tub in my hand looking a little irritated.  "Now take them - I'm going to spend the rest of my life baby sitting you - aren't I!!"

"What's going on with you and Fern??"  he asked as I went to fetch some water.  I told him that we had broke up so he could keep his hair on, that I wouldn't be seeing her anymore.  "Good I suppose that's one thing, as long as you stick to it, and I hope you do for Honey's sake!!"  I frown at him, wandering why he should mention Honey, would he know already that Honey is now my girlfriend instead of Fern?! 

"How old are you??"  he asked me, I nearly choked on the tablets I'm trying to swallow - what sort of question is that to ask me - he's my Dad - he should know!!

"You know how old I am!!"

"Yes I do - not old enough or mature enough to be getting "naked and horizontal" with Honey!!!"  Fudge!!  Now I'm in for it!!!  How on earth would he even know what me and Honey have done?  I'm spitting water everywhere as I'm choking, the tablets getting stuck in my throat.  "I take it I'm not misunderstanding what you kids mean by "naked and horizontal!!"  I could deny it but what is the point, he'll just go on until he gets the truth out of me and I don't know how he found out, I shake my head as I try to sort myself out.

"How do you know?"  I snap at him, I'm already on the defensive because I know he's going to be angry and I'm waiting for him to explode.  "Who told you?!"

"They didn't know I was stood behind them, at the hospital, I over heard your brother and sister having a right giggle about it - although I don't find it the least bit funny!!"  Yeah I bet you don't!!!  "I doubt Sunny will find it funny either!!"  OH NO!!!

"You can't tell him - Dad Please don't - he'll fade me!!!"  I remember watching Sunny chasing Parsley round for hours because he had caught Strawberry and Parsley doing things he said they shouldn't have been.  Sunny is very protective over his daughters. 

"I might have to tell him ..... it depends ..... on if you've been taking precautions or not."

Fudge!! ......... precautions!!  My mind starts spinning ....... we didn't.

"Well did you?"

"I .....errr ........"  he's going to kill me!!!  I stay silent and just look down, the word 'no' is stuck to my tongue, I'm too scared to let it out.  It isn't like we planned to do it, it just happened and taking precautions was the last thing on my mind, in fact, it never even crossed my mind, before or since.

"I take it by your silence you didn't take any precautions!"  I just shook my head  "Oh Tapestry!!"  he put his head in his hands  "You didn't take precautions - why does that not surprise me?! .... this is just exactly what you would do!!  Sod the consequences!!!  Just proving you are not mature enough to be playing adult games!!"

I sit silently saying nothing - what can I say?!  I am actually amazed that he is keeping calm, I would have expected him to have gone off on one by now.

"How many times have you and me had this particular conversation about taking precautions?"  he asks me, I shrug my shoulders  "Too many times and obviously you haven't listened to one of them!!  Have you!!??"  I couldn't look at him, my head is spinning  "You I would expect it from, but Honey, I'm surprised at Honey, I thought she was a sensible girl!!"

"So who have you been sleeping with? Is this just Honey or Fern too?"

"Just Honey and I doubt anything will happen it was just once."

"Once is all it takes ..... you idiot ..... have you not listened to anything I've said to you!!"

That is when he started going off on one.  Yelling at me - I knew he wouldn't be able to keep calm forever.  I shut my head off to his yelling like I usually do, it's the only way that I can cope without retaliating.

"You are an idiot!!"  he slapped me around the head bringing me back to listening to what he is saying  "....... For berry sake you can't even look after yourself - how on berry's earth do you think you are going to look after a baby - there is no hope!!  Its a disaster waiting to happen with your condition and problems, how many times have I tried to drum this into your stupid head??!!"

"You really want to hope Honey isn't pregnant!!"  he says as he stands up just before he walks out of the room  "Because that is going to be one mess that I can't and won't tidy up for you!!" he put his hand on the door  "I said earlier you are going to have to learn the hard way, the same applies to this - don't ask me for any help - because you won't be getting any!!"

He walked out of the room slamming the door pretty hard. 

Honey - Pregnant??!!

Something else that has not even crossed my mind.

Oh Fudge!!!

The door opens and Dad's angry face looks around it   "Oh and you are grounded for the rest of your life!!" he said just before he slams the door again.

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