Sissy - Part 1

I could hear my Sissy screaming from the dimly lit parlor of our shotgun house. I wanted to get up out of my bed and peek between the cracks of my bedroom door to see what was going on to elicit such piercing screams. In between her hacking coughs I could hear Grandmaw Hanny demanding my Sissy to be quiet.

"Hush up all dere hollin gal!" Grandmaw growled.

My legs would not move. I sat upright in my bed and swallowed hard trying to prepare myself to muster up the strength to just swing the leg closest to the floor over my worn out mattress, but I was too afraid.

"Grandmaw, please... I..."

My Sissy gasped, but she was unable to complete her sentence.

Without a second thought I bolted out of my bed and scampered to my bedroom door. I held my breath and slowly moved up to an open crack I could see through. I saw my Sissy lying on the floor. Her legs were gaped wide open and her nightgown pulled up to her chest. Sheets and towels were everywhere and a huge pot sat near where Grandmaw kneeled. What was Grandmaw doing between my Sissy legs?

"Push, gal, push!" Grandmaw Hanny ordered.

My Sissy screamed so loud. I closed my eyes tight and covered my ears even tighter. I licked my dry lips and they tasted of warm salt water. I opened my eyes and slowly slid my hands down to my face and began to wipe away the tears. For a few minutes, there was complete silence. I leaned against the door and once more looked through the crack. My Sissy was just lying still on the floor. Was she dead? Then suddenly the dead silence was broken by labored yelps. My 10-year-old mind was trying to grasp what was happening. My thoughts were scattered and I was confused as I continued to peer through the door cracks. Grandmaw Hanny slowly stood up. She held something in her hands. I strained to see what she was holding.

"Grandmaw, let me see... let me see my baby."

I covered my mouth to hold in my own gasp from shock.

My Sissy once again pleaded, "Grandmaw please, can I hold my baby?"

Granmaw Hanny said nothing, she just stared at my Sissy. The labored yelps soon turned into cries of distress. Granmaw did nothing to comfort the tiny being she held in her hands.

I was startled from a door slamming and a gust of cold air rushing from the bottom of my bedroom door assaulting my bare feet. I heard a familiar thud and slide gait. It was Grandpaw Leroy. He had what looked to be some sort of box in his hand. My Sissy desperately attempted to get up from the floor, but she was too weak and she cowered in pain as Grandmaw stared at her with utter disdain.

"Grandpaw, please! I swear I'll goes away and never tell." My Sissy's pleas were futile.

The baby Grandmaw held again only yelped. It sounded as if it was struggling to breathe. Grandpaw and Grandmaw carried on conversation as if my Sissy was no longer in the room. Grandpaw removed the lid from the box that I now recognized. It was his shoe box that he kept his Sunday church shoes in. Every Saturday night he'd buff and shine those shoes to wear for his Sunday sermon. What was he doing with his shoe box in the middle of the night? Where had he come from when he came from outside? What were he and Grandmaw whispering about to each other that they didn't want Sissy to hear?

My Sissy lay helpless on the floor. She covered her face, muffling her sobbing. Grandmaw wrapped up the baby in a small towel and placed it in Grandpaw's shoe box. Grandpaw disappeared from my view and once again the cold wind whipped underneath the spacing of my bedroom door and this time it chilled my entire body. After the door slammed shut, I raced to the window that faced the outside front of our house. The moon was unusually full and luminous. It shone just right and I could see Grandpaw making his way to his toolshed that sat not too far from the house. I watched him enter the shed with that shoe box in his hands. I looked back to make sure Grandmaw was not coming into my room to check on me as she normally did during the night. I returned my attention to Grandpaw's tool shed, and after about five minutes he stepped out and looked around, but this time he had something else besides the shoe box. At first glance I thought it was his hunting rifle, but as I squinted my eyes it was no rifle at all. It was a shovel. Grandpaw looked around once more before he walked away from the shed. He walked out of the front yard and onto the dirt road. I watched him walk until I could no longer see him. I quietly walked back over to my bedroom door to see what Grandmaw Hanny and my Sissy were doing. Sissy was on the floor curled in a fetal position. She was no longer crying. Grandmaw moved around her picking up the soiled towels and sheets. I walked back to my bed. I was numb. I could not believe what I had just witnessed. I knew morning was near, but I could not sleep. All I could do was stare at the ceiling and wonder what the day after this nightmare of a night would bring.