When Joe Died, Janey Burned All Her Head Rags

[Laurels]

((Shoshanna Kowalczyk continued from The SOTF-Con Thread))

Shoshanna laid across the couch, her face buried into her school copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Her family was moving about in their post-dinner activities, with her parents looking over some bills in the kitchen. Her brothers were god knows where in their house, while Marya was sitting at the coffee table painting her nails. Shoshanna ignored the world around her. She had to get through this book tonight since there was a test on it tomorrow. She may have lived her entire life in the southern U.S., but getting through Zora Neale Hurston's prose was a bit difficult at times, and trying to read it aloud only invited mockery from Marya.

Shoshanna's nose twitched from the smell of Marya's nail polish. Her eyes quickly darted over as she saw her sister shaking her hand to make the polish dry.

"Nice," she heard Marya mutter to herself.

Shoshanna watched as Marya flexed her fingers and admired the dark blue nails that has the phases of the moon painted on them. Shoshanna didn't understand it, but at least her nails weren't as inane as the time Marya painted her nails to spell her name in braille. Marya painted them facing herself, so they read as AYRAM upside down to anyone who would look at the nails. Besides, not like blind people could read them anyways.

"Hey, Shosh, you want your nails done?" Marya asked. "I got all the stuff out."

"No thanks," Shoshanna replied.

Shoshanna could hear her dad's voice starting to raise in the other room, but she turned back to Marya when she spoke.

"Come on," Marya said. "I could do it while you're reading."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to read while you do that," Shoshanna said. "And school copies go through enough damage without getting pink, glittery nail polish all over them. Unless you're willing to pay for any damages."

"I am not," Marya said.

"Ok, that settles it," Shoshanna said. "Maybe some other time."

"Do you even take care of your nails?" Marya asked.

"Sure. I keep them long enough to scratch my inner ears."

"Eww, really?"

"No, dumbass."

"Well, that'd be really-"

"WELL WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO ABOUT IT?!?"

Shoshanna and Marya stopped talking. They turned towards the direction of the kitchen.

"I don't know, Jerzy. But there has to be something done soon!"

"So what do you have in mind? Are you going to do extra piano lessons? Or are you going to finally get a job after nearly twenty years off the market? Come on, Sonya, I'm waiting to hear it."

"Jerzy, don't put this all on me."

Shoshanna raised an eyebrow. Marya looked a bit nervous and awkward. She never handled it well whenever their parents argued. Shoshanna or Chava would have to calm her down when that happened. Looks like it'd be the same here.

"Mar, go to our room. Now," Shoshanna insisted.

Marya nodded, grabbed all her nail polish bottles, then hurried down the hall to their room. Shoshanna put a bookmark in her book and started to walk over to her parents."

"Well, I'm not sure what else to do," Sonya said. "Maybe we could ask the kids to start working? Or maybe we transfer them to another school."

"They're on scholarship," Jerzy said. "You said you wanted them to go to the best school."

"Yes, but I don't know if we can do another year of fees and transit costs to Mangrove. I don't want to touch their college funds-"

"Excuse me, what?!?"

Jerzy and Sonya turned and saw Shoshanna standing there.

"Shoshanna..." Jerzy started.

"What's going on?" Shoshanna insisted. "And don't try to keep me out of it. You're talking too loud to deny anything."

Jerzy and Sonya looked at one another.

"So...property values have been going up the last few years," Jerzy said. "We've been making it work for a while, but we may not be able to continue to live here at this rate. So, we're looking at ideas to keep the house."

"And that involves fucking with our education?" Shoshanna asked.

"Shoshanna! Language!" Sonya reprimanded.

"No, fuck that," Shoshanna said. "You're talking about transferring schools and dipping into college funds. Like hell am I going to stay calm when you're potentially threatening my future."

"Shoshanna, cut it out," Sonya insisted. "No one's saying that's what's going to happen."

"But it's out there, and I'm sure it's tantalizing to both of you."

Jerzy stood up. "Shoshanna, let's not talk about this."

Jerzy reached out to touch his daughter's shoulder, but she moved back.

"No, don't do that," Shoshanna insisted. "This is your fault, you guys solve it."

"Honey, please," Jerzy said.

"Don't honey me!" Shoshanna said. "We've lived in this shithole house forever and we're all finally getting the chance to make something of our lives because you two blew your money and education on a failed restaurant and minimum wage piano lessons!"

"Shoshanna!" Sonya shouted.

"And you're going to put the onus of fixing it on us? What, are you going to make Chava pay rent when she comes home for the summer? Are you going to force Oskar to move out as soon as he graduates? Are me, Simon, and Marya gonna have to drop our after school activities to get part time jobs? Or are the three of us going to have to go to some crappy school somewhere else with metal detectors and asbestos in every corner?"

"Maybe! I don't know!" Sonya shouted, her eyes watering. "It's not ideal, but we're a family and we have to all work together."

Shoshanna shook her head.

"No, you don't get to put that on us," Shoshanna insisted. "You fix it, and you do so in a way that the rest of us don't have to suffer because you two couldn't make better life choices."

Jerzy was red in the face and pointed down the hall.

"Go to your room!" he demanded. "We'll talk about this tomorrow!"

"Fine," Shoshanna said. "I gotta keep reading for the class I may no longer get to take."

Shoshanna grabbed her book and huffed it down the hall and into her bedroom. She threw the door open and saw Marya sitting on her bed, clutching the large Pikachu plushie she kept ever since she won it at a carnival when she was six. Marya was tearing up.

"Shosh?" she asked.

Shoshanna felt her lips quiver and turned away from her sister.

"Sorry. Mom and Dad are fucking assholes."

Shoshanna walked over to her bed and threw herself on top of it, turning to face the wall. She could hear Marya sniffling. She clutched her book closer to her chest.

"I hate being poor," Shoshanna said. "I really fucking hate it."

Shoshanna wouldn't allow Marya to see it, but there was a tear falling down the side of her face and onto her pillow. Suddenly, she felt a weight against her back. Marya had climbed into bed with her and was now wrapping her arms around her. It had been years since the two of them shared a bed, not since Marya stopped having nightmares. Shoshanna was always the one to hold her, though.

But tonight, she could let her little sister hold onto her.

((Shoshanna Kowalczyk continued in TV3))