“Mom, I’m sick and tired of your asking about me!” Daniela yelled, “You have to understand that I’m no longer a kid! I have every right to do as I wish provided I don’t disturb people. Mom, I want to let you know this! As soon as dad comes back from work, I’ll let him know!”
“Daniela, what had come over you?!” Frances inquired, infuriated at her daughter’s strange behavior. “I’m surprise that you have the guts to tell me what you’ve just told me! Let me ask you: ‘who is the force behind this silly attitude of yours? Your friends? I guess may be!’ Your dad, my sweetheart, have always wanted the best for you but here you’re trying to inform me how grown you are!”
“Yes, I want you to know that I’m grown up now! For Christ sake, mom, I’m fourteen years of age! I know what’s good for me and what’s not! Tara is just a year older than I am but she does what she likes in her home! But here I am; at my age, being asked of where I went and going to, whom I am hanging out with and all that! Mom, you know what? I’m tired of all that crap!”
“Don’t be naïve, Daniela!” she advised, attempting to take hold of her shoulders. “Tara isn’t my daughter and my daughter isn’t Tara! I want you to understand that her family and ours are quite different in all areas. I don’t want to draw any comparison between us now! You’ve always being a good girl, Daniela! Why this sudden change of character in the last few days?!”
“Mom, if you really care to know, that’s none of your business!” Daniele angrily replied her.
“What an insult! You just insulted me and you’re showing no apologies for your action!” Frances shouted at her. And before Daniela could realize where she was, a round of slaps periodically sounded aloud on left and right cheeks from her both hands.
In tears, Daniela angrily asked: “Did you just slap me like that, mom?”
“I did and will still slap you, over, over and over again until this ugly character of yours is wiped out!”
“Okay, I’ll leave this house and you’ll never see me again!” Daniela assured her, heading towards her room to take a few of her personal effects. Minutes after, with her hand bag on her left shoulder, Daniela heightened her voice in anger to her hearing: “Please, never bother looking for me! I’ll come to the house when I wish to! When dad comes back from work, feel free to let him know what took place! Bye and have the house for yourself!”
As Daniela got the door to leave the house, Frances curiously asked: “Where do you think you’re going to? This is about 7.00PM and you want to leave the house like that. If you’re joking, Daniela, stop joking with me! This is way too expensive. Please, come back to mom!”
“I see you’re not serious”, observed Daniela, who couldn’t wait to hastily get at the door that led to the building’s exit, “I’ll see you later when the time is due. Till then, never bother asking about me! Let dad know too!!”
“Come back here! Come back!!!” She shouted at her daughter who had forcefully shut the door at her to board a cab heading to Tara’s house, five streets away from her residence. Her attempt to convince Daniela to re-consider her action went to thin air. Daniela took to what she thought was right- leaving the house for her and her husband and father, Richard
At Tara’s House,
“Daniela, you’ve not told us the reason you came to stay with us.” Tara’s father observed. “This is about twenty four hours you’ve been with us, now let me know, at least, why you’re still in my house. Do you really have problems with your parents? To be sincere, girl, I’m not particularly comfortable with this at all. I want you to tell me what happened”
Like the Devil’s advocate, Tara stepped in her shoes as she responded: “Dad, Daniela is here to stay. What brought her around is not really our business! Afterall, you wanted more children but you decided not to get married at all! Our concern is to make Daniela comfortable while staying with us! Since mother is dead, let’s enjoy her company. Daniela is indeed fun to be with!”
“Tara, I want you to keep your mouth shut!” He instructed. “I didn’t expect you to reply my question. All I wanted from Daniela was to know why she is staying with us. Remember, the consent of her parents must be granted. But from the way I look at things, I doubt if her parents are aware of her movement. Daniela, I want you to please tell me what happened”
Daniela was word-lost; she couldn’t utter a word. The whole living room was surrounded by an atmosphere of muteness as Tara and her dad were expecting her response. After seven minutes, Daniela opened up: “I’m sick, tired and completely fed up with my parents, especially my mom. She wouldn’t just let me be! Always on a look-out for me, even when I’m in the house, mom has always been a thorn in my flesh ever since I decided to change my lifestyle of being the so-called Mom’s Girl to a Free Girl. We’re always setting the whole house ablaze with rants and incessant quarrels. I had to tell her to her face that I’m tired of her bossing me around. I want to free like a bird! I’m a grown-up fourteen -year-old girl!
“Now, I get the full picture. You want to leave your parents because they DISTURB your movement and relationship with your peers. I also heard you mention that you were a fourteen-year-old girl. I’m afraid to tell you this: you’re between childhood and adulthood. You’re feeling this way because you want to attain adulthood took quickly in a much more childish way. Do you know that you mom and dad are the greatest assets you’ll ever have on earth? I’m a single father who had been taking care of your friend, Tara, since the age of three. Her mom is late. May her gentle soul rest in peace. Your parents want you to be better than them. That’s why they want to give you sound moral values. They know that you’re very sensitive. That’s why they have been keeping an eye on you, particularly your mom. To be frank, mothers are generally more sensitive in the affairs of their children, their daughters to be particular, than fathers. Only if they could treat you like a growing girl…”
Daniela interrupted: “That’s where the problem lies! They would never see me like one. Rather, they still see me as that baby of yester-years! And that’s the very statement I want to make! Is it because they fail to understand the time we live in? Could this be as a result of their age? To me, they’ve refused to move on with the current trend of events. They’re too old-fashioned!
“Okay,” Tara’s father agreed, but gave her a reason to re-think, “you’ll make the statement to them only if you can go back and sit them down for a talk. They may sound outdated or in your words ‘…they’ve refused to move on with the current trend of events…’ But do me the favour of asking them why they’re ON YOUR NECK; stalking you all the way. And you‘ll see why they mean the best for you. At this point, Tara will see you off and please, return to your home. Greet your parents for me! Let them know that I’ll check on them soon!
Although Daniela was reluctant to leave the house, she summoned the courage to go back to her vomit-back home at a time she never planned to.
At her Residence,
“Sweetheart, we have been looking for you for almost the whole of the day. Your mom and I couldn’t sleep because of you. What happened? I was relieved when I got to the door and received you in. Your Mom told me all that happened and I understand why you behaved the way you behave. We decided that we’ll have a heart-to-heart talk the moment you come back home.” The spoken words of concerned Richard whose companion, his wife, was seated on the other sofa, holding each other’s hands.
“Dad, I also wanted to know why you and mom have been so concerned about me, keep watch at what I do and my relationships with my peers!” Daniela inquired, taking off her hand bag from her shoulders to the Sofa.
As she sat, Richards opened the floor for discussion: “Daniela, your mom and I have tried to ensure that you be the best that you ought to be. We want you to know that we love you so much that we’ll not allow any bad egg to change the character of our only precious jewel-YOU. Your mom will tell you her story while growing up and I’ll say mine. The reason we’re telling you these is to let you know that we want you to go better than us. Dear, you can go ahead telling her your story”
Frances, initially leaning on his laps while sitting on the sofa, stood up, staring at Daniela to the face, narrated her ordeal: “Your dad and I have been discussing your matter since you left the house. I was made to realize that the best way of training a child or a teenager is to let him or her do what he or she likes and advise him or her to take a positive stance. Your dad made me know that example attracts a great deal of attention than reason. Therefore, I’ll explain to you why I’m keen on seeing you around me. Then, your dad will follow right after me. We’re going to tell you our growing years as juveniles. Then, you’ll see why we want the very best for you!
At the age of twelve, I had my first boyfriend, Richard, your father. We used to live Navajo station in Arizona. My mother got impregnated by an unknown armed gang banger who came robbing the neighborhood. I’m the product of that pregnancy. Despite my mom’s limited education, she worked so hard to ensure that the only child would ever have never lacked anything within her powers. But at that age of my life, I met your dad, who was then, an errand drug courier to Alvaro Carlos, a drug kingpin in that area. One thing led to the other and we became lovers. In fact, we lost our virginity to ourselves! This is the one of the moments I’ll never forget. Along the line, Richard told me he’ll be leaving with his family to Bronx, Newyork to start a decent life. He also said that he was tired of the incessant shootings, drug peddling and sick lifestyle of Navajo Station ghetto dwellers. He wanted a life of his own. I wept deeply. But it was then I knew I’d be leaving in a world of mine because I reasoned that life without Richard was meaningless to me.
Within the space of eight months after his departure, I found ‘love’ again in the hands of many older guys, at least seven years my senior. I have dated quite a lot of guys before I turned twenty but there are three guys whom I’ll never forget- James, Nelly and Kim.
James was the happening guy in the ghetto where I stayed. It was this Latino guy that got me initiated into the drug peddling business in Navajo. Eighteen at the time and disowned by my mother, I was the very girl on the streets taking solace in guys who took me for a whore. I slept with all of the members of the emerging Alvaro’s drug empire, including Alvaro himself. Despite the money I had amassed for myself, I was leaving under the shadow of guilt. Every passing night was tantamount to a long stretch of uncontrolled tears. I have had countless abortions for James and his other partners in crime! But the long arms of the law caught up with Alvaro and his gang when the state police raided the whole place, killed James, the rest of the gang and Alvaro himself. I saw a need to move on with my life. I was really tired of life in the ghetto. I desired somewhere better…
Through a friend, I was able to move to Valencia, California. There, I met Nelly, an agent who once worked for one The X-rated Movie Company. He offered to be my agent because he believed that I would do well as an adult star. After much thinking and considering where I came from, I gave in. It was long before my first adult movie was shot. Before this time, I had gone broke because of accommodation challenges- I was no longer able to pay my rent. This went on till I turned thirty. But through those years, I engaged in various sex activities-lesbianism, bestiality, marathon sex, group orgies, bondage sex. To be frank, Daniela, I couldn’t make up my mind as to whom I would sleep with-man, woman or animal. I was into all of them! Nonetheless, after my retirement, I went into the business of match-making in Sacramento, California.
It was there I met a Korean named Kim. He actually wanted me to stop the business and get married to him. I blatantly and harshly refused. And because of that he made a statement that caused me to re-trace my footsteps: ‘American women are the most expensive women I’ve ever seen. So, I’d better not incur debts that will sink my business!’ For the next three months, my life was charting a new course!
I had been having problems quitting the habits of smoking, drinking, sleeping around and drug addiction before the ‘saving grace’ of your dad came to my rescue. He was on a business trip to Sacramento from Connecticut. Because of my habits, my match-making business was declared bankrupt! Seeing my first love for the first time in nearly twenty years ignited the sounds of true love. During his spare hours, he would take me out, have fun in many of the city’s known resorts and enjoy ourselves like me did when we were growing up in Arizona.
In trying to put ne alright, Richard made a statement that made me marry him: ‘Who have been your friends and who your friends determine who will be your friends. I know you’ve gone out with the wrong guys and done all kinds of wrong stuffs. But I’m not here to condemn you; I’m here to let you know that I still love you the way you are! I have also tasted life waters in Connecticut! But one thing is always sure: You were my first love, you’re still my first true lover and will be true life partner only if you let me open the YES key to your soul and let me in.’
Three years later, we got married. I moved with your father to Connecticut, then Maine and finally, Phoenix, Arizona where we all stay at present. Before you were conceived, we agreed that we raise our children with good moral values and will stop at nothing to give them the best. I decided to become a home-maker while your dad does the work to maintain the home, all because of YOU, Daniela! We don’t want you to be like us!”
Daniela was so marveled that her eyes were glued completely to her words. Richard held her hands and positioned himself well on the sofa to tell her his own side of the story. Lovingly holding on to Frances’ hand as Daniela looked, sitting on the sofa adjacent his, he voiced: “Well, your mom has said it all! Meeting your mom was the best thing that had ever happened to me!! Admittedly, I helped your mom overcome her addiction problems but I still had a problem not taking my eyes of from anything under the skirts. Unfortunately, all the women I’ve slept with through the years have been the ones who are too loose with their company.
Maybe I lacked the love that my mom denied me and the affection my father, who I didn’t get to meet, denied me of! I have made up my mind and your mom has agreed with me that we‘ll never raise you to be a loose girl. Daniele, you’ll always notice that I’ll lovingly instruct you to read your books and share your thoughts with me and realize how ‘disturbing’ your mom could be in wanting to know your association. We’re doing these things to let you know that the company you keep and the books you read determine how far you’ll go in life. We love you as much as our lives that we wouldn’t mind sparing our living because of you!”
Touched by their stories, Daniele showed remorse: “I’m sorry, Mom! Dad, I know I’ve done you wrong mom. Please, forgive me! I promise from this day onwards, I’ll be the good girl you want me to be!”
“That’s my girl talking!” Richards confidently said, hugging her the fatherly way as he stood up from the sofa, while Frances looked, still sitting.
After he went back sitting on the Sofa, Frances smiled: “You’re my only baby, that little girl that would always say: ‘I love you mommy! You’re the best in the world!’”
Daniela was able to re-trace her footsteps. She kept Tara at bay, associated with the good boys and girls in High School and spent quality time reading her book and communicating with her parents. Richard and Frances knew that their daughter was fast changing to be that girl they used to know. As they were about observing the siesta, Frances made known her observation to Richard: “Lately, Daniela has been relating with us and reads her books. This is unlike her! She no longer keeps company with Tara and always ready to follow our instructions. What do you think, Honey?”
“Sweetheart, you know I’m very tired! But because of the love I have for you, I’d say one thing: Daniela has changed!”
–END–
