CHAPTER 4: ANGER
Isabella was down to her 5th month in her pregnancy. Arlene helped her out in any way she could, from doing the dishes to preparing her hot chocolate just the way she liked it. Slowly she found herself doing all the chores in the house. She didn’t mind. Anything for her dear Mama.
One day, when Arlene was doing the dishes, she accidentally dropped one of Isabella’s best china. It fell onto the marble floor before Arlene was able to catch it and it shattered into a thousand pieces. Needless to say, Isabella went into one of her mood swings and yelled at her profusely for ruining her china. Arlene was quite taken aback by her sudden outburst that she didn’t know what to say to pacify her.
Another time, Isabella complained (in one of her mood swings) that Arlene smelled weird. Arlene was surprised because she knew she couldn’t sweat or anything. But to please her Mama, she looked everywhere for something to get rid of the alleged ‘smell’. Soon she found Isabella’s perfume on her dresser and emptied it of its contents to make herself smell better. Unfortunately, her method was pretty ludicrous and Isabella flipped her gourd when she found out about it. She scolded her loudly, “How could you waste out all my perfume?! This is Mama’s favourite perfume and you finished it!! It’s very expensive, don’t you know that?!”
“I…I just wanted to make you happy, Mama,” Arlene tried to explain herself. “You said that I smelt weird, so I…”
“Do you have to do exactly everything I say?! If I told you to jump off the cliff, would you do that?! Are you loco?”
“I’m sorry, Mama, I’m really sorry…”
Isabella’s slap on her cheek stopped Arlene in her words. Arlene widened her eyes in shock as she stared in disbelief at Isabella. ‘Why did she slap me?’ she thought. ‘Why did she hurt me?’
Isabella realized what she had done and apologized, “I’m sorry, Arlene. Mama’s really sorry. I don’t know what got into me. I’m sorry…”
She held out her hands to hug her, but Arlene retreated back to her room in a flash. She locked the door behind her and rushed to hug Kitty, mumbling, “Keep me safe, Kitty. Keep me safe, Kitty. Keep me safe…”
“What’s going on, Arlene? What happened?” Kitty asked in surprise.
“Keep me safe, Kitty. Keep me safe, Kitty. Keep me safe…” Arlene continued to mumble, ignoring Isabella’s apologizes outside her room.
“You are safe, Arlene. You are safe. Tell me what happened. Did Mama hurt you?”
“Mama hit me. Why did she hit me? I just want to make her happy,” Arlene was close to tears.
“It’s her mood swings. It’s not her fault. She couldn’t help being angry. She’s not in the state to control her feelings.”
“Why? What’s going on with Mama?” Arlene asked.
“She’s having a baby, Arlene. You know that. She is having a little bit of pressure. It’ll go away soon. Once the baby’s born, she’ll be alright.” Kitty replied kindly. “I’ve seen that happen before to Isabella’s mama.”
“You mean if Mama gives birth to the baby, she’ll stop being so suddenly angry?”
“I guess,” Kitty replied.
Isabella couldn’t help feeling guilty towards being angry over a measly little bottle of perfume. She never hit Arlene before and she didn’t expect herself to do so. She was quite afraid at how her mood swings got her into. After all, this was her first pregnancy she had ever had.
So, to compensate on her sudden outburst, she took Arlene and Kitty out on a boat ride at a nearby park. They had a great day at the lake and laughed and joked as they had there picnic on the boat. Moments later, Arlene noticed a dragonfly on the water. She was fascinated at the colour of the dragonfly and at the way it didn’t even sink when it stood on water that she wanted to catch it and have a good look at it.
She didn’t realize that she was standing on the boat, making it rock from side to side. Isabella told her to sit down but she was too engrossed in getting the dragonfly. She wanted to impress both her and her Mama by catching the insect so much that it took her a while to notice that she and Isabella was falling into the deep lake. Arlene and Kitty was sinking quite fast down to the water and saw, while she was sinking, Isabella struggling to stay above the water. Surprisingly, Arlene didn’t attempt to swim towards her and help her. She just continued letting herself sink into the depths of the lake below until she felt arms pulling her up to shore…
When her eyes came into focus, she found herself on a white bed in a hospital, holding Kitty by her side. She got off the bed slowly and walked out of the ward, looking for her Mama. She saw Paulo at the counter asking for Isabella’s room. Paulo noticed her and asked, “Hey, Arlene. Are you OK?”
“Yes, Paulo. Where is Mama?” Arlene asked.
“That’s what I’m looking for. Come, follow me.”
So saying, he took her hand and led her to Room 77. There, a doctor was treating her.
“How is she? How’s the baby?” Paulo asked worriedly.
“Both the mother and child are fine, but I have to keep her here for a day or two, just to make sure,” the doctor replied before leaving the room.
“I’m sorry, Mama, I didn’t mean to…” Arlene leaned near Isabella’s bed, begging for forgiveness with her ever sparkling aquamarine eyes.
“It’s alright, Arlene. It was an accident,” Isabella smiled weakly as she stroked her coffee-coloured hair.
“Do you need anything to drink, Mama?”
“No, sweetie, but you can help your Papa get a cup of coffee, OK?”
“OK, Mama,” Arlene smiled and left to the vending machine to get Paulo his coffee.
“You can swim, Arlene. You are programmed to swim. You know that,” Kitty said quietly to Arlene as she poured the coffee into the plastic cup. “Why didn’t you swim up to save Mama?”
“I just want her baby to be born faster…so that she won’t be angry anymore.”
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