Mostly Unlady

Part 14

Hey Mum,

I couldn't eat anything for dinner last night. First, I have this crazy pain in my throat when I swallow food, which dad said was coming from my infected tonsils. Secondly, I was really upset because I overheard dad say that it "was over with her" to Nona, on one of her crying phone calls. This was right after I discovered a big, live nit in my hair, which means I still have those bloodthirsty suckers crawling around. If I can't get rid of them after twenty treatments, does it mean I am cursed? My classmates tell me that I get them because I'm not clean, but you know you taught me better than that.

Even though I know that every kid at school has been infected at some point or another, every teacher is treating me as though I'm the source. Ever since the first school outbreak in the first semester. With every new case, the teachers immediately ask me if I have them. I never see them check with any other kid.

I decided I was getting nowhere with asking dad questions about Nona, so I picked up the spare phone in his bedroom during their call and covered the mouth part with my hand.

Nona dropped a bomb. She said she was never coming back, not even to visit me and dad.

Dad was silent for a few seconds, then he asked how she could abandon us, just like that.

Nona sniffled and said it wasn't easy but that she could start over in Asunción, as a kindergarten teacher, just like before she met dad. He said that was a mistake because he knew how much he, and I and she, all loved one another. It would be madness and something we would all regret. He then said that he couldn't live without her and that he would never, ever, ever think about seeing another woman, ever again.

I put the phone down.

Mum, is that what dad did to you?

Zelia

Growing up involves discovering that our parents aren't perfect...should Zelia forgive her dad?

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