Coming Home

Daisy O'Sullivan walked into the hallway of her old home in Whitesell Bluff, Arkansas. She had not been there for over five years, but it was if she had never left. The smell of her mother's chicken fried steak wafted through the air, she could hear her mother's strong southern accent as she yelled to someone.



"Darah's missing?"she heard Mary O'Sullivan yell, as she stood frozen in the foyer.She glanced up at the large picture of her older sister that hung in the hallway. Darah's vivacious brown eyes stared back at her, the same brown eyes that had enchanted many in their small town and made her baby sister feel like a leper.



"Mama!"she finally shouted, setting her bags down onto the hardwood floor.



Mary, a wide-bodied woman with massive gray curls, came into the room. When she locked eyes with her daughter she looked as if she had seen a ghost.



"Mama?"whispered Daisy.



"You have some nerve finally showing up here. You get yourself a education and then you pretend that we don't even exist.Your sister has all of her legal problems and you, you with your law degree, you don't even pick up the phone."Tears sprang to her younger daughter's blue eyes.



"I know...I'm so sorry."she replied, brushing away tears from her face. How could she ever explain that the slow destruction of her parents marriage and the rumors of her sister's drug problem were enough to keep her away forever. "I came back because I wanted to tell you that you're going to be a grandmother. Me and Jim found out a couple of weeks ago." Mary paused, her eyes turning downward to Daisy's stomach.



Daisy had been a daddy's girl, whereas Darah had been the pride of her mother's eye. Darah was the town beauty, with shiny raven hair and beautiful brown eyes. No one ever mentioned the elder O'Sullivan without attaching some form of the word "beautiful" to her. When it came to Daisy, she had inherited her father's mousy brown hair and round blue eyes. She was a brilliant student, but did not have the beautiful face of her sister.



"I wish Daddy were still around."



"Your "daddy"," Mary said, mocking her, "gave up on all of us when he pulled the trigger." Daisy bit her lip. Her planned reunion with her mother was going all sorts of wrong. "And Jim? Who the hell is Jim? I don't see a ring on your finger." She stuffed her left hand into the pocket of her jeans.



"You sure picked a fine time to come around here. That was the grocery store where your sister works... she hasn't shown up in a couple of days." Her mother turned around and went back into the kitchen, with her daughter at her heels. "I bet that no-good boyfriend of hers convinced her to give up this job too."



"Is she on drugs, Mama?" Mary spun around, as if she were shocked at the question. "I've heard rumors, all the way in Nashville. One of her boyfriends --one of the Perrys that live over by the lake -- got arrested for dealing." She watched as her mother sank down into a kitchen chair and stared down at the table in front of her. "If she's in bad circumstances, I don't know how I can help."



There was a long silence. Daisy looked around the kitchen, at the chicken fried steak that was starting to burn in the skillet. She walked across the room and turned off the burner. There was a picture of Darah and Mary stuck to the fridge by a large frog magnet. She realized that there were no pictures of her in the house.



"Darah is a good girl. People take advantage of that. They always have. She's not missing, she's probably just holed up someone with Jake." She wondered if her mother actually believed that. Mary looked into space as if she were trying to see something.



There was a knock on the front door. Daisy walked into the foyer and opened the door. In Whitesell Bluff, you never had to worry about checking to see who was on your front porch. Everyone knew everyone.



A police officer was standing there, with a stern look on his face. Instantly, her stomach plummeted to her knees. Darah.



"Is this the O'Sullivan residence?"Daisy felt Mary's presence behind her.



"Yes."said Mary, anxiously. She pushed forward, almost knocking Daisy away.



"Mama, maybe you sit down." It was obvious that her advice was going to go unheeded.



"Ma'am, your daughter has been found. Her and her boyfriend Jake Major robbed a liquor store in Higley last night. They tried to get away from us, but we finally caught them this morning. One of the detectives at the station thought we should send someone out here to let you know." He looked over at Daisy, as if he were wondering why she was there. "She's in the county jail." Mary nodded.



"I can try to find her a good lawyer around here." Her mother turned to look at her as if she had spit on her. "I can't represent her, Mama. You know that."



The officer murmured a goodbye and left. The two O'Sullivan women were left standing in the foyer staring at each other.



"I'm really sorry about all of this. This is bad timing."Daisy said, sorrowfully. She reached out and touched her mother's arm. Mary pulled her arm back. "Darah needs help." Her mother opened the front door and silently placed Daisy's suitcases on the porch.



"I want you and your bastard baby out of here. You don't give a thought to this place or your family for years. You haven't been here since your Daddy died. You don't love me, you don't love your sister... I just really wish you would leave and never show your face in Whitesell Bluff again."



"Do you mean that?"



"I do. I can take care of myself, I can take care of Darah. What we don't need is a snooty relative to swoop in and think she can be the queen of us.Just go away, go back to Nashville."



Daisy took one last look around the house, then walked outside. She placed a hand on her stomach and wondered what could make a mother hate her child so much. The thought crossed her mind to turn around, walk back into the house, and demand to know why her mother hated her so much.



But she knew it was time for her to concentrate on her own baby, for her to be the mother that she never had.