Annie XVIII: Siblings

Annie XVIII: Siblings

(Chronological index: Ray/Denise Married, Ruth known)

Denise opened the front door. A young girl stood on the steps. Behind her, two suitcases rested on the sidewalk. A taxi was reversing out of the driveway.

She took all this in in a moment, then focused on the visitor. There was something familiar about the girl but she had no idea what it was.

"Can I help you?" Denise asked.

"I'm Sixteen! They can't stop me!"

"What?"

"My parents! They can't stop me!"

"Sure," Denise agreed. She shifted her weight a bit, readied herself to slam the door and repel the invader. "No one can stop you. You have the power. Are you the keymaster?"

"What are you talking about?" the girl asked.

"I really want to ask you the same thing," Denise replied.

"I'm Ruth. I'm looking for my sister."

"Good for you, girl. But I know my sister and she lives up in Brunswick. And Ray doesn't have a sister."

"I do," the girl said. She held up a sheet of paper. Denise glanced at it and realized that they were scraps of paper. Bits of a torn sheet were held together by sheets of laminating plastic.

They had been there a while. Some of the letters had transferred off the paper and floated in the adhesive. Bubbles here and there marked bits where the paper yellowed.

She leaned forward curiously, trying to figure out what it said. The addressee's name drew a blank, so she looked down to the signature. That one she recognized.

Her eyes darted back to the girl's face. Now she knew why it was familiar.

"Annie!" she shouted back into the house. "It's for you!"

-----------

"No, she does not have a sister!" Ray hissed in the hallway. Denise closed the door to the kitchen and stepped closer to him.

"Of course she does!" she whispered, "She looks just like her! They could be twins, born 19 years apart!"

"I wanna see!" Annie shouted from his fist.

"It doesn't matter," Ray insisted. "You're not supposed to carry on family relations after sylphing. Society frowns on that."

"Society frowns on sex with pets," Annie said darkly. "And on sex with dead people. So there've been a few instances of bestiality or necrophilia in the last two decades that we wouldn't want bandied about, would we?"

"Ten ninety five," he muttered. "A simple out-patient procedure to mute your pet for life. I even had a coupon."

"Funny," said Denise without laughing. "What about this?" She offered him the plastic sheet. He took it and held it where Annie could see it.

"My letter! They did get it!"

"They tore it all to hell," Ray pointed out.

"And she saved it!" Annie said with a happy clap of her hands. "She must have been, what, seven? Wow. She's smart. And good with puzzles."

Denise reached over and tapped on the page. "The letter says that she wants reconciliation with her parents. Did you know she wrote this?"

"Yeah," Ray admitted. "I typed it up for her, mailed it for her."

"Then at least once you were willing to let her communicate with her family."

"But the only reason I mailed the letter was because I was sure the bastards'd never answer." As soon as the words were out of his mouth he knew he'd erred. Annie and Denise both gasped.

"You… I…" Annie stared up at him in shock. "Ray, that letter… I thought it was one of the most generous, loving gestures you ever made. Now, you're saying it was, what? A sop? A prop? A mind game to make me feel like I got closure?

"Ray…" She choked back a sob. "Ray Foster, either you love me or you're a manipulative bastard!!"

"Annie, Annie, Annie," he said. He lifted her up to his face and stroked her hair gently. "You know me. You know I can do both."

She twisted around to face Denise and held out her arms. Ray handed the sylph over to his wife.

"Look," Denise said. "There's a teenage girl in our kitchen that's worked herself up into something of a frenzy. You need to do something about her. Either you consider Annie family, so that makes her sister family, or you think she's a stranger."

She moved Annie to her shoulder and crossed her arms. She glowered at her husband for a second. "You go talk to her as family or call Social Services to come take her back to her family."

"I-" Ray started. He looked from spouse to sylph. He glanced at the shut door. He looked to the end of the hall where the other two peered around the corner. Buttercup shook her head while Pet just stared. "Alright," he said.

They watched him storm into the kitchen. Denise held Annie up to the crack as they listened. Little feet pattered along the floor.

"You, uh… You want another glass of water? Ruth?"

"Yes, please."

"Good call," Annie said.

"I've been to a Foster reunion," Denise whispered. "If using the word 'family' four times hadn't worked, I'd have asked him what his Mom would say."

"Yeah, save that for later," Annie said with a nod.

------

Ray turned on a radio beside the oven as he got the drink, cranking up the volume. It was gentle rock, but the melody filled the room.

"We can talk in private," he said softly as he sat beside her. "In a sylph-infested household, that can be difficult."

"Infested!?" Annie's voice squeaked from behind the door.

"Harder than I thought," he muttered. Ruth sipped her water, waiting. He watched the window. After a few moments, the woman who had answered the door appeared there. She held up three sylphs in view and waved, then wandered over across the patio.

"Now we're alone."

"I want to see Annie," Ruth said quietly. Then she worried that he hadn't heard her over the noise. She spoke up. "I want to-"

"I know. I want to know why."

"What?"

"Annie's been my friend for several years now. Among other things we've done for each other, she cried on my pocket after her father, your father, called her cursed and shut the door on her."

"I know," Ruth said. She stared at her glass for a while. Ray waited patiently. Then she started to speak. After a bit, Ray got up and opened the door to the patio.

-----------

Denise sat at the end of the dining room table. Buttercup and Pet sat on their chairs on top of her placemat.

Ray sat at the far end, leaning forward to cup a hand around Annie. Annie stood on the old letter, but stared at the girl in the middle chair. She stared back.

Every so often Ruth's hand lifted and started to move towards Annie. Annie never flinched, but the hand never actually touched her.

"What's going on?" Pet whispered.

"Everyone's a little surprised," Buttercup whispered back.

"Annie never thought she'd meet her sister?" Pet asked.

"Annie," Denise said softly, "never knew she had a sister."

Ruth tapped the laminated sheet. "I didn't know until I was eleven."

"You're sixteen," Annie said. "I shrank 20 years ago. Momma and Poppa wanted to make sure I was the one cursed, not them?"

"I think so. They never really talked about you. They're nutso on the sylph subject, but so is the whole congregation of our church." She sipped a bit from her glass of water. "Poppa … Poppa needs you to forgive him."

"That man can go straight to-" Ray had been waiting for exactly that response. He scooped Annie up into the air and held her, one fingertip over her mouth.

"Okay, let's skip ahead a bit," he said. "We'll pretend you made a typical Annie answer, reminding everyone that you were hurt. Then we'll pretend that Ruth, here, cried."

Annie struggled in his grip as Ruth stared. "Then someone at the table, let's say it was me, reminded you that this is your sister. Who is not the one that hurt you. Who came to you for a reason.

"And you decided to listen to the reason like a grownup, planning to spend some time thinking about it before you give a half-assed answer made more to inflict pain than to resolve the situation."

She stared up at him, eyes wide. Ray saw tears welling up in them. He cupped a hand around her head so no one else could see her face. "Now, are you willing to act like a grownup in front of company?"

Annie nodded, tears starting to dot her cheeks. Ray shook his head. "I think we need a minute alone." Before anyone could react, he was up and down the hall. He shut the bathroom door behind him and placed his sylph beside the sink.

She cried quietly for a bit as he stroked her back. Then he cupped his hand under the faucet and she splashed some cold water onto her face "Never in a million years…." she muttered.

"I know, but whatever you do decide, remember that Ruth still loves your father. And that's part of why she's here. Okay? Imagine if Pet asked you to forgive Buttercup."

"Buttercup's not a dick," Annie muttered. Ray shook his head. "Okay, okay, I get it. And…thanks. For the privacy."

"It's the TV series. If it gets out that the person the Annie character is based on is sensitive, the whole second season'll be shot." He hugged her to his cheek for a second, then stepped out.

"And I MEAN it, little lady," he said as he stepped into the kitchen and put her down on the table.

"FINE!" she shouted and stamped to the middle of the letter. "Okay. Let's take it from your line. You say 'Poppa needs you to forgive him.' Ready? Mark!"

"Poppa …" Ruth paused. Ray and Denise gave her encouraging nods. "Poppa needs you to forgive him."

The sylph sank down to kneel on the letter. "Well… Tell me about it," she said softly. Ruth didn't answer. She started to cry. Denise made eye contact with Ray. A message was passed.

Denise stood and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Ruth? Annie? Maybe we should go sit on the sofa for a minute? Get to know your sister, first, then start worrying about your dad. Come on."

Ruth stood as if in a daze. Denise scooped Annie up and led the guest to the living room.

Pet raised her hands in the air, signaling that she wanted to be picked up. Denise seemed not to notice. The sylph turned and aimed for the ladder down to the floor. Buttercup put a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Come on, you two," Ray said. He lifted the pair to his shirt pocket. "Let's go get a couple of pizzas. Emotional roller coasters build up an appetite."

"Doesn't Annie need us?" Pet protested.

"They need privacy, and a referee. And maybe a translator." He snagged his car keys and headed out the door. "And a shoulder to cy on. Denise is the better choice for all those right now."

"Cause she's a girl?" Pet asked.

"Because she has a sister," Buttercup replied.

-----

They had things in common, and ways they were different. Annie had been present for some family history Ruth had only heard about, Ruth had information on relatives Annie had…lost.

They talked about everything. Nearly. Not Momma or Poppa

Denise sat quietly on the sofa, holding Annie over her lap, an arm around Ruth's shoulders. After a while, the sisters touched. Then Ruth held Annie, moving as one picking up fragile porcelain.

"This is so weird," Ruth said. "I've never talked to a sylph, and I thought I'd never meet my sister. Can I hug her?"

"Ask her," Denise said.

"Yeah, ask her," Annie said. She held her arms out wide. "The answer's yes, of course."

"Lift her to your cheek, gently," Denise advised. A tear coursed down the cheek to land in Annie's hair. She flinched but didn't let go.

"We need to hydrate this girl," she said to Denise. "All the waterworks? You'd think she was hooked up to a faucet."

Ruth laughed and set Annie back carefully in Denise's hands.

Ray announced that dinner was ready and led everyone to the table.

The teenager wolfed her food. Her human hosts seemed unfazed by her appetite but it seemed to shock the tinies. Six tiny eyes watched her every move.

Pet sometimes looked away, trying to get Annie's attention. The older woman never noticed. As Pet's pout got more pronounced, Denise lifted her up and set her down. Sitting at the edge of Denise's plate, regularly touched by her owner, the sylph was a bit less anxious.

Ray had used paper plates and plastic cups, so cleanup was swift. Finally everyone was staring at each other around the central counter.

"So," Denise said, "there are some issues? Obviously, Ruth and Annie are involved. Which makes Ray involved. The rest of us will be upstairs watching loud television."

"Awwwwww!" Pet protested. She ducked under Denise's hand and ran towards her roommate. Annie wrapped her in a hug and held her tight.

"I know, Pet, I know. I have your support. You love me, and want the best for me, even if Poppa was a hurtful jerk. And," she added in a stage whisper, "You HAVE to know that I'll tell you everything."

"Promise?"

"Scout's honor!"

"Oh!" Pet said, impressed. "That's honorable. Okay." She kissed her friend on the cheek and allowed her owner to pick her up.

When they were upstairs with the bedroom door closed, Ray carried Annie to the table. "You were never a scout."

"She seems to have forgotten that," Annie shrugged.

Ruth sat next to Ray. They waited patiently. "Poppa drinks," she finally said. "I think… Well, you never hear anyone talk about sylphs in our house.

"When I found your letter, I was nine. I'd never heard about having an older sister. I read about you wanting to forgive… I started asking questions.

"Momma… Momma is firm in her position. No sylphs in her family, in her congregation, in her history. I'm an only daughter." She sniffled. "Dad starts telling stories about when I was little…he'll get confused, tell stories about when Annie was little. Or call me by your name. Or ask how my cheerleading is going."

She shook her head. "I'm a biology nerd, not a cheerleader."

"You could have done both," Annie said. "My second time through high school, I found out I liked the academic part."

Ruth shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway… late at night, after he's been drinking, he apologizes. He's got this one tassel, I think off of your old uniform. He asks it to forgive him for being a rat…"

"It's okay to swear in this house," Ray said.

"Fucking okay," Annie muttered.

"Okay. For being a rat bastard," Ruth said with a fragile smile. "Then, when you were interviewed for that TV show? He found out that you call another man 'Dad.' He went on a binge. We didn't see him for three days. He came home, wrapped himself in the rug from the hall and slept for another day."

She wiped her eyes. "Then, Momma started to chew him out for being a drunk and a sinner, he said, 'We shouldn't have turned her away. Someone else's parents call her their daughter, now.' Then she locked herself in the bedroom for two days."

"Quite a week," Annie said. Ray glanced at her stoic expression and touched a fingertip to her shoulder. "Yeah. Well. Ray? I want you to give Ruth a supportive hug. Okay? Just support, no tickling or jokes or anything."

"My arms are at your command," he said, opening them. Ruth half stood then fell into his grasp. He tucked her onto his lap and held her as she cried. He lifted his sylph to the girl's ear.

"It's okay," she said. "It'll be okay. Shushhhhhhh."

"He's not a bad man," Ruth insisted. "He's just… Well, he wasn't ready for what happened."

"Yes," Annie snarked, "I'm sure this has been a hard transition for him. I shrank and he called me cursed."

"Annie," Ray said, but not sharply.

"Sorry," Annie said. She leaned against Ruth's cheek. "Really, I am. You shouldn't be in the middle of this."

"I'm not. I moved out. I ran away from home."

"No, you didn't," Ray said. "If you care that he's upset about losing a daughter, you can't make him think he drove another one away."

------

"Hello?"

"Poppa?"

"Ruth! Where are you?"

"I… Poppa, I made a mistake."

"That's okay. Where are you?"

"I ran away."

"…"

"But, I want to come back. I made a mistake, and I want to fix it."

"That's fine, Ruth. It's perfectly fine. Do you need me to come get you?"

"Yes, sir. I don't have any more money for a taxi… I thought… Well. I'm at a friend's house."

"Tell me where, I'll come get you."

"Are you…sober enough to drive?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"One that I've learned to ask. Are you?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I trust you, then. I'm at 4677 Navasee Lane."

"I'll be right there. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"Ruth?"

"Sir?"

"I'm…glad you gave me a second chance."

"Yes, sir." She hung up and set the phone down on the table. Annie stepped to her hand and stroked it. "He's coming."

"Okay," Annie said. "It'll be okay."

Denise leaned forward to take Ruth and Ray's hands. "We don't want to come between you and your parents. Or at least between you and your father."

"No," Ray agreed.

"Anyway, you need to go home with your father tonight."

"I-"

"If you stay, Ruth, it'll feel, to him, like you're rejecting him. I am afraid of what he might do to himself."

"Oh."

"Ray and I talked it over. We don't have kids, but we have come up with some rules for sleepovers. Mostly what our parents used.

"If you want to be a guest here, you have to okay it with your parents. You have to have your parents' permission. Okay? It keeps drama from exploding all over the evening."

"Okay," Ruth nodded.

"Now, you're always welcome, unless we have something going on. So we need you to ask, and we need twenty four hours advance notice. It's just a way to avoid any confusion or complications, okay?" Ruth nodded again. "And to make sure we have enough food in the house for a teenager.

"Oh, what else? The usual, no bringing pets or carnivores over to a sylph house, no inviting other friends over, no bringing adult videos-"

"What? Why not?" a small voice asked in surprise.

"Because Ruth's sixteen, Buttercup!" Denise whispered angrily towards the Efficient Susan. "Anyway," she said, turning back to Ruth, "Ray is going to meet your father, reassure him that we're not trying to take his place. And tell him about Annie so there's no shock."

She nodded at her husband, who nodded back, pat his sylph on the head, tapped Ruth on the shoulder and went outside.

The girls stayed at the table and discussed what to bring to a sleepover.

------

Ray was outside raking leaves when the car drove up. The man that got out looked vaguely familiar but a lot smaller than Ray remembered. But he scowled. That expression brought back strong memories of twenty years ago.

"I'm Gerald Trace. I'm looking for my daughter. I guess she's with your kid?" Ray noted the gender-blurred term. The poor guy didn't know if his daughter had run off to a guy or a girl. One would be a lot more worrying than the other.

Well, he wasn't going to feel much better in a minute. "Your daughter's inside," Ray said. He realized that his voice was rather shaky with emotion. Trace didn't know how to interpret it.

-----

Inside, Ruth noticed the three sylphs whip around suddenly. "Someone's here," Pet said.

"Ray's talking to him," Annie said.

"Ray's angry," Buttercup pointed out.

"Crap," Denise said, stepping to the window.

"I didn't know Ray knew that word," Pet said after a moment.

"I didn't know you knew that word," Buttercup said.

"I live with Annie," Pet shrugged. Denise ran outside. Ruth ran to the window.

In the corner of the lot, the two men were wrestling in a garden patch. Dirt flew as they tried to fold each other into origami.

Denise shrieked at them for a moment but there was no reaction. She ran out of sight. Before Ruth could move, Denise was coming back with a hose.

"What's going on?" Annie shouted. Ruth turned and lifted the sylphs to the window sill. Denise was spraying both men in the face with a high-pressure stream. They eventually broke apart and crawled to neutral mud.

"What the hell!?!?!" Denise shouted at the two. "I mean. Really. What the hell!?!?"

"He said I abused my daughter!" Trace shouted, wiping mud from his face.

"I said you HURT your daughter," Ray countered.

"Never! Never in a million years!"

"No, just twenty years!" Ray taunted.

Trace staggered to his feet, fists starting to swing. Denise pointed the sprayer at his face, finger on the trigger. He paused.

"You'd better think twice-," Ray started to say. Denise swung the hose on him. "What…?" His expression showed his confusion from his spouse's betrayal.

"Did you," Denise spat, "tell him WHICH daughter you were talking about?"

"What?" Trace asked.

"Oh. Um. No," Ray admitted.

"Whoops," Annie said softly. Ruth reached out to touch her shoulder. Annie reached up to hold the fingertip.

"Go out back," Denise growled. "And clean the shed. And don't come back inside until an adult invites you."

"Yes, ma'am." Ray agreed and slogged off around the garage. Trace watched him go, then his eyes found the window. He saw his daughter and started to smile. Then he saw the tiny figures before her. His smile died.

"Here," Denise said, putting the hose in his hand. "Wash off the mud. I'll get you a towel."

-----

Ray was sitting on the patio watching the back fence when Trace pulled out. Headlight shadows crossed the wooden slats swiftly, then it was dark again. He remained sitting.

After a few minutes he heard the sylph door open and familiar steps on the concrete. Annie walked to his open palm and he raised her to his knee.

"Everything work out?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "We yelled, we cried, we blamed, explained and railed against the gods." She pat his knee. "A usual dinner at my old house."

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"No, no, your masterful plan worked," she said. "After you went nutsy fagin, my competitive nature, and naturally superior breeding, came out. I had to prove I was more of an adult than you were willing to be. So, I actually forgave the Old Man. We finished what that letter started."

"That's…good," he said after a moment. "It's just…he hurt you so bad…"

"That's not it," she said. He looked at her in the gloom. She thought there was a twinkle in his eye. Or tears.

"You're right," he finally admitted. He picked her up and shifted his position. Annie ended up on Ray's shoulder, curled in his collar, looking across at his jaw.

"You know the last time I prayed?" he asked.

"Well, when your wife tackled you in the laundry room last week, there was a lot of 'oh god oh god oh…' I recall."

"The last time," he said patiently, "I asked God to change events in my favor." She let three smart ass remarks flit through her brain unsaid. After a moment of silence he sighed. "The day we took you back."

"What did you pray for?"

"I wanted to keep you."

"Uh."

"I wanted… Oh, anything. They turned you down, they sold you to me for four dollars, they had moved, they had both sylphed… Anything." He coughed. "I even knew how you'd react. Turning around in that can, smiling up at me and saying that we could stay together."

"And then…"

"Well, he shut the door, and I was fully ready to smile back at you. But instead, you…"

"Lost it."

"Lost it, yeah. For a while, that screwed me up. I felt guilty, that I'd asked God to have your parents hurt you that much."

Annie reached up and stroked his ear lobe. "You had nothing to do with that, Ray."

"Tell that to the preteen that watched you crying yourself to sleep." They stared at the darkness for a while.

"So you hit my father because you told God to make him an asshole and He did," she finally said. He barked a brief laugh.

"Something like that," he nodded, "something like that."

"Hmmph. Well, if it's any consolation, he's been beating himself up for years, too."

"So I was just delivering the coupe day gracie?"

"Something like that," she laughed, "something like that." She scooted over to hug his throat. "You're not going to lose me, Ray."

"I hope not," he said with a ghost of his usual humor. "I'm still paying on the diamond studded leash." He choked on a little sob just then. She decided to ignore it.

"All in all, I'd probably rather not have become a sylph," she said instead. "But if I had to, I could have done a lot worse."

"Thank you."

She sat back down and scooted away from his head. "So. Your wife apologized for you, and Poppa accepted. Then we arranged for a sleepover weekend after next. He may come in for a brief visit, but you'll be out back grilling the pork at that time."

"I will?"

"Denise so commands," she started.

"And we must obey," they finished together.

"She was like Jimmy Carter in there. You should have seen her."

"I should have," he agreed. "Can I go back inside now?"

"She said it was up to me." She slapped his skin and he lifted her up in front of his face. She crossed her arms and glared at him. "Infested?" she asked.

He smiled and pulled her closer. He lifted her face to his lips and pursed them. She leaned in and they kissed. Ray tilted his head, Annie tilted hers to the opposite side so her face would fit better between his lips.

There was the briefest touch of tongues, enough that each could feel it, not so much that anyone became saturated in spit.

Then she ducked her head and nuzzled against his chin for a moment.

They went inside, then, where Denise diagnosed everyone has having had a stressful day. She prescribed a group cuddle on the big bed. That was where they were when they all finally drifted to sleep.

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