The Bad Girl

She sat in the yard all by herself. She was a bad girl, a very
bad girl. Oh, Mommy had not called her that but she knew it. She
could tell by Mommy’s face and the tone in her voice. She looked
around but she could not find the other kids. Actually, she was
not surprised because they had been ignoring her all morning. No
one would play with her now all because she wanted to make
friends with someone new. Isn’t that what Mommy had told them
when she first came? They were all family and they were to be
accepting of others who may be different.

She did not understand everything that Mommy said because this
was not her real Mommy. This Mommy spoke a different language.
She remembered the first day she came to this house. She was so
scared when she came here. She did not understand why she had to
leave her first home, and this was her third family. Sometimes
she would dream about her real Mommy, the warmth and love, and
all her brothers and sisters. Now she had a new Mommy she hoped
this Mommy would let her stay, she loved her because this Mommy
told her all the time how special and sweet she was. This Mommy
had made sure that the other kids loved her, too. Harley was not
always nice to her. In fact, it took Harley a long time before
she would stop being mean to her. Harley was always stealing her
dolly. Mommy bought that dolly just for her but Harley would
take it on purpose and sleep with it. Leon and Mary-Clare were
her favorites because they always liked to play. Some mornings
Mary-Clare left the house and did not come back until the
afternoon. However, Leon would stay and they would play together
all day. Yes, she loved this home, this Mommy and, up until this
morning, Mommy loved her. Now, she was just a bad girl, a very
bad girl. She sighed. Would she have to leave this home, too?

She heard the screen door open and Mommy called her name. She
wanted to ignore that voice, wanted to crawl under the house and
hide. Forever. However, centuries of breeding made it impossible
for her not to come when called. She stopped suddenly as she
rounded the corner. Oh, no, not that! Oh, please, please not
that. She tried to look so sweet, made pretty eyes at Mommy.
Mommy always loved it when she made pretty eyes.

“I’ll be good, Mommy,” she pleaded as she ducked her head and
tried to slip away.

“No, ma’am, you come back here this instant. You got yourself
into this mess.” Mommy continued to run water into the big tub.

“Mary-Clare, bring me the other can of tomato juice, please.”

Her Mommy walked over to her. She was saying sweet words. Oh,
she loved it when Mommy used the sweet words but Mommy’s face
was wrinkling again.

“Oh, Mishka, why a skunk? Forty acres of land and you find the
only skunk! Come on, sweetie, we have to wash the smell off.”

Mishka, ducked her head as she was led (dragged) to the tub.