Don't Make Me Pull Over

Starting Line: "If I have to tell you to be quiet one more time, I am going to pull this van over and..."

"If I have to tell you to be quiet one more time, I'm going to pull this van over and you're going to walk the rest of the way." I shouted at my sister.

"Momma, we don't yell." Katie reminded me, our eyes meeting in the rear view mirror.

"Jesus, Maggie! You're always so uptight. I just thought it would be easier for you." Heather crossed her arms over her chest and glared out the window, her lips pouting.

"You thought it would be easier for me to work my life around your schedule? In case you haven't noticed I've got three kids, a career, a husband and community obligations. You ought to try the responsibility thing once in a while." I muttered through clenched teeth. Katie went back to brushing her doll's hair.

Amazing how my seven year old daughter was more well-behaved than my twenty-three year old sister. The girl was still wild. She hadn't grown up at all. And why would she have to? She spent her life mooching off the latest man she'd tempted into bed.

The last one was close to seventy years old. She swore to me that she hadn't slept with him, but I found that negative pregnancy test in the bathroom two weeks after she moved in with us. She thought he was wealthy, but it turned out his son was the one with the bank account.

She could be so infuriating. "I am not making a half dozen trips to the airport and the mall because your latest boyfriend thinks you have model potential."

"I've always been the pretty one. You remember what Granny Bess said? She told me I'd find the best husband." With that remark she unfolded her arms and gave me the most drippingly sweet smile she could muster.

She didn't appreciate anything. Six months ago I let her move in with us when she'd lost her apartment. Creditors were calling her cell phone all the time until the provider shut her service off for non-payment. I was the one who paid the reconnect fee and the past-due balance. I was the one who washed her laundry, cooked her meals, made sure she had the hairspray she wanted and that bottle of perfume that cost a small fortune.

Yet she couldn't say thank you. She kept asking for more. And I gave in because she was my sister. The only family I had left. Our parents were gone. I always promised Mom I would look after her.

We were stuck in rush hour traffic about two miles from the big department store she'd wanted to go to---still jobless with a dozen creditors looking for her. It was nearing the one hundred degree mark and though the AC was on full blast, the mini van was having a hard time staving off the heat.

"By the way, a few of my girlfriends are there. Can I borrow a hundred bucks? There's this pair of boots I have to have. Usually I don't do cheap footwear, but you have to make sacrifices, ya know?"

That was the last straw. Anger pulsated through me in a wave of deafening heartbeats. We'd been stopped at the same light for about two minutes. It would be our turn soon enough. Still, I was done. I threw the van into park and threw my door open.

Behind me, the car was viciously honking his horn. People all around us were staring at me in wonder. For the first time in my life, I didn't care what anyone thought. I grasped the passenger handle and nearly yanked the door off its hinges.

"Get outta my car!" I seethed. Without a second thought for the cars around me, I leaned across the seat and yanked the seatbelt off of her. Stunned, she said nothing, just kinda let her mouth hang agape.

"You can find your way to the mall then find your trashy clothes packed on the front lawn!" I pulled her from the seat and hit the door lock button. I slammed it shut. Any other time I might have been concerned that the window would shatter from the ricochet.

"Maggie, come on!" Erin shrieked. She looked completely unaware. Six inch stilettos from some famous Italian designer. A pair of tight blue jeans with some dangly gold belt. Perfectly manicured hands and peticured toes. Makeup a mask over her face. Hair in perfectly soft waves over her shoulders.

"Hope you have your hiking boots on." I cackled at her as I moved towards the drivers side of the van. I climbed in, shut the door, and made it just in time to turn at the end of a yellow light.

Only once did I look into the rear view mirror. Erin was resourceful. She'd find her way back to the house. I just hoped she found some respect along the way. I thought about turning around once.

"Momma, Aunt Erin was a bad girl." Katie shook her head at me in the mirror and went back to brushing her doll's hair.

"Yes she was." I agreed.