Frankie August Was Here (updated!)

[ZanarkandFayth]

One

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Vinnie helping me with homework had become part of the daily regiment of the August household. My older brother, either through his dad's genes or some dormant genius genes that our mother carried, was a certifiable Einstein...at least to all of us. Mostly me.

"You get it now?" he asked, a tinge of annoyance lingering in his voice, though I knew it wasn't for me. He crossed and uncrossed his arms, his eyes darting to the front door for any sign of her.

"You have to ask?" I snapped back, equally annoyed. "You know, I could get a good waitressing job down--"

"You aren't quitting high school, so stop whining," he said firmly. Of course, daddy dearest. My brother was more of a parent than any of the rest of us had ever had, and I would have liked to know where he'd gotten the paternal instinct.


"Mom's home," Charlie called wearily from the living room, and Vinnie tensed. This was it, finally. I stood, trying to gather my homework and slip it into my bag. I wouldn't need it anyway. Vinnie shot me a look that said, "Get in your room. Now."

But I stopped, and whether it was from some internal instinct to want to see my own mother, or just from sheer shock that Vincent August would ever talk to anyone so coldly was beyond me. He turned his shoulder to me, and I glanced into the living room where Charlie sat, his head in his hands, in a recliner, and Antony and Patrick slept soundly on the couch.


Our mother walked in, a glow about her and she snatched me up in a hug. I'd barely seen her awake that morning, her hair a mess and her makeup still on from the night before. It wouldn't be the first time that she'd slept over at her boyfriend's house. But she was happy, standing there in a soft black and white dress, way nicer than anything me or any of the guys had to wear.

"My precious baby girl!" she squealed, grabbing me up in a tight hug. She smelled like her own perfume and the thick cologne that her boyfriend always wore. Pulling me away, she looked at Vinnie with a smile. "Where are my other babies?"

"Antony and Patrick are sick," he lied, his eyes narrowing. "Charlie's asleep in the living room. I don't know what Jared's doing." I widened my eyes at him; Vinnie August, whose poker face was the worst I'd ever seen in my life, lied directly to our mother perfectly, no stumbling, no fault, and no guilt giving way.


I ran off before I had to watch anymore; he'd make sure I and the rest of our brothers could hear it, though. The last glimpse of them I'd gotten was a hostile one, more so than anyone had ever looked in our family. Vinnie was our peacemaker when Patrick and I got into a fight, or when Charlie said something mean to Antony. Vinnie was our hero, and then he had to be the bad guy.


"I'm done with this," he said, loudly, his voice echoing through the kitchen. I heard Mom yelp and jump back from the force behind his voice. She'd never heard him like that either. "I am not their father, and I am not supposed to have to take care of them, Mom!"

"Vinnie, I--"

"No! Let me talk," he said, his voice lowering, though it still boomed in the quiet house. Nothing moved and their was nothing to interrupt his talking.


"You have one daughter! One! And look what you do. You go out, night after night, showing her that it's okay to just abandon your family!"

Mom squeaked, whimpering as if she were going to cry. "But honey, I'm trying to find someone good to support this family," she pleaded, trying to explain her behavior. I sighed. We'd heard it all before. Her voice softened and warmer. "I think I found him, too."

"That's what you said about my dad. Then Charlie's, then the twin's, then Frankie's... When's it going to end? When you have ten kids and still no one to take care of you?" That one made me hurt. Unlike most of us, I was actually on fairly good terms with my dad. One or two visits a year, presents and money all the time. A pretty good deal, I've got to say.


Vinnie stopped and breathed, taking in all he'd said and making sure he had nothing else to say, no other wounds to open. "We're leaving. Tonight," he said, his voice soft and low, but I could still here it, and the reaization of it settled.

"We? You're...you're taking..?" she stuttered, and it settled on her too.

"Jared, Antony, Patrick, Charlie, and Frankie. We're all going," he said, and there it was. It was all final, and there was nothing else to say about it. When Vinnie set his foot down, even to our mother, it was over, and there were no other arguments to make him turn.


And Vinnie kept to his word. We left that night, the last time I saw my mom was when I was thirteen. Vinnie was twenty one, and though he said he wasn't supposed to have to take care of us, he chose to, as if staying there with our mother was really the worst thing for me. He'd said, in the car, that it was because he didn't want to just sit by and watch her go from one man to another, having one baby after another, and having to take care of sibling after sibling while our mother ran off to try to find "someone stable to take care of the family."

[bigkitty75]

This sounds pretty good

[emoscenesk8r]

that's good

[arielle22]

good so far

[Devomuffins]

Oh... so sad.

[Stelio Kontos]

I'm with everybody else.
I'll be here for the updates.

[Astral Faery]

I like this.  Nice job.

[LadyAzmodan]

this sounds so close to a plot summary i have laying about i had thought of doing. But yours are like a million times better! wow! i think its really really good!  So i will just delete my own 'dysfunctional family' plot summary, and sit back and enjoy yours!

YAY!

 

[Starwish001]

I like this!

[AjiDivine]

Great start! Keep it coming!

[ZanarkandFayth]

Thanks guys. ^^ I haven't been able to log in because I didn't know that InSimenator had a new address. But all is well now and updates will be coming up soon.

[ZanarkandFayth]

this sounds so close to a plot summary i have laying about i had thought of doing. But yours are like a million times better! wow! i think its really really good!  So i will just delete my own 'dysfunctional family' plot summary, and sit back and enjoy yours!

YAY!

 

AH! Don't make me stop you from writing your story! I love your stuff, and I would feel so bad if I made you not do something. 

[ZanarkandFayth]

Two

"Yeah, guys," I said, walking into the living room to the sight of Patrick and Bonnie practically glued together on the couch. They both laughed, paying me no mind. "That's what you want to see when you first get home." Patrick rolled his eyes and looked over Bonnie's shoulder with his wicked smile.

"You like it, don't deny it," he said, shaking his head.


I groaned and covered my face, thanking God that we were only related through our mother. I was sure that the dork genetics, though on our mother's side, was also from his dad, and when the two came together they made the terrible two-some, Patrick and Antony. I'd only gotten the geekiness from one side of the family, at least that's what I assumed. I'd ever really sat down long enough with my own dad to get to know him well enough to say whether his dork-hood had been transferred over to me.

"Pat, you're embarassing," I mumbled. Bonnie turned her head to me, an eyebrow cocked. I waved her off. "You're embarassing, too, Bonnie. Just...not in a familial way." Satisfied, she went back to cuddling as far against my brother as humanly possible. Gag me with a spoon, seriously.


Vinnie grabbed me from behind and pulled me into a quick hug. He was the only partially sane one in the house; kept everything and everyone together and from tearing each other's arms off and beating them with it. "Hey, honey," he said, squeezing me hard before letting me go. He pulled away with a strange look on his face. His eyes flashed to the card holder on the wall and grinned.

"Birthday card," he said simply.

Right on time, daddy dear, I thought, remembering the almost clockwork way his mailing of my holiday/birthday cards was.


"Ah," Antony said from the table, turning to Charlie with a small smile. "Super Dad strikes again." They both laughed, their own little joke. In reality, it was pretty bad. Vinnie spoke to his dad maybe once a year, to try to convince him to come over for Christmas, but he never did, never concidered it. Why, I wasn't sure. The two, for one reason or another, had never really gotten along too well. We always had trouble tracking down Antony and Patrick's dad, he was always traveling, and after Mom left Charlie's dad for the twin's dad, we hadn't heard from him again.

Super Dad, my ass, I thought. He could never remember that my name was Francoise, not Frances. It never mattered, of course, because besides Dear Frances he just called me Frankie for the rest of the letter.


Antony pursed his lips, watching me from the table. He sighed, his shoulders dropping. "I'm only kidding, Frankie," he said, pecking me on the cheek quickly. He nodded toward the stairs. "Come on. I've got something to show you."

I smiled. I loved Antony's surprises.


We raced up the stairs, though Antony didn't stop on the way to the room that the twins and I shared. But I could never get past Jared's room without stopping and staring. The door was always locked and closed, and almost no sound ever came out of his room. My brother had become a hermit a few years before we'd all left our mom. We wouldn't see him for weeks, sometimes months, on end. I couldn't tell you exactly what he looks like, or what his voice sounds like--

"Frankie!" Antony yelled from our room, dancing in the doorway impatiently. I nodded and ran inside, completely awed by what I saw.


"Antony, this is gorgeous!" I squealed, falling on my knees and inching closer to the graffitied walls. Antony had always had a knack for the dark and twisted, having drawn things around his and Patrick's bed. I'd begged him before to do something around more of the room itself, but had always been adamant that his art would stay on one side of the room and one side only.


"Thanks, Tony," I said, leaping into a hug. He said a silent thank you that I heard loud and clear. I looked at the originals all around his bed like twisted nightmares personified in ink. I squeezed him, looking on and remembering that Jared had never even been in our room.


I wondered what he would have done if he saw what Antony had drawn on the walls. I wondered if he would have liked them--loved them--scolded him for drawing on the walls, praised him for his creativity...


...I also wondered if he just truly didn't care.

[Hanomaru]

Amazing stuff! This looks like it's gearing up to be an awesome story. A+ Will read again!

[hellosun]

Wow.  I'll be on the look out for updates.