When the devil is a mother

Chapter-9

Though before I could enjoy my refreshment, I heard a loud crash on the other side of the wall. "What was that?" I called fiercely as I sprinted toward the door and swung it open.

I haul myself through the doorway and survey the area. My counter for cooking and dishwashing is fine, and the wall where I hang all my mugs to dry are all still in place.

I switch my gaze over to the other side, my eating area and favorite chair are still there and without harm.

Finally I look straight ahead toward my makeshift weight room.

I stare in suppressed horror as I see that one of my 5kg dumbbells was laid on the floor and next to it was the cracked remains of my feverishly polished floor!

I hold my anger inside and look toward Alice who for one looks to be on the verge of tears. Alice squeaked out, "Ehehe, s-sorry." in almost inaudible ramble.

I swallow my anger and regain my composed stature. I need to find out what has happened.

"Alice" I said in my voice of authority, the very same one I would do with the 203rd, just  not as much yelling, " I am not mad, just tell me what happened here, now." I could feel a bit of my old venom seeking out as I said it.

She stares at me like a deer caught in headlights. Completely frozen and terrified of an impending doom. It reminded me of the looks I would be given on the Rhine Front when I would sneak across no man's land and slit the French soldiers throats. Confusion, worry, and fear. Oh... so much fear I would see in their eyes. I could only hope that that fate would not befall on me someday.  I saw this and I was angry. A hot fire seeped into my soul, but I buried the furry burning inside me and let my more rational side take over and hear her out.

"I wa- was do- doing-" she stumbled with her words while pointing at one of my 5kg dumbbells. I still couldn't fully comprehend what she was deriving at so I let her continue to explain herself.

Children, especially young ones make mistakes and it is up to the guardian to make sure they are either appropriately rewarded or punished for their actions. This, alongside my own personal experience of children at the orphanage not being able to properly speak in front of potential parents, gave me the knowledge to let Alice finish explaining herself before I made an acquisition.

"I- wa- doi-" her speech sounded more like she forgot how to talk but her example motions seemed irely similar to that of a dumbbell curl. Which is a great interest to have at a young age, as self betterment is always a good thing to strive for, but doing so at such a young age inclined me to believe that she doesn't feel at peace with herself nor with her situation.

What I need to do now is to build a better bond between us and further my unknowing disguise, into thinking that we truly have a mother daughter relationship.

As taking from men much smarter than me in the psychological sciences, I will adhere to Skinner's operant conditioning theory. Reinforce positive acts and punish negative ones.

As Alice had tried to better herself, I will reward her and her actions toward physical betterment, but for cracking my floor I will punish her by showing her how to repair the broken bits.

I smirk to myself, a perfect cause and effect relationship for where I can seem to be both fair and righteous in my actions.

"I see." I said as I dropped to one knee to wipe away her gathering tears. I never really knew when these actions started to become more natural, all that I could say was that I was glad that they had been. Being guided by this instinct allowed me to be a much better parent to this child.

"Now Alice, follow me to the front." I said after I had finished wiping her tears, and discretely observing the actual damage to my floor. Thankfully, it didn't seem like it was too badly damaged and within an hour or two I would be able to guide Alice on how to fix it.