Write the Story

Not Just Another Lazy Sunday (ARCase)

It was a lazy Sunday in the Fulton household. Well at least lazy for the children Kara and her sister Jenna, while their mother Stephanie was stripping old flowery wallpaper from the kitchen walls. More than once she had asked her daughters to give her a hand, but it seemed the girls had selective hearing this morning. Both were sprawled on the couch, still in their pajamas, watching a marathon of Love Island.

Stephanie sighed and rolled her eyes more than a few times at the garbage programming she heard coming from the living room TV. What that show certainly depicted wasn't love. It should have been called Drama and Lust Island in her opinion. She debated storming in the livingroom to demand her daughters turn it off. She missed the mornings her daughters would watch cartoons in their pajamas. But now Kara was thirteen and Jenna was fifteen, dangerous territory to navigate, and Stephanie found herself choosing her battles wisely for the sake of her sanity.

She also realized, she'd let her girls get away with more since the divorce. It had been a long and nasty one at that, as Peter had fought her tooth and nail on every issue for a year. Even though he was the one who demanded the divorce in the first place, he wanted his way on everything, just as it had been during their sixteen-year marriage. He wanted the house, the nicest car, the boat, full custody of the children, the lake property, despite the fact he spent little time with his girls, or at home. But he had been getting plenty of use out of that lake property with his secretary Janet for the last few years.

It had cost Stephanie a great deal of money to win primary custody of her girls, the house, and their Mercedes, and Peter had kept his boat, lake property, and girlfriend fifteen years his junior. But as soon as the divorce papers had dried, Stephanie had the house listed on the market. She wanted a fresh start for her and the girls. Away from the town where everyone knew their business.

So that is what had brought them to Sugar Falls, into the house which had belonged to her Aunt Geraldine Harper. The house had been left to her when Aunt Geraldine had passed thirty years ago and had been rented out. Stephanie hadn't renewed their lease when it was up and had moved across the country. At first, the girls had put up quite the fuss at the prospect of leaving their friends, but their father had been a prominent businessman in their small town, so word of his exploits had gotten around quickly. The other children began to tease Kara and Jenna about it. And they had eventually gotten on board with the move here last week.

As Stephanie was busy stripping ugly wallpaper from the nineteen eighties with a steam gun, Kara ambled into the kitchen for cereal and also to ask if her mother had seen her sketch notebook. Her daughter certainly hadn't gotten her artistic talent from her, though she looked a lot like her mother. Both had dark brown hair that hadn't decided if it was curly or straight but fell somewhere in between and large green eyes. Kara had also inherited certain of her mother's less desirable traits such as her lack of patience and picky eating habits. Jenna, unfortunately, favored her father with ashy blonde hair and blue eyes. Jenna had also gotten her father's need to be the best at everything and wanting to boss others around.

Stephanie was glad that Kara had stuck with her passion for drawing, even though Peter had told her it was a waste of time. He was against encouraging the girls on any pursuits which wouldn't make them "wealthy and successful". Jenna had quit ballet for that reason a few years back after her father told her she wasn't good enough to ever make it a career. Stephanie had fumed at her then husband for saying such a thing, and tried to convince Jenna to stick with it and that Peter was wrong. But her daughter's mind was set. Instead, Jenna had started volunteering for the sake of her future college applications. At the same community center, Peter had, which also happened to receive donations from the Ivy League school he had attended. Jenna had been right on track to follow in her father's footsteps. It was another reason this move had been necessary in Stephanie's opinion.