Chapter 74: Called it growth.
Chester Gallagher was quick to pin Liam to the ground. Ruffling his hair in a playful manner, Liam groaned. "Off me you bloody gibface."
"Ohh did your mental mother teach you that one?" He chuckled, seemingly not offended.
Groaning with anger, Liam grabbed a handful of Chester's hair making him wince. "Quit being a meater Liam and fight me with you fists..."
"No chance, hornswoggler!"
"Wait—" Chester said offended. "Did Ralph teach you that?"
"Maybe.."
"RALPH!!!" They both yelled.
The young man entered the room only to see the two brawling at each other like animals. Reading his mail, he only turned to look the other way.
"Why did you teach him that?" Chester asked a tad bit hurt. "I thought I was your favorite brother—"
Liam finally sat up breathing hard after having been pinned down for too long by his nearly obese half brother.
"Well, Liam helped me say a few kind words to Sandy... in my last letter." Ralph replied. "Look here, she replied. She even called me handsome worthy..."
"That pale faced harlot?" Chester cringed.
"I think, she is pretty decent." Liam added.
"What would you know? With a father who humps on negroes." With that they continued their absurd tantrums. A memory crossed his mind when his Aunt Marry and Panashe has taught him that there was no difference between the two people with different shades. 'If a black person is a gorilla, a white person is a white gorilla.' He suddenly remembered the stupid comparison he had made as a kid. He suddenly felt the need to defend the negroes, Panashe... someone he had always had a close bond with. His mother had deceived everyone not only him but even William, for a split second. He felt guilty and selfish. Realizing his mother had been the evil villain in this story.
As they continued their violent faceoff on the carpeted floor. Chester being the same age as Liam, it didn't help with the quarrels. He felt that his position as the last born was being taken away. Most of the Gerald's older children were married and led their own lives, the remaining sixteen year old Ralph and eleven year old Chester had made it hard for Liam to fit in but as time went by they got along just fine. Liam found a place within the household even if it meant constantly being bullied. With all this bullying, he felt horrible for the way he had treated Christian, it was not his fault. Neither had it been Panashe's.
"Ralph!"
"Mother?" Ralph replied in a panicked tone, quickly hiding his letter. "I have been telling them to stop but they won't take it from me Mother!" He lied.
"Liam! Chester!" Susie, Gerald's wife yelled immediately getting their attention. Messy hair and flustered red cheeks, Chester and Liam huffed, arms crossed.. they knew what their punishment would be.
"Mother, He called me a hornswongler." Chester accused with a pout.
Susie gasped. "Liam that is very vile of you..." she could only think this was Tracy's doing.
"If he did not mention my mental mother every single day. I wouldn't have to respond that way.."
"Enough! I expect the both of you to go cut the hedges out front this minute."
With a groan they both huffed. Susie handed them their miniature scissors, it would take a decade before they finished the task but the main focus was to get them to talk and act civil with each other. Perhaps find a middle ground and understanding. Ralph only gave them a knowing look before heading to his bedroom, a grin on his face as he re-read his letter. That was until his mother instructed him to supervise the two as they served their punishment.
—
Out front, Liam was quiet so was Chester. Ralph was bored watching them over the hedge. He decided to converse a little. "So Liam... you're really good with writing love letters, very good with your words.."
"My father taught me, well atleast I assumed he was my father." Liam sighed. "More like my uncle..."
"That sounds awful." Chester added with a tad bit of sympathy.
"We aren't really acquainted to uncle William, Grandpa said he was running away from his duties. He impregnated a negro."
"He is a nice person..." Liam sighed, realizing he missed the man, he once called father. "So is the negro... her name is Panashe."
"Ewww..." the two brother's said immaturely. "We do not associate with negroes, never have, we hardly see them around these parts. What are they like?" It was entirely true, the area they lived in was a Caucasian suburbia where seeing a negro was almost an abomination.
"They're people... just like us." Liam said thoughtfully. "They have interests, they also laugh, they also feel pain... they're just like us, just of a darker skin tone."
"Really?" Chester said with amazement.
"Have you touched one? What's their skin like?" Ralph asked.
Liam chuckled. "You're both delirious... like I said, they're just like us." Shaking his head. "Panashe used to bathe me as a child. We did everything together. We had conversations, we even took my dog for walks. I remember how she made the best Mac and cheese, when we moved away it was all I missed... my mother was awful in the kitchen."
"You did all that with the negro?" Chester gasped. "You did not catch a sickness then?"
"What sickness?" Liam asked.
"The negro sickness obviously."
"Uhm, never heard of it."
It seemed there was a social stigma that had been created to discriminate against people of a darker skin. The little myths of negro sickness or this and that. It was simply a way to keep whites away from blacks. It made them rather afraid and oblivious. The only explainable way of how white children were raised would be growing up being told dogs are dangerous, do not go near dogs they're capable of this and that. Without experience you would grow up avoiding dogs, afraid of all you had been told. You would never try to associate yourself with dogs because all your life you have been told they're a dangerous and that was the way some Caucasians had grown up. Too sheltered and oblivious to the real world, real truths and the lies that bind to become as racist as could be.
—
That very week, Liam asked Gerald if he could maybe visit... the plot. He missed his father, no one would ever compare. Of course, Gerald had been accommodating and so was his wife. He still missed his father, William. It was odd not seeing him for that long, it was odd because for the first time... he realized apart from his mental mother. William was the only person he had, the only person whom he was used to and had grown to love and feel the comfort and warmth of having him as his father.
He missed Addie, she was still his little sister. Liam was willingly to build a relationship with Christian. The way Ralph and Chester has bullied him at first arrival, he had learnt how painful and harsh it felt. To felt unwanted, to feel like a bother in people's life, to feel unaccepted. Liam has learnt an awful lot during his stay with Gerald's family. It made him appreciate what he had before. He did not wish to beg or stay with William, he had found a home and male siblings that he had always wished for as much as he had Addie. He had found a place where he felt comfortable. All he wanted was to be able to see Addie and William once in a while.
At times he did not even miss them, occupied by the fun he was having withhold current family. He had grown a little hatred for Gerald Gallagher, he had told himself that he would never consider him a father, especially not his father but that all changed when Chester and Ralph had gotten to him. They called him father, why shouldn't he? His wife had to be the most religious woman, Liam had ever met. Still kind but very strict. He was suddenly required to attend bible study and add his favorite verse for that week. His mother had never initiated that. Furthermore, his mother was never that strict. Liam has been used to doing as he pleased. He was learning morals and as much as he had loathed it at the start, he curved in. The feel of having a family felt great. The feeling of having male siblings to quarrel with felt just as good. He knew very well that he owed them an apology. He did not want to grow up with hatred in his heart. He wanted to have the bond, he had once with Panashe. His mother was mental but he wasn't and he wanted to make things right on her behalf. The pain she had caused, the fire she had started. He wanted to make it die out on her behalf. For many reasons, he still loved her and would always always hope that she got better even if the situation said otherwise. For now he was grateful for family and family.
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