They had been talking about meeting his family for a few weeks. She had met his father, step mother and his little sisters. Recently he had brought her to meet his grandparents. The grandparents house was the only place that seemed "normal" and loving.
These family members were not the ones he had been preparing her to meet. There were several circles, some seemed to overlap, some seemed totally disconnected and then there was the newest family circle, his mothers circle.
She agreed to go over and have dinner with his mom and step dad. Feeling nervous and totally unsure of what was coming was really taking a toll. The drive there, only 20 minutes, seemed to drag on. He did his best to make his girlfriend feel better, it wasn't working.
As they pulled up to the house there was a tall, skinny, bearded man working on an old Ford truck in the drive way. She snickered at the sticker, KPIG, in the back window of the truck. They walked up the drive way and the bearded man said "you brought a good looking one this time". He forced a smile but did not verbalize a response. She smiled and just kept walking. The crazy chuckle the bearded man expressed was creepy.
At the front door he stopped, smiled, then grabbed her hand as they walked into the house. There were three women in the front room. Suddenly the eldest of the three said "shit, look who it is". This was of no comfort to his girlfriend. Not only was she meeting them all for the first time, but they had no idea they were coming. She squeezed his hand and he pulled her closer.
The woman that spoke stood up and came over to them. "We've missed you Junior", she said. He introduced his girl to her, his mother. Then the youngest girl stood and introduced herself as his sister. The third girl looked terribly familiar and highly unfriendly. She stood and he introduced her by name only, no family title.
It was a lot to take in. Just as she felt she could take a breathe two men came inside, one was the bearded man. He was her boyfriend's step father. The other man was the "no title" girls husband. He was the nicest so far. Very polite and at least he was smiling.
Suddenly there was the sound of deathly coughing. This house was tiny, surely no one else lived here. Wrong! Out of a back room comes an older lady and a strong smell of smoke followed her. This was Granny. The word overwhelming doesn't even come close to how she was feeling meeting his newest family circle.
While his mom cooked dinner everyone else sat around talking. The "no title" family member continued to be stand-offish and even rude. Her husband even nudged her a few times. Why does she lol so familiar?
Dinner was ready. It was like a feeding at the zoo. They all rushed in like there was a shortage of food and elbows were flying. Everyone sat where ever. This was not normal family in her world. Families sit together, at the dinner table. Then the TV went on, goodness what a different way to function.
When dinner was over she offered to help with dishes but his sister was not going to allow that. Her boyfriend went out to the drive way to "talk cars", now she was alone with mom and "no title". She heard some barking and asked "do you have dogs"? His mother said "yes, they are out back and very friendly".
She stood up to go peek at the dogs from the back door. She was horrified by what she saw. Both dogs were chained up, their dog houses were out of reach, they were under weight and no water was in sight. Slowly she opened the back door to gauge the dogs, both pit bulls, reactions. At first they were barking but then tails began to wag; they wanted some attention.
First she found their water bucket, filled it up and found a nice spot in the shade for it. Second, she untangled the chains so the animals could reach the water and their dog houses. Finally, she sat and just played with them. What a difference 10 minutes made.
She heard the back door slam, startled she jumped up. The familiar, no title girl was standing there and not looking to friendly. "Do you really not remember me"?, she asked. "I'm sorry, I don't. I thought you looked familiar when we arrived". Without any warning "no title" girl threw a punch at her. Completely stunned she began to protect herself and a full out fight began.
What seemed like forever passed and suddenly she was being pulled off no title girl. She could hear people talking, however her brain was filled with so much chatter no one else was really being heard.
The next thing she knew she was in her boyfriends car, her boyfriend kneeling by her door. She looked up and said "what is wrong with your family"?
