Nurtured into Rebellion

Nurtured into Rebellion

The constant pour of the rain slamming on the iron roof was the only thing that covered the screams coming from Monica’s house. Samantha (Sam), her last born daughter had broken her arm again, riding the bicycle. Jack being the acclaimed doctor in the house, albeit professionally a dentist, would have gladly taken care of the injury. However, Monica insisted on seeing an orthopedic specialist, and she wouldn’t mess with Meghan’s possible future in Hockey or any other sport. Several hours in the hospital and Meghan was sown, patched, and drugged.

Monica’s overly busy office would not allow her to sit with the injured child, but in the next few days, she couldn’t focus on her work either. She blankly stared at the contracts on her desk with only one thought in mind, “was it possible that her last daughter Meghan was not good in sports?” as this was her fifth time getting an injury during a sporty activity. They had tried skating, football, running and cycling but nothing gave. After the first three injuries, she had assumed that Meghan was lazy, or just clumsy, but this last injury ascertained what she feared in her heart, “this child was not like the others, she was bad at sports, and she hated the outdoors. In fact, the only reason she engaged in sports was the strictness of her mother.”

Monica’s fear of having non-sporty children was buried in her misplaced understanding of feminism. For instance, she had this common saying that “not wearing pants was showing a lack of appreciation of all the women who fought for the right to wear pants.” That belief accompanied by others was the reason why she always wore pants suits to work and why she was the most feared partner at her law firm. Even the biggest fool could tell that Monica was attempting to act like a man. Most people could be misled into thinking that her children were the luckiest on earth because, with a feminist mother, they were open to being anything they wanted to be. Come to think of it, Alexandria (Alex), her first daughter, had the best mother in the world. She was high-achieving, loved sports and the outdoors, a bit tom-boyish, and she could match her brother Jim in any sport or game. Together the two were like brothers.

Unfortunately, Sam did not fit into this tight-knit family of high achievers. She hated sports, hated the ugly jeans they were forced to wear to school and hated that all the dolls she had in her bedroom were stolen from her playmates. Sam still remembers the last time she went shopping with her mother. Being only ten years old, she beelined to the toy section and picked a doll that looked so much like her mother with the brunette push back and glasses. She hoped this would warm her mother’s heart, and she could finally have someone to play within the house. Unfortunately, what Monica saw when she looked at her daughter was backward thinking that would make Meghan’s most significant achievements having kids. And she said as much to Meghan, and the doll was discarded back to its shelf. Since then, Samantha stole dolls from her friends and hid them under a loose floorboard where no one would discover them.

Now 14 years old and Meghan is dreading joining high school. She believes her slight body looks better in dresses, and fair skin comes to life with a little makeup on. But these are absurd ideas she would never say out loud. She once tried to explain this to Alex, whose response was, “Don’t be those lame girls with beauty and no brains.” At least her brother suggested that she does those things, but be careful to hide them from her mother. Fast forward into her sophomore when Alex ransacked her room and showed their mother all the contraband. Meghan arrived from school to a smell of burning clothes and magazines. It was declared that as long as she is under her parent’s roof, must follow all rules and any disappointment would lead to military school, did girls even go to such schools? That was it for Sam, no lies, no hiding, and she was going to punish her mother one way or another. She plotted, “One of her friend’s mother had gone insane when the daughter got pregnant. What a good punishment! That is what she will do. She will get pregnant and make her mother the laughing stock of the entire town. Maybe she would go insane too”.

For such a pretty girl, getting pregnant was not hard. She just had to give in to her boyfriend’s advances, and four weeks later, she was hugging her toilet. It didn’t take long before regret settled. Her schoolmates termed her the pregnant girl, her body became unflattering, Tom broke up with her, and the teachers started to talk of transferring to underage pregnancy high school. Worst of all, her mother was out of the country on a work assignment. Therefore, she couldn’t see her punishment. A friend ran by her the idea of abortion and to a sad, inexperienced lonely girl that appeared to be the answer to everything. Sadly, she died during an illegal abortion, and the last thought in Meghan’s mind was, “at least this pregnancy proved that I am a woman after all.”