"This can't be a healthy working relationship, I'm sure we're violating some kind of rule," Natasha said as she took a sip from her coffee before setting it back down on the bedside table and glanced at Jay, lying in bed beside her, reading a magazine.
"When you run your own business, I think you get to make up the rules," he said, licking his finger and turning a page before adding, "Besides, it's not like we're doing it on the set." "I guess I can't argue with that, even if I feel like I ethically should," Nat said, chuckling, checking her watch, "I think the girls are coming over here to do a project together, so we should probably get up and clean stuff." "I should go check in with Corrine and see how the editing is going, and then go shoot Sharla's stuff," Jay said, climbing out of bed and groaning as he stretched, feeling Natasha's arms wrap around his midsection as he did. He smiled and held her hands, rubbing them with his thumbs. "Will you be coming back?" she asked. "Yeah, sure, we'll have dinner. I'll cook for everyone," Jay said. After Jay got dressed and left, Natasha threw some things into the washing machine and leaned against it, thinking about how much her life had changed in just the last few months. She had a potential new relationship with someone she trusted deeply, she had a brand new sister, and her daughter was doing better than ever. The show had been running for about 3 months now, and it'd been almost that long since she and Noreen had found one another, and frankly, it was the best Natasha had felt in ages. Nothing, she knew, absolutely nothing could ruin the life she'd built for herself and her daughter now. When the girls got home, Natasha was still cleaning up the living room as they walked in through the door. She turned the vacuum off as the door shut behind them, and she smiled at them. "You staying for dinner?" she asked and Courtney nodded. "My dad said it was alright, yeah," she said, "He said he'd pick me up after dinner, if that's okay, so you don't have to drive in the rain." "That's fine by me," Nat said, turning the vacuum back on as the girls headed up the stairs to Violet's bedroom. She finished vacuuming, then sat on the couch and opened her laptop, brought up her e-mail and saw she had something new from Noreen. She smiled and clicked it open. It read: "Natty, I have a great idea! Why not do a live show? Instead of just getting people to pay you through the subscription service on the site, you could do a short tour around the city and have people come see you live and in person! Let me know what you think. Love you! Noreen." Nat loved that Noreen was pitching ideas, and she loved that she had a nickname for her. And in all honesty, a live show wasn't a bad concept. She quickly wrote back and said she'd talk to Jay about it. Meanwhile, up in the bedroom, Violet had set her things down and gotten out a large posterboard for their project. Courtney was sitting on the bed while Violet cleared out a space on the desk for the posterboard. When she turned to look at Courtney, she noticed she was chewing her nails, something she only did when she was nervous. "Are you, uh, okay?" Violet asked. "I guess so," Courtney said, "I don't know. I just feel really out of place lately. Seems like everyone is finally understanding themselves, and I just am having so much trouble comprehending where it is I came from or why I am who I am. It's lonely." "I'm sorry," Violet said, sitting down on the bed next to Courtney and rubbing her back, saying, "I don't think you, of all people, need to understand yourself though. I think you understand yourself better than, uh, you know, the rest of us and, like....well, I think we need to find reasons for why we are the way we are because we don't understand ourselves. Does that, um, make sense? Like...you're perfect, you know yourself better than anyone else could ever hope to know themselves." Courtney pushed some hair back behind her ear and wiped at the tears forming in her eyes as she tried not to laugh. "Yeah, that...that actually means a lot, thank you," she said, turning and hugging Violet, who happily hugged her back. "Besides," Violet said, "you're way cooler than all of us combined." *** "I'll have that drive ready for you in just a minute," Corrine said as she strolled across the dorm, "it's offloading everything I've exported right now, but it's high speed transfer so it shouldn't take long even if it is a handful of gigs." "Take your time, I'm in no rush," Jay said, leaning against the wall and looking at the stuff she'd printed and hung up. "So, are you and Natasha, like...a couple?" Corrine asked, and Jay shrugged. "I guess. I don't know. We haven't really put a name on it, and probably for good reason. The last thing she tried to make permanent left for her sister, so I can understand some hesitancy on her part." "In my experience, not that my experience is the end all be all but, I've found that human relationships often falter after a short amount of time has worn off. It's like the sheen of a new car. Once that newness wears down, it's hard to see what's worthy about keeping it running. But I also haven't had a lot of great relationships, romantic or otherwise, in my life so perhaps my opinion means jack shit." Jay smirked, saying, "No, I think you're right in a lot of instances. I think that unless there's a deep connection that's not just surface level then it's very hard to maintain a relationship. But Nat hired me right out of film school, she's worked with me for a decade, she's...she's great, you know? We have a lot of respect and admiration for one another, and I think that's part of why we work so well together, romantically or professionally." Corrine sat back down at her desk, checking the transfer on the complete episodes, before reaching under her desk and pulling out a box of saltines and eating them plain right from the packaging. She offered Jay a few but he just waved his hand, politely declining. Corrine shrugged and went ahead munching. "So you've never had a good relationship?" Jay asked. "Nada. My folks and I barely talk, aside from them paying for my schooling, and I don't really have any friends, and I've..." she stopped and finished chewing before clearing her throat and finished saying, "...I've never had any romantic partners in a...physical way, so." "Really? Wow. That's kinda cool," Jay said as Corrine unplugged the drive at the sound it beeping upon completion and handed it to him. He stuck it in his coat pocket and added, "You know, for what it's worth I think we'd consider you a friend." "You don't have to do that. You don't have to show pity to me." "I'm not showing pity to you, Corrine," Jay said, laughing, "Jeez. We like you. That's why we hired you. Besides your qualifications of course. We liked how blunt and direct you are." "That is, depending on who you ask, either my best aspect or my worst," she replied, chuckling herself, "I'll see you same time next week, right?" "Unless something comes up, sure," Jay said. He exited the dorm and began walking down the hall, heading back towards the parking lot when his phone rang. He tugged it out of his coat pocket and answered. "Hello?" he asked. "Something's come up," Natasha said, "I want to do a live show. My sister's over here right now, you should get back so we can discuss this." Jay hung up and rubbed his forehead. He turned and walked back to Corrine's dorm, knocking. When she answered, she had half a cracker sticking out of her mouth, which she quickly pushed in and chewed. "You wanna go for a drive?" he asked. *** "It's a good thing we have the internet to download images for this," Courtney said, clicking through a series of images in a search before selecting a few and printing them, "Could you imagine if we had to, like, cut up old nature magazines in order to do this?" "Can I ask you a question?" Violet said quietly from the bed. Courtney turned from the desk and looked at her. "Of course, what is it?" "Well, you know how to, like...be a girl," Violet said, "You've put a lot of time and effort into, um, like, understanding it and stuff, you know? Do you think you could help me? I could never get the hang of makeup and I...I don't have the best fashion sense. But it still all needs to be comfortable." "I'd be happy to help you," Courtney said, smiling, "Gladly! I mean, you need to understand there's no wrong way to do it. So even if you feel like you're not doing it right, you are, you're just doing it the way that's right for you." "Okay," Violet said, "I just feel embarrassed because I was, you know, born a girl but because of being so stupid-" "You're not stupid." "You know what I mean. Because of how I am, I always felt, like, uh...disconnected, you know?" "Believe me, I know. I think that's partially why we get along so well," Courtney said. The bedroom door opened and Natasha was standing there in the hall, looking in, as the girls turned to look towards her. "Um, Jay is coming back so we can discuss a business thing but after that he's going to cook for everyone. Noreen's in the kitchen with me. Just saying so you don't get, I don't know, surprised or something by all the extra people in the house, or if you get hungry when he cooks," Natasha said. "Okay, thanks mom," Violet replied. Natasha shut the door and headed back down the stairs. She found Noreen standing in the living room looking at all her photos hung on the walls. "Taking in the scenery?" she asked, and Noreen laughed. "Um, more like, I guess, noticing that you don't have any photos of your ex up," she said. "Well of course, why would I, after what he did to us?" Nat asked. "That doesn't bother Violet? Not seeing her father?" "She saw him a while back and told me it was a wildly uncomfortable experience, so I guess not," Nat said, "They were never very close. I mean, when she was really little they got along good, but once she got to be like 7 or 8, I don't know, I think he was oddly ashamed of her mental faculties, even though he'd never admit it, and he didn't know how to overcome that shame or ignore it for her sake and just be a good dad." "That stinks," Noreen said, "How do you feel about it all?" "Honestly, at this point, I feel pretty okay knowing it's over. I've moved on. It's weird, big moments like that, that you'd expect to change your life in ways you'd never recover from - divorce, death, whatever - always only have a shock value that lasts a certain amount of time I've found. The first few weeks are weird, but quickly after life just goes on. I mean, maybe it's different for everyone, but that's been my experience." "No, you're right," Corrine said as she unzipped her coat, Jay shutting the front door behind them; she went on, "when I was a kid, I knew other kids whose grandparents died and they acted like it was something their lives would never be the same because of, and then when my own died, I don't know...it was weird, like you said, but I didn't feel like my life changed all that much. Just people who'd been there weren't anymore, and that was that really." "See, she gets it," Nat said. "I do," Corrine said, seating herself on the couch and pulling out her package of crackers from her coat pocket, continuing to eat them, "You have a nice home." "You know Jay's making dinner," Nat said, smirking. "I know, but I can only eat certain things with certain flavors or textures," Corrine said, "So unless he's some kind of magical chef that can easily prepare something each one of us can individually digest, I think I'll stick with my crackers." "Fair enough," Nat said, sitting down beside her, saying, "But it's true. I thought my husband leaving would be weird, I thought it'd be something that I'd never come back from and would mourn forever, likely because that's what a lot of media has told women divorce entails, but...like...it was just like a roommate moving out, honestly, and in the end all it did was make me wonder if that's how easy it ultimately was, after the brief period of grief, then how good could we have really been together?" "You could do an entire Q&A at the live show, get people to talk about these things, their experiences with them, in front of others and connect," Noreen said, "Really open people up." "You want to do a live show?" Corrine asked, and Natasha nodded; Corrine shook her head, dumbfounded before adding, "That isn't like normal editing, that's...that's in the moment light changes and, and...and being on top of acoustics and-" "You don't have to do it if you don't think you can," Nat said, "I just wanted to give you the option to say yes if you wanted to. I'd perfectly happy hiring someone to do the live shows and letting you stay in your comfort zone doing prerecorded material if that's what you want." "I don't...I don't know how good an idea this all is," Corrine said, getting up and pacing, clearly starting to panic, "I just...I don't...that's a lot of responsibility and if something goes wrong, people will notice immediately because it's in the moment. I don't know...I..." Noreen stood up and put her hands on Corrine's shoulders, turning her to face her, and looking in her eyes. "You are safe here," she said, "You can say no. Nobody will judge you." Corrine's breathing slowed, and she started to visibly calm down. "I...I think I could do it, but it would require a lot of help and a lot of preparation," Corrine said, looking at Nat before shifting her view back to Noreen and whispering, "thank you." Jay excused himself and headed into the kitchen to begin dinner, while Corrine joined him to get a glass of water. Natasha stood up off the couch and looked at her sister, impressed. "That was good," she said, "You know, both you and Violet say you're challenged, but you both seem way smarter than most of the supposedly 'normal' people I meet day to day. How did you know to do that?" "Challenged can mean a lot of things. I am good with words and good with relating to others that I feel I can relate to. But I'm not so good with numbers, and I can't do a lot of basic things that are required to manage my own day to day life, like taxes. Anyway, when I was a teenager, my dad used to get panic attacks, and I learned from my mom how to help calm him down. It was something she learned from his therapist." "...I'm so glad you're in my life," Natasha said, surprising even herself at this rather open admittance. "I am too," Noreen said. Nat called the girls down to eat, and together, they all had a large family style dinner, something many of them hadn't had in ages. It felt nice, to belong to an entire unit once again, a unit that actually cared about one another, and wanted to help one another. Who knew, Nat thought as she ate and looked around the table at all these people she'd acquired, that broken families can create the best families. *** Bryan and Courtney were driving home in near silence, with the car radio tuned to soft jazz as the rain hit the windshield lightly. It was relaxing, and Courtney was appreciative of this solitude, especially with her father, whom she didn't get to see much thanks to work. "Dad?" she asked, "Do I remind you of mom?" "Not particularly," Bryan said, "Your mom was a great woman, but, uh...she wasn't nearly as brave as you are." Courtney wanted to cry. She knew she was lucky, she knew that the support her father gave her was not the kind of familial support other girls like her got, especially from their fathers, and she couldn't be more thankful for it. "You know," Bryan said, "the funniest part of all of this is that, when your mom first got pregnant, she asked me if I wanted a son or daughter, and I said I didn't care but she made me pick, so I said son. But I only said that because that's what society expects of fathers. They expect fathers to want sons. I wanted a daughter. Turns out I got what I wanted, even if it took a little while. Either way, makes sense you'd rail against society too. You're more like me in that regard, and I couldn't be prouder of you for it. What made you ask about mom?" "Just...being at Violet's and seeing how many people she has in her life, it made me think about family," Courtney said, "it's just you and me, really. We're all we have. But, much as I'm sure having that many people is good for her, having just you is good for me. I think what we have works." "I can always call up my brother, if you want more family around," Bryan said, and Courtney scoffed. "God, no thank you. Seeing him once a year for the holidays is enough," she replied. Bryan laughed as Courtney leaned into him and hugged his arm. While it was nice being a part of Violet's big family made up of assorted people, Courtney appreciated that her own was small. She missed her mom, she wouldn't deny it, but she was perfectly fine just having her dad. When she looked at photos of her mother, sometimes she saw aspects of herself, and this made her worry that it made her dad uncomfortable, but to hear him say that she didn't remind him of her made her happy. She didn't want to be like her mother, much as she loved her. She wanted to be her own woman. And she was glad to know she was. Just like Violet wasn't ashamed of her mental problems, Courtney wasn't ashamed of her biology. And why would they be. They were both women. And women should never be ashamed of themselves for being women.
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Noreen's eyes were wide, her jaw was slack. She knew it was true, she'd always known somehow, but to actually hear it said out loud...that simply created a whole new set of questions, a whole new reality that now had to be grappled with.
"You do understand, right?" Doris asked, and Noreen nodded; Doris smiled and continued, "We love you like our own, even if you aren't, so please don't think we're telling you this to hurt you or anything. We just think it's right you know that while we're not where you came from, we still love you like we would have our own baby." Noreen was only 10 when she was told this news. Her parents, - could she still call them parents? - John and Doris Stack were sitting across from her in their living room, telling her that she'd been adopted. Noreen had always suspected something was amiss with her family, and now it was nice to have those suspicions confirmed. And Doris was right, it didn't change a thing. Noreen still loved them like parents, and would continue to well into her adulthood. After all, they'd been the ones who'd raised her, who'd taken her in, who'd loved her so deeply. So no, it wasn't this news that changed her life, in fact, it was the next thing John said that changed it. "Your parents wanted kids, but they just felt they were too young then to have them. You would've been the oldest sister, and they didn't know the first thing about child rearing." The oldest sister. Noreen had siblings?...not knowing her actual parents, that she could live with, but not knowing her sisters? That she couldn't accept. After all the bullying she'd gotten at the hands of her peers, and would continue to get for years, she had to know her sisters. But her parents wouldn't give her anymore information, much to her annoyance, and it wasn't until she saw Natasha on television one day as an adult that something in her head suddenly clicked for her, and she knew, she just knew, this was the sister she was looking for. Suddenly Noreen's life made sense, and she was going to do whatever it took to get in touch with her. *** "She's not stupid," Noreen's teacher said to John and Doris during a sit down conference one day, "she's just...struggling. She's clearly got mental blockages, and I want to help her get past that and excel. I believe she has the capacity to do great things, be someone great, and all she needs is the right help." "We know Noreen is challenged," John said, cupping his hands in his crossed legs, "we're aware that we're likely going to have to take care of her for most of her life, and we struggle sometimes to think how she's going to manage without us once we're gone. We've looked into housing options for challenged people, the intellectually disadvantaged and whatnot, but it's all so expensive. We're not poor, by any means, but we're also not rockafellas." "I can help her, I know I can," her teacher, Katrina, said, "She's a bright, articulate young lady, she just needs some help getting her thoughts organized and out of her head in a way that makes sense to her. Every child has a different way of learning, and that's true even for challenged children. If anything it's more true. I have a cousin I helped growing up who was intellectually disadvantaged, and so I know what to do. I'm not saying one is exactly like the other, but I am saying that I think I'm fairly qualified." "Well, if you think you can help," Doris said, smiling politely. Sitting in the car on the way home, Doris and John didn't talk about the meeting. They hadn't known Noreen was challenged when they got her. She was a baby after all. It wasn't until she was 3 or 4 that they began to see signs, and truth be told, neither one cared. They loved her just the same. But the importance the rest of the world put on smarts made them nervous for Noreen's potential future, or lack of one. Doris opened her purse and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it up as John drove. "She's a nice lady," Doris said, exhaling smoke out the passenger side window, "and I do think she genuinely cares and wants to help. That being said I won't deny that it makes me scared. Noreen is special, and I don't mean mentally, I mean she's actually special to us and I don't want the world to take advantage of her just because she thinks differently." "I know what you mean, and I couldn't agree more," John said, "That's why we have to do everything in our power to make Noreen realize that who she is, what she is, is normal and fine. Getting help is something everyone does, regardless of their intellectual capacity, and she shouldn't be ashamed of that. If anything, needing help only makes her more like everyone else." "Exactly," Doris said, taking another long drag, then holding it for a second before releasing, "...we're doing a good job, right? As parents?" "I think so," John replied, rubbing his wife's leg and smiling at her, "I think, given the circumstances, she couldn't have ended up with better people to raise her." Noreen began staying after school with Katrina, and as a result, she did in fact begin to do better. Katrina did actually have what it took to get Noreen to not only understand the assignments, but flourish within an educational facility. That's why, a few years later, when Katrina got into a bad car accident and died, Noreen retreated into her personal space. She felt like the only person who could ever understand how her brain worked was now gone, and without knowing her siblings, who could she really look to? So Noreen began sitting inside. Watching television. Reading. Making crafts. And eventually, she wound up on the internet, using it as a tool to help her understand the world at large. It wasn't until Natasha's show went off the air and moved online that she finally found a way to contact her, and she wouldn't have done so if Katrina hadn't died. Katrina's death taught Noreen that you need to reach out to the people you think can change your life, while you still have the chance to do so. And thus the commenting began. *** "Mom?" Violet asked, standing in the hallway outside Noreen's bedroom, cell phone pushed to her ear, "Mom?" "Yeah, hi sweetheart, what's going on? Are you okay?" Nat replied. "I'm, um, I'm fine, mom, yeah, uh and um....mom I need you to come over to, uh, where we are." "...oh...okay," Nat said, "Where are you guys? Give me the address." After she finished the phone call, Violet hung up and re-entered the bedroom. She stood and looked at Noreen, who was standing looking out her bedroom window at her father down in the garden. Violet joined her. Jay and Courtney went to wait outside for Natasha, leaving the two girls alone. "It's nice, to, uh, to know where I come from," Violet finally said in a hushed voice, "You know, like, um, like...like discovering your origins, or whatever." "I know what you mean," Noreen said, flashing her a big toothy grin, "When my parents told me I was adopted, I didn't care, but when they told me I would've been the oldest sister, that made me want to know my family. Your mother helped make sense of the world for me, because she made me realize it doesn't have to be mean, and you can be a good person for no discernible reason, expecting nothing in return." "Your speaking skills are good," Violet said, almost embarrassed. "I spoke like you when I was your age," Noreen said, "You'll grow out of it. It took some self control, but you'll get there. I just can't believe I'm finally going to meet my little sister. Has she had a good life?" "She's...um....not really, not, uh, lately. Dad left a while ago, and uh, and for her sister, so that...that's been, um, uncool," Violet said, seating herself on the bed, adding, "I try to, ya know, like...make her, um, happy? Or at least, like, make her know I'm there for her? But..." Noreen raised an eyebrow as she awaited the rest of Violet's statement. "...I don't think anyone knows I'm anywhere except for Courtney." "Well at least you have one good friend," Noreen said, "Growing up all I really had were my parents, and I loved them for their companionship, but it would've been nice to maybe know someone my own age." "I always kind of, uh, wondered how I, you know, fit in, because mom and dad are..." They waited. "...normal?" "That isn't the right word," Noreen said, "But I know what you mean." "But now that I know you, it all makes sense," Violet said, "So, like, thanks...I guess?" Noreen smiled and rubbed her nieces back. After all this time, after all these years, she finally knew what it was like to truly be related to someone, and it just so happened to be someone she saw a lot of herself in. The good thing was, Noreen liked herself, which made seeing herself in Violet only love her that much more. *** Before her husband left for her sister, Natasha and her sister, Ashley, had been fairly close. Some might even say they'd been best friends. But after that betrayal, they didn't speak, and Nat had only just begun talking to her ex, and only for the benefit of her daughter having a father in her life, fairly recently. Driving towards this unknown destination in a neighborhood she'd never been to before, she couldn't help but think about how different things would've been had she and Stephen had in fact had a second child like they'd planned to. What would Violet be like if she had a sibling? Course, she had Courtney to watch out for her, and Nat appreciated that friendship, but still. Natasha felt madder at Ashley than she did at Stephen for the longest time, because Stephen was just a man she met, fell in love with and married. She could understand him making a mistake. But her own sister? Someone she'd known her whole life? Someone she'd trusted with her deepest, innermost secrets? That was unforgivable. Natasha chewed nervously on her lip as she pulled up the house and parked, spying Jay and Courtney waiting outside, playing cards. They looked at one another, then back towards the car, and stood up as Natasha exited. "Where's Violet?" Nat asked as she came up the walkway. "She's inside, upstairs. You should head on up," Jay said. Nat pushed past them and headed inside, determined to figure out what this was all about once and for all. Boy would she be surprised. *** "That's her," Noreen said, pointing at her laptop as she and Doris sat at the kitchen table. "That's your sister? You know this for sure?" Doris asked, and Noreen nodded; Doris smiled and rubbed Noreen's back, adding, "Well, if that's what you think then you should do what you have to to reach her. I fully support whatever it is you need to do to feel more comfortable in your personhood. If that means making contact with your siblings, I support that." "Thank you," Noreen said, "...she looks a lot like me, except for our teeth. She has a perfect smile. She has a perfect everything. I'm the reject." "You weren't the reject. If you were the reject, we wouldn't have taken you in, would we? We wanted you. That makes you not a reject," Doris said, and Noreen shrugged. "I...I guess," she replied, "...what if she doesn't like me?" "She's spent her entire career helping others understand and accept themselves, to better their lives. I think, if anything, her issue is she likes too much. I'm sure she'll be ecstatic to know she has another sister, especially after what her own did to her, if what you've told me is true. If anything, this doesn't make you the reject, this makes you the hero." Noreen looked back at the screen and smiled. "A real sister," she whispered, touching the screen gently with her fingertips. *** Natasha opened the door to the room and stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway, looking at Violet and Noreen sitting on the bed, side by side, hand in hand. She stared at them, and they stared back at her, and for one single moment, it felt like time itself had stopped entirely. "Violet, you're okay?" Nat asked, entering the room now, "Everything's alright? I was so worried." "I'm fine, mom," Violet said, standing up and putting her arms around her mother, "mom, this is Noreen." Noreen stood up approached Natasha, the two of them standing, eye to eye, but neither said a word. "What...what's going on here?" Natasha finally asked, and Noreen giggled. "This is all my fault," she said, "I...I found your site, and your videos, and I started commenting, and your daughter and her friends came looking for me. But...that's exactly what I wanted to happen. I wanted, or, rather, needed, to meet you." "What is this?" Nat asked, sounding a bit uncertain now as she put an arm on her daughter instinctively. "Before your parents had you and your sister, they had another baby," Noreen said, "...I was that baby. They were too young, and uh, and they...um...well, they gave me up for adoption. I was taken in by Doris and John, who own this house. But...when they said I would've been the older sister of someone, I knew I had to track you down, especially after, uh, after learning what happened between your sister and husband." Natasha couldn't speak. This wasn't happening. This was unreal. Another sister? A better sister? A sister who apparently spoke and acted like Violet, thus making Violet's mental challenges finally make sense in the course of their family timeline? No. This had to be a mixup or something. "I..." Natasha started, but she didn't even know how to start, "...my sister was my absolute best friend in the world, and when she took my husband from me, I felt so sick, I felt so betrayed, and the worst part was, the only person I wanted to talk to about it was my best friend, but she was the one who'd betrayed me. I was so alone. I mean, I had Violet, I'll always have Violet, and I love her to the ends of the earth, she's my daughter...but she shouldn't have to bear my pain as well as her own adolescent torture." Natasha reached out and touched Noreen's hair, almost as if this somehow made it more true. As if this texture could tell her this was real. "...what's your name?" "Noreen." "Hah...we...we even have names with the same first letter, funny," Natasha said, "...why didn't you try to contact mom and dad? Why didn't you...you know, try to contact your parents?" "Nat, why would I do that? I have parents, I don't have a sister," Noreen said, grinning as a smile broke on Natasha's face. As Natasha leaned into her new sister, squeezing her tight, the both of them crying heavily, Violet realized how well her mother had raised her. Violet had done what her mother had taught her to do. What she'd tried to teach everyone to do. To help one another. To love someone else. But all this time, nobody had been loving Natasha in the way she needed. Nobody had been helping her the way she needed. Not until Jay helped her start the site, and not until she had tracked down Noreen. Now it was time for Natasha to be helped, and loved. Yeah, Violet thought, she had a really good mom, and like Noreen had as a child, a great teacher. |
About
Public Access follows Natasha Simple, a self qualified "self help" instructor with her own show on local public access. But when she makes a sudden and surprising statement on air, her entire life changes, for the better...and the worse. Archives
December 2022
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