Abby lay on the porch swing reading, freaking Romeo and Juliet of all things. Her English teacher had assigned it. Though it was hard to read, David was right, the words did flow like music. Sometimes she got completely lost in their rhythm and beauty. She read a stanza that described Ryan perfectly, "...young men''s love, then lies, Not truly in their heart but in their eyes. Romeo and Juliet Act II Scene iii." Ryan would get over her. He never stuck to one girl for more than six weeks, why should she be any different?


    There was a light rap on screen door and Lila came in.  Her face was flushed and she looked excited. She asked, "Is Chester home?"


    Where else would he be? The man did not have a job. Abby said, "Yeah, he is inside."


    "Thanks." She went inside. Abby shoved her bookmark into the book and followed Lila. The house smelled like a seafood restaurant. When had Grammy learned to cook crabs?  When did she buy crabs? Chester must like crabs. All he had to do was hint and presto what ever he wanted appeared.


    Lila stopped at Chester''s door. Of course he was playing that stupid song he could not seem to find an ending for. Lila asked, "Hey, can I tear you away from your music?"


    Chester stopped playing.  "Why?"


    Nervously she asked, "Could you help me hang some painting at The Gallery."


    Chester and Lila did not need to be alone together. Abby rushed to his door and  asked, "Hey can I come too?"


    Lila laughed.  "Ryan asked me the same thing.  What is your sudden interest in art?"


    Abby ignored her question and asked another of her own, "Ryan’s going?"


    "No, there isn''t room.  The car is loaded with paintings."


    “So where is Chester going to sit?”


    Lila looked at Chester and smiled. “In the front seat. Could you?”


    Chester didn’t answer. From his bedside table, he picked up a small frame and handed it to Lila.  Abby looked over her shoulder at it.  It was a picture of a light house.  In the corner was a school picture of a little girl who looked a lot like David.


    Lila exclaimed, "Oh, Chester.  You saved this?"


    Chester nodded.


    In a whisper, Lila said, "I painted this for your sixteenth birthday." Lila reached for Chester and hugged him.  Abby saw him blush.


    Grammy came out of the kitchen and said, "Supper is ready. Lila would you like to join us?”


    "It smells wonderful, but I best get back." She looked at Chester. "I will pick you up in about 45 minutes."  Chester smiled and nodded. He walked Lila to the door, while Grammy returned to the kitchen.  Abby stood in the hall. She watched Chester hug Lila AGAIN. Where the heck was Hugh and did he know Chester was trying to steal his woman? Chester went into the kitchen. Abby waited for Grammy to call her to the table, only she didn''t.  She probably didn''t even remembered Abby existed she was so wrapped up in Chester.   Abby went out to the front porch and back to her reading.  Her stomach complained but she ignored it.


    After Chester left with Lila, Grammy came out to the porch. She asked,  "Why didn''t you come eat dear?"


    Sarcastically Abby replied, "Oh, so you did notice I wasn''t at the table."


    "Of course I did.  What is that supposed to mean anyway?"


    "Well it seems to me that I''ve become rather invisible since Chester arrived.  Did you ever make me  crabs?  NO.  I bet if I was born a boy, your boy not some second hand granddaughter nobody wanted any how, you would have loved me better.  Maybe even as much as him."  Abby glared at her grandmother.


    Grammy''s hand fluttered to her throat.  Tears formed in her eyes but they didn''t fall.  Abby waited for her to speak, to defend herself or at least explain herself.  In a hoarse whisper she finally said, "I do love you Abby, you must believe that."  She turned and went back inside.


    Abby shouted, "That is supposed to make it all better?" She slammed her book closed and and rested her head on her knees. Tears were coming she could feel them. She was just about to let them loose when Ryan''s voice startled her.


    "Sorry, didn''t mean to make you jump." He came through the door. " Can you believe my dad is not helping my mom hang her paintings because he is watching football?"If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Why didn''t she just take you?"


    "I am supposed to be doing my chemistry. She made Dad promise to make me study, but as you can see, football is more important than the whereabouts of his son or his wife."  He sat down beside her.  "I don''t like them going off like that. They could be doing anything."


    Abby didn''t respond. One tear slid unbidden down her cheek.  Ryan caught it with his finger and held it. He whispered, "Let''s go for a walk."


    Abby nodded.  She stuffed Romeo and Juliet in her sweatshirt pocket and followed him to the street.


    As they walked made their way down the street he asked, "Are you okay?"


    Abby didn''t know if she could form the words. She pushed her tongue forward in her mouth, then blurted out, "Grammy loves Chester more than me. In fact I think she has almost forgotten me."


    "You think?"


    "Yes. He is all she thinks about.  She cooks for him and goes to Houston with him and she bought him a juicer." She paused, took a breath and said, "The only reason she kept me was because I might be part of him. No body knows for sure. Chester told me he wasn''t sure I was his."


    "What an ass.  You are Chester''s. Anybody with eyes can see that."


    "I am not like Chester." Abby kicked a stone with her shoe. "I don''t like music, I can''t play the piano, I have short stubby fingers."


    "You fingers are not short and  stubby. You have his forehead. When he smiles at my mom, I see your smile."


    "You do?"


    He nodded.


    Maybe she was Chester''s, maybe she was Grammy''s, but even if she was she was still outside whatever it was that bound them so tightly together. They reached the park. The gulls were huddled in clumps. The Great Gray gulls had arrived. They showed up every year around this time. She loved the beauty of their gray wings tipped with black feathers, their orange feet and bright bills. She wished she had brought something to feed them. She wished she had brought something to feed herself. She was starving.


    At the swings, Abby stopped and sat down. Swinging made her feel like she could fly like the gulls, and she so wanted that feeling. She pushed her self back and swung forward. She began to pump her legs. Quickly she gained momentum.  Ryan took the swing beside her. For awhile they moved back and forth in silence.  Something fluttered out of Ryan''s jacket pocket. It was a folded note with a girl’s handwriting on it. He stopped abruptly, picked it up and shoved it into his pocket like it was not big deal He glanced at her, curious if she had noticed the details of the note. Abby pretended like she had not seen a thing.  His ears turned a little red. The big dummy. Like she cared.


    She slowed the swing and said, “I think I’ll go home now.”


    Ryan didn’t protest.


    Abby cut across the pilings instead of walking down the street. Ryan followed her. He would. Waves sloshed against the busted cement. There was something about the sound of waves that soothed Abby. Lights glistened across the bay. The sun had set. She and Ryan were so familiar with this strip of pilings that they didn''t make one misstep even in the dark. When they reached the house, Ryan said,  "See ya."


    "Yeah, see ya." Abby made her way to the porch and opened the door.  She stumbled over a hunched up David.


    He said, “Ouch, watch where you are going?”


    "What are you doing?"


    David hissed, "Hiding.  What''s it look like?"


    "Why?"


    "I''m in trouble."


    "Again?"


    David frowned at her.


    Abby stepped around David and went inside.  The house still reeked of seafood. In a squatted position David opened the door and waddled inside.


    "What are you doing?"


    "I told you." He sniffed the air.


    Abby went into the kitchen. David followed. He did not stand up until he opened the refrigerator. Grammy''s refrigerator was his refrigerator. He surveyed the haul. "Fried shrimp, and boiled crab. Mmm." He helped himself.


    Abby tried some of the crab. It was gross. If David was not there she would have spit it out, instead she swallowed it. She did not like crabs. She reached for a banana, while David reached for a bowl and filled it. At least Grammy would think she had eaten.


    David cleaned his bowl before she finished her banana. He then went to cookie jar. He took out a whole fist full of cookies. He glanced at the kitchen clock. "Take the phone off the hook. Dad will be calling around half time. Should be soon."


    "Take it off yourself."


    "Okay." He went into the hall and removed the phone from its cradle. He came back to the kitchen, hit the talk button and shoved the phone under the window seat cushion. It barely muffled the hum of the phone.  The sound was annoying.


    Abby headed for the stairs. David followed her. "Where do you think you are going?"


    For the first time, David actually looked worried. "I told you I am in trouble. Big trouble." He paused. Abby did not invite him to follow her. He asked,"Aren''t you gonna ask me why I am in trouble?"


    "No."


    "Well then, I will tell you. For the past three weeks I have been conducting experiments on rock roaches.  It seems they don''t survive well without food or water."


    "Who would?"


    "Precisely the point.” David grinned at her.  “I wanted to see how long it took their bodies to decompose in a moist environment so I put them in a big pickle jar. Tonight I accidentally broke the jar. Have you ever smelled a hundred and fifty dead rock roaches?"


    Abby shook her head.


    "It is an aroma I will not soon forget and neither will my dad.  I think I  would have escaped my father''s wrath if I had not cleaned them up with the shop vac.  It now smells like a hundred and fifty toasted dead rock roaches.  I did discover, however that decaying rock roach bodies make an interesting sound when  sucked through the vacuum''s  hose."


    Abby rolled her eyes.


    There was a knock at the front door.


    David jumped.  "If it''s Dad tell him I''m not here."


    "I''m not going to lie." Abby went to the door. It was Hugh.


    “Is David here?”


    "Yes he''s here."


    Hugh shouted, "David home. Now!" Without waiting for his youngest son, he turned and stomped back across the street.


    David came to the door.  "A kiss before my execution?" He puckered up his lips.


    "I don''t think so."


    He asked, "What were you and Ryan doing while ago?"


    "We just walked to the park."


    "He didn''t try to kiss you or anything did he?"


    Abby shook her head.


    "Good. Now I can face my demise in peace knowing the lips of my Juliet have retained their virtue." He squared his shoulders and marched out the front door.


    Abby closed the door. Slowly she walked up the stairs. From Grammy''s room came the faint strains of  Saturday Opera.  Verdi''s La Traviata was playing.  Abby didn''t like that one. It was too sad.  It always made Grammy cry. She thought, What do I care if she''s crying. She doesn''t care if I do.  It was not true. Abby did care and deep down she knew Grammy cared too. Chester was a wall between them and Abby didn''t know how to change that or how to make him go away. She went to her room and closed the door.  From her pocket she pulled Romeo and Juliet.  She lay down on her bed. Somewhere along the walk, her book mark had fallen out. She flipped through the pages. The first line she read was,  "Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Act II scene ii." Could she? Would she? Chester hated his father, did she hate hers? She had never hated anyone before, was this what it felt like?