Out with the Old, In with the New

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NEW PROMPT:
Write a short story or poem about having to celebrate your birthday with the one you love to hate....
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“The biological parents of the minor child, Anne Woodworth, will share joint custody. Until she reached the age of 18, she will spend the first half of each year with her mother, Cora Sterling. For the remaining months, she will live with her father, Bruce Carrigan. That is my final judgment.” With that decision, Judge McClanahan brought down his gavel and sealed the fate of 11-year-old Anne.

* * *

When Anne had arrived at her father’s home that rainy day a year earlier, she soon felt comfortable with both him and his wife, Doris. Eventually, she told them why she made the long, dangerous trip to find them.

“I tried once to tell Mom he was hurting me.” Anne started to cry before she whispered, “She just got mad and called me a liar with a dirty mind.” With the floodgates of her emotions opened, Anne poured out what her stepfather had done when he crept into her bedroom. Her childish words, for actions she didn’t fully understand, shocked the two listening adults.

After she had put the exhausted child to bed in the spare room, an angry Doris confronted her husband. “We can’t make her go back there. If you are her father, you’ll have to fight for her.” Bruce nodded, and the long battle began.

* * *

Thus started over a year in court that ended very unsatisfactorily for everyone concerned. Lawson had vehemently denied ever abusing his stepdaughter. The judge was known to be an elderly misogynist, long overdue for retirement. Without even ordering a physical examination of Anne, he summarily ruled the word of a respected businessman carried more weight than that of a young female child.

* * *

Two years passed with Anne’s birthdays arriving almost unnoticed by her family. Mae finally reminded her mother that her sister would be turning 13 the next day. Birdie, even after two years, still didn’t believe what Anne had spoken in court about her stepfather.

“Sweetie,” Lawson seductively said to his wife, in bed that first night after the judge’s decision, “why would I want that skinny kid when I have your luscious body to play with?” He then stopped any further conversation by beginning one of his favorite, more intense sexual games. Even the bruises Birdie found on her body the next day failed to convince her it was her husband who was lying.

* * *

For those two years, Anne tried unsuccessfully to avoid Lawson. She even bought a lock for her bedroom door, but he managed to overcome that flimsy barricade very easily. She lost weight and became more withdrawn over time. Since Birdie ignored her daughter as much as possible, she didn’t notice the changes in Anne.

Mae did, though, and vicariously enjoyed what Lawson was doing to her sister. She would often stay awake in the bedroom she shared with her stepsister until she heard Lawson slowly climbing the stairs. When he closed Anne’s door behind him, Mae would go and listen through the door at the noises on the other side. Her 15-year-old body was just awakening to sex, and her curiosity was almost overpowering to know what those noises meant.

When Mae reminded her mother that Anne would be turning 13 the next day, it wasn’t out of the goodness of her heart. She wanted to see how Anne would behave when her stepfather gave her a birthday kiss. Maybe I should tell him of a tradition a friend of mine told me about. Birdie didn’t understand the sudden smile that appeared on Mae’s face.

The following afternoon, Anne came home from school to find all her family waiting for her. Her two sisters stood next to Birdie at the kitchen table. There, Anne saw a small birthday cake with 13 lit candles on it. Her hated, feared stepfather gave a friendly wave to encourage her further into the room.

“Happy birthday, Sweetheart,” he said when she cautiously came closer. “How about a birthday kiss from your old man?” When he pulled Anne against his body and gave her a lingering kiss, Birdie started frowning. He saw the frown and immediately released Anne from within his tight embrace.

Before Birdie could say anything about what she thought of his overenthusiastic kiss, Mae interrupted with a suggestion, an innocent look on her face. “Dad, I heard of a birthday tradition my friend Jack has. Do you want to hear it?” Without waiting for his answer, she continued. “Jack said his father always gives his bottom a spank for every year of his age and another one to grow on. Maybe Anne would like that instead of a kiss. What do you think?”

Lawson, looking toward a horrified Anne, nodded. “That sounds like a fun tradition. Come on, Anne, let’s start it now.” He reached for his daughter before she was able to move out of his grasp.

“Oh, Dad, I forgot to tell you the rest. Jacks told me his father did it on his bare bottom.” While saying that, Mae looked straight at Anne and not her stepfather.

“I think I like that tradition,” he said while sitting down and bending a struggling Anne over his knee. When he lifted her dress and pulled down the underpants, all that was heard in that room was Mae’s laughter and the sound of Lawson’s large hand smacking against Anne’s naked bottom. By the time he got to the last spank, the one to grow on, Birdie had joined Mae’s laughter. Even now, she didn’t believe her husband capable of what Anne had told the judge. She put Anne’s sobs down to what she called being a drama queen. Her love for her husband was stronger than that for the bastard child who had caused her so much embarrassment in court.

Saying Mae and Jean were too old, Lawson insisted on the new tradition for the next five years. Even when he slyly caressed Anne’s bottom, Birdie never complained. Not once!

The seventh part of this story ends in the following entry:

ID: 1471261   (Rated: 18+) Eight Birthday Wishes  This is the final entry in my seven-part story of Anne's life by J. A. Buxton

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Microsoft Word count = 1,000

"The Writer's Cramp"  daily entry for 09/06/08
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