The Misunderstood

Miranda's POV The kind old man's bright blue eyes twinkled as he smiled down at the toddling little girl. Miranda absolutely adored him. She loved the big black buttons on his blue plaid, fleece lined jacket. They reminded her of cookies! He knew just how to keep her entertained and laughing. Dancing or singing little songs and rhymes. He knew where all the neatest things were in the yard. Grasshoppers, honey suckle growing on the fence, the little house wren's nest just under the boards of the porch. Miranda loved spending time outside with him. It was a cool fall day. The leaves were turning colors and beginning to fall. Playing with the fallen leaves was a great time! Lynn's POV "Miranda, no-no! Come back over here, right now little girl!" Lynn scolded. She had been watching her daughter for a minute, pausing from her chore of hanging clothes to do so. She shook her head before calling out to the child. Miranda was once again wandering around, laughing and talking away with her jibberish to thin air. Why did she have to be saddled with such a weird kid. She ran away at the age of 15 and married her 19 year old boyfriend, Wayne, in September of 1980. They had driven to Alabama where it was legal for her to marry so young. After her parents discovered they were having s*x they had grounded her until her 18th birthday. Lynn was angry with her parents. Who did they think they were? Lynn had been the fifth girl child born to her parents. For a whole five years she was the baby of the family. After that, her family was blessed with three sons over the course of eight years. Although Lynn was no longer the baby of the family, she would forever remain the baby girl of the family. Her father doted on her. He and his wife spoiled her rotten. She wasn't accustomed to hearing no when it came to anything she wanted. Not ever. She became pregnant with Miranda around her and Wayne's one year wedding anniversary. Initially she had been very excited about the pregnancy. After all experiencing pregnancy and having a baby was an exciting prospect for her. It meant shopping and gifts. Having a baby was going to be fun. Or so she thought. She had been so naive. The little brat had been a headache from the beginning. Morning sickness every day, all day! The labor had been long and hard on Lynn's body. Miranda was in the birth canal far too long and was born with a cone head!! A cone head!! Ugh, she couldn't believe her baby was so ugly! Then the nurses had scolded Lynn. They accused her of lying to her husband about him being the babies father. They said things like, "Your husband is a white man. You should tell him the truth about your baby. He deserves to know your baby is not his!" Lynn hated those nurses. She hadn't lied. She hadn't been unfaithful to her husband. She was half Cherokee. She couldn't help that her baby was born with a darker complexion than her very white husband. And Miranda continued to get darker daily for about the first week after being born. As if that wasn't enough to have to deal with, Miranda was a miserable baby. She cried day and night. She was colicky all the time. There was almost never a moments rest for Lynn. Between caring for her infant around the clock, cleaning, cooking, and seeing to her husband's needs, never a moment for herself. She was 18 years old now, with a 17 month old baby and pregnant again. Lynn was due to deliver the end of next January. Just two months away. She hoped the next baby would be a better baby. She feared having two horrible kids. But surely no one was that unlucky. This life wasn't what it was supposed to be. Poor, struggling, every dime her husband made seemed to be spent on Miranda. He worked all the time. Getting married was supposed to be freedom and fun. But it wasn't. Wayne had promised Lynn that she would be happy. He promised her that she could go wherever she wanted, when ever she wanted. Wayne had told her she would be free. That no one would ever boss her around ever again. But none of that was true. Lynn wasn't happy. Wayne was never around. He got to go to work every day. He wouldn't allow her to get a job. Wayne said child care would be too costly. He had friends. If he wanted to hang out with his friends until all hours of the night he could. But not Lynn. Wayne was jealous of her friends. He was very insecure. Eventually all of her friends quit calling or coming to see her at all. He constantly accused other guys of wanting his wife. In the beginning he did allow her to continue to go to school. But he had to take her to school and she had to wait for him to pick her up. She wasn't even allowed to accept rides home from school from her own sisters or brothers! He wouldn't give her money. She wasn't allowed to go shopping alone. She was becoming more and more isolated from her family and the world. She was beginning to blame more and more of her troubles on the baby. It was all Miranda's fault as far as she was concerned. Lynn was growing to resent Miranda more every day. She new better. She new she had only herself to blame for the delima she found herself in. But as is the case when children are spoiled, Lynn was incapable of accepting responsibility for her actions. She was deep in thought over the matter. She hadn't paid attention to the fact that Miranda hadn't come back to her. Miranda's POV Miranda looked between her mother and the kind elderly man. Her mother was holding a pillow case staring off into thin air. A calloused look on her face. The man smiled kindly and Miranda turned and walked back to the fence with him. The man made funny faces and silly sounds as they walked along the fence. Miranda smiled up at him, laughing at his antics as they walked together. She didn't see the big stick. She tripped, skinning her little knees. Immediately, tears welled up and poured from her sad, amber eyes. She reached up to the now sad old man. Wanting him to hold and comfort her. She was confused when instead he turned and yelled for her mother to come and check on her. Miranda turned, tears falling, and was even more confused when her mommy didn't respond to him. She didn't move. So Miranda did what any hurt and frustrated toddler would. She cried harder and wailed at the top of her lungs. Mommy jumped, suddenly snatched from her deep thoughts. Lynn gritted her teeth and pursed her lips as she threw the pillow case back into the laundry basket at her feet. She stomped over to Miranda and grabbed her just a little too roughly under her arms. Miranda barely had time to process her rough handling when she felt a sharp sting on her left thigh. Her mother had just popped her. Her bottom lip quivered as she began to cry even harder. Not understanding her mother's harsh treatment, she looked back at the now very sad old man waiving bye-bye to her. Mommy took her inside, laid her down, and sternly said, "night-night!" before stomping away from the crib. Miranda cried herself to sleep. Lynn's POV "I don't have time for this! Why? Why me?", thought Lynn. She had almost completely lost her temper this time. She was able to think before she did. She had decided to just put Miranda down for a nap. It scared her, the rage she had felt for just a moment. "This kid is going to make me hurt her. Why can't she just listen. Why does she live to make my life hell?", Lynn questioned as she walked outside to finish hanging the laundry. She never noticed the angry elderly man at the corner of the yard. Never heard his complaining about her treatment of her daughter. She didn't see him approach her. But she felt the cold surround her body just before she turned to go inside. "Great", she said to herself as she walked in to the old house and closed the door in his face, "now its going to get cold and we have no heat."