The Sheltered Life of Betsy Parker

by E. David Hopkins

  “What?” cried Betsy ... “Why?”

  The voice of Carl echoed from the kitchen. “How many pieces of French toast do you want, girls?” he called, as he stepped into the living room. He had been frying French toast prepared in egg nog.

  As soon as he stepped into the living room, he sensed, immediately, that something was wrong.

  “Er, what's going on?” Carl asked.

  “Betsy's figured out the truth,” Megan sighed sadly.

  9 A New Future for the Parkers

  The years passed, and Laura grew from babyhood to toddlerhood, and then, from toddlerhood to young-childhood. She developed a sound appetite, got toilet-trained, and soon came to an age where she and Betsy could play together.

  Betsy was becoming a well-educated, talkative, playful girl, but there was always a brokenness about her; a muted quality, like a piano playing a merry, playful tune with its damper pedal down.

  “You want me to teach you how to play Snakes and Ladders, Laura?” Betsy asked one summer's day, when Laura was four and Betsy was seven.

  “What's Snakes and Ladders?”

  “I'll get the board and teach you,” Betsy smiled.

  Betsy walked to the corner of the living room where all the games were kept, and picked out the Snakes and Ladders board. She set the board on the coffee table and opened it.

  “Every player gets a marker of one color,” smiled Betsy. “The players take turns rolling the dice and moving their marker the same number of spaces as the number on the dice.”

  Betsy demonstrated by rolling the die, which came up four, and moving the yellow marker to the fourth square.

  Betsy continued. “If you land on the bottom of a ladder, move your piece to the top of the ladder; if you land on the tail of a snake, move your piece down to the head of the snake. The first player who gets to 100 wins.”

  “That sounds like fun,” Laura smiled. “Let's play.”

  Betsy chose green and Laura chose red. They took turns rolling the die, moving their pieces, (Betsy moved Laura's piece for her, since the younger girl couldn't count yet) sliding up ladders, slithering down snakes, and eventually Laura's piece arrived at 100, with Betsy's at 72.

  “I won!” Laura cried. “Hey Betsy, I'm better than you!”

  “Laura! Don't boast!” yelled Megan from the kitchen.

  “Sorry,” sighed Laura, making a sheepish expression towards Betsy.

  Laura and Betsy played together a lot. One time, they played with a princess doll and a witch doll. They pretended that the witch was taking the princess captive, but a fairy Godmother (a third doll who carried a wand) stepped in and saved the princess in time.

  On another occasion (it was a rainy day and the girls were playing inside) they pretended that it rained so much that the rain covered the house, then the trees, and they pretended to swim and swim until they found an island.

  When it was sunny and warm outside, Betsy and Laura would sometimes play tag in the back yard. Other times they would splash and play together in Betsy's splash pool, with Laura sometimes unclothed as Betsy was, other times wearing a one-piece yellow bathing suit with little brown polka-dots all over it.

  Overall, Laura was sweet like her sister. She loved and accepted Betsy, but she also had a bratty, tantrum-throwing streak. Sometimes, when one of her parents took Laura shopping, she would see something she just had to have, or she kept asking for many different items from the same store. When her mother or father (whichever parent was with her) said 'no' she would often become upset and start crying and screaming.

  Other times, she would refuse to eat items of her supper that her parents told her she had to eat, sometimes, so stubbornly that if her parents told her that she wouldn't get any dessert if she didn't eat them, Laura would storm away from the table, hide in her room and act cross for the rest of the evening.

  “What's up with Laura?” Megan would sometimes ask. “We never got any of this kind of behavior from Betsy.”

  “Oh, she's just a kid being a kid,” Carl answered. “She'll grow out of it eventually.”

  Two weeks before Laura was destined to begin kindergarten, she turned to her father. “Daddy, I want you to remove my training wheels ... please.”

  Upon hearing this, Carl was delighted, both that his second, more stubborn, daughter had just said 'please' without having to be reminded, and that, at the young age of four-and-a-half years, she was already asking to ride her bicycle on two wheels.

  “I'll be happy to remove your training wheels,” her father smiled. “Are you sure you're ready?”

  “Yes daddy,” Laura insisted.

  Soon, he had told his wife; she was just as delighted as he was, and Carl began removing the training wheels from Laura's bike.

  Betsy noticed what was happening to her sister's bike and peered eagerly and excitedly out the living room window.

  “Can I come out and see Laura ride?” she asked her mother.

  “I'm sorry dear,” Megan sighed. “You'll have to watch from the window.”

  Betsy let out, yet another, sigh of disappointment. At the age Betsy was now, she was in-tune with the fact, almost as much as her parents were, that being naked outside would be “rude,” but this was different; this was her sister riding a two-wheeled bicycle for the first time, and Betsy had to see it.

  “Please mom!” Betsy cried. “Just this once? I've never even been out in the front yard in my life.”

  “I'm sorry Betsy,” Megan sighed. “The window will have to do. Look, I'll stay by the window and watch with you.”

  When the wheels were off, Laura mounted her bike. Carl held onto the handlebars, and Laura tried to pedal it forward. The bike tipped back and forth. Laura pedalled faster, but the bike fell, and down came Laura with it.

  “Oh!” cried Megan. “Wait there, Betsy. I'm going to go see if Laura's all right.”

  Megan dashed down the stairs, hurried out the door, and a few seconds later, Betsy saw her mother trot down the street, looking Laura over, checking for injuries.

  As Betsy watched, the tension built up inside her. Could Laura be badly injured? Was she going to be okay? What if she had a broken bone?

  Betsy watched from the window, as Megan comforted Laura. This was her sister! The only child in the world Betsy had ever gotten a decent opportunity to play with! She had to see if Laura was okay.

  “Don't worry Laura!” Betsy yelled. “I'm coming!”

  Betsy dashed away from the window, hurried down the stairs, pulled the door open, and ran onto the side of the street where Laura was lying, upset and somewhat shaken.

  “Betsy!” Carl yelled, when he saw his older daughter. “Get back in the house now!”

  “But Laura's hurt!” Betsy protested.

  “I know it's hard for you Betsy, but you can't come out here like this. Laura's just a little scratched; that's all. She'll be fine.”

  Disappointed at being talked to this way, Betsy disappeared back into the house.

  But Laura didn't give up. Only a few minutes after that first stumble, she tried again, then again the next day, and again the next, and, by the time the last weekend of the summer holidays had arrived, Laura had mastered the skill of riding on two wheels.

  “Congratulations Laura!” her mother cried. “How does it feel to be riding on two wheels?”

  Laura rushed past on her bike, with her hair in the breeze, wearing an excited smile.

  “It feels great mommy! I can't believe I'm doing this!”

  She celebrated after with some milk and cookies.

  ***

  On the first day of school, Laura awoke at 8:00, eager and excited for her first day of kindergarten. She grabbed her pink heart backpack, and her mother walked her over to school.

  Laura came home from school quiet that day. Her mother picked her up at 3:00, asked her how her day had been, to which the girl replied, “Eh.” Then, when her mother asked Laura what she did, Laura said, “Stuff.” When Megan asked what sort of stuff, Laura
cried, “It's okay mom!”

  The next day was worse. Laura came home, definitely hurt about something. She didn't say a word after school, or for the rest of the day.

  “Hey Laura?” Betsy asked her. “What's wrong?”

  Laura's face was angry and red, and she was trembling. “Go away!” she yelled at Betsy.

  Saddened and confused, Betsy turned away from Laura and left the room.

  On Wednesday, Laura yelled, at the end of the school day, “I won't go back tomorrow!”

  When Betsy asked Laura what was wrong, Laura yelled at her sister, “Don't talk to me! Just get away from me!”

  When supper came that evening, Laura announced, “I am not sitting at the table if Betsy's there. I won't play with Betsy again. I don't like Betsy anymore!”

  Then, without saying another word, and before her parents could stop her, Laura picked her plate up, and headed to the coffee table in the living room.

  Megan got up from the table and looked at Laura. Surely enough, Laura was crying.

  Megan sat down on the couch and put her arm around Laura. “Laura dear?” Megan asked. “What's wrong?” although deep inside, Megan already knew.

  “They're mean,” wept Laura. “The big kids on the playground. They say 'Are you Betsy Parker's little sister?' 'Does your sister have her clothes on?' 'How does your sister look naked?'”

  “Those are what we call bullies,” explained her mother. “They tease people because they don't understand what it's like to be someone else. They feel insecure about themselves, so they put others down. If anyone ever says something like that to you, again, tell your teacher. She'll deal with it.”

  “Everyone says it,” Laura sobbed.

  “Oh Laura, I'm sure it's not everyone. You've seen a lot of people acting this way towards you, but it just seems like everyone because so many are doing it, but I'm sure there are many more kids who would be understanding.”

  But Laura was not convinced.

  “I was finding a friend, Tommy,” Laura wept. “Today, he stopped being my friend. He looked at me and said 'My friend William's daddy took William out of school because of you.' Tomorrow, I won't come back. Mommy what have I done?”

  “You've done nothing, Laura,” Megan explained. “Laura, I feared this would come. I brought you into this world so that Betsy could have company, even if it was just from one other child. I understand it's not very fair to you, Laura, that you are in this situation.”

  “So you had me for Betsy?” howled Laura. “You don't want me?!”

  “Laura, it's not like that,” Megan insisted. “I love you too.”

  But the little girl stormed down the hallway, slammed her door behind her, and burst into tears, howling on her bed.

  Betsy heard her sister slam her door and start crying. At that moment, Betsy decided that this was the last straw. She was going to become a real person. She was going to become normal. She was going to put some clothes on.

  She stepped away from the dinner table, and headed down the hallway.

  “Hey Betsy,” Carl asked after his daughter. “Where are you going? Aren't you hungry?”

  “I have to do the homework mom gave me,” she announced.

  Betsy looked in the door of Laura's room for something to wear, but everything was too small. She looked in her parents' room. Everything was too big, but at least a large item could be wrapped around her body.

  She opened the wardrobe. There were several dresses inside. There was a red one, a white one, a purple one, a pink one, a mauve one, a turquoise one, and a yellow one.

  Betsy gazed at the yellow one. It looked delightful. Betsy knew she would feel delightful if she wore it. All through her childhood, Betsy had wanted to wear clothes. She had dreamed of it. She was finding that the clothing people wore expressed so much about their characters, their moods, their interests, and their bodies. Betsy was determined to become like everyone else, to become accepted, to live like a real human. She was determined to take part in the joy the expression of clothing brought. Wearing nothing but her bare skin all the time was becoming tedious and boring.

  She reached up and picked the yellow dress out of the wardrobe. It was an intense, golden yellow, and she knew she would feel like a princess if she wore it. She felt the shoulder. It was silk. Surely, it would be soft and smooth enough on her skin that she wouldn't react.

  She deliberately let the hem of the dress brush her belly button. Then, she waited one minute. Nothing happened.

  “So far, so good,” Betsy mouthed to herself. “I'll be okay. I'm seven years old now. I should be grown out of this curse I've had since I was a baby.”

  Without wasting another minute, Betsy slipped the dress on.

  A jubilant joy of relief erupted inside her. She was free, like a real person, like a princess. She looked in the bedroom mirror and burst out laughing, a happy, girly, bubbly, giggling laugh. It was as though her body was wrapped in gold, instead of the boring, plain flesh-colored skin she'd had to wear all the time, that no other person wanted to see.

  “I'm princess Betsy,” she cheered, and her reflection smiled back at her, echoing those very same words. “And now I can go out, ride ponies, make friends and go to school. I can ...”

  Betsy wheezed.

  “Play in the fields all day and ...”

  She wheezed again, this time louder and more tightly than before.

  “Laura will like me again and ...”

  She was losing her breath fast, and now, she was growing dizzy.

  “HELP!” she yelled.

  She could feel an intense burning sensation on her skin, under the dress.

  At this point, she resorted to getting the dress off. She whipped it off so fast that it tore. She saw herself naked, once again, in the mirror, but her whole skin had gone red and bumpy. She also saw that her nose was bleeding. She was so dizzy, she couldn't stand, and she toppled to the floor in a faint.

  BANG went the bedroom door as Carl and Megan burst inside, where they had heard Betsy scream for help.

  “Hhhhhhhhuh!!!” Megan gasped, when she saw Betsy, lying there, unconscious, the dress, torn, and lying on the bedroom floor at Betsy's side.

  “Carl, you stay and watch Betsy, and please give her a dose of her epi-pen!” Megan cried. “I'm calling 911.”

  Megan sprinted out of the bedroom and grabbed the phone. “Please dispatch an ambulance!” she called. “My little Betsy is sick again.”

  She ran back into the bedroom, and looked her daughter over.

  “Oh no no no,” Carl sobbed. His wife was crying too. She had her mouth down to Betsy's and was helping the girl breathe.

  At that moment, Laura burst out of her room. “Something happened?” she cried. When Laura saw Betsy, her face turned white, and she stood still, not knowing what to make of this situation.

  “Is Betsy okay?” Laura wept.

  “She's alive,” said Carl, in a fearful voice, shaking his head, “but she is very very sick. She's not breathing easily, and we don't know if she's going to be okay.”

  Laura stepped over to Betsy's side. “Betsy,” Laura sobbed. “I'm sorry.”

  Betsy remained still.

  “I'm sorry,” Laura wept again, in the most sincere, wistful, apologetic voice she had ever made. “Will that help her?”

  “It might,” said Megan. “We can only hope. Thank you for apologizing and thinking of your sister.”

  “Maybe the Fairy Godmother will come and make her better,” Laura suggested.

  “I'm afraid not dear,” Megan sighed, between giving Betsy breaths. “The Fairy Godmother is only in stories. She's not real.”

  “I think she's real,” Laura said.

  After what felt like an eternity, the ambulance arrived. The paramedics gave Betsy a breathing mask and prepared her for the trip to the hospital.

  “This is the girl we've been hearing about in the news,” one of them commented. “So sorry to see she's had another reaction.”

  They b
rought Betsy to the door where the ambulance was parked, and loaded her inside the back of the ambulance. Carl, Megan and Laura bundled in, behind the paramedics, and they drove away, back to the hospital.

  When the medics and the Parkers arrived at the hospital, the Parkers brought out Betsy's waterbed and the doctors set her down. There was nothing more for the Parkers to do, but to accompany Betsy in the hospital and hope for the best.

  Laura did not go to school the next day. Not only did she not want to be teased, but Laura and her parents agreed that Laura was too traumatized by what had happened to her sister to attend school. All three kept Betsy company. Eventually, Betsy regained consciousness, and said, to her mother,

  “Mom, I'm so sorry.”

  Megan screamed in delight and burst into tears.

  “Betsy!” she cried. “You're getting better.”

  “I shouldn't have worn that dress.”

  “I know,” Megan sobbed. “It's okay Betsy. I forgive you. I'm just so glad you're still here.”

  “And I'm glad too,” Laura grinned.

  Betsy was released from the hospital on Sunday. She was still not totally herself. She was disoriented and a little dizzy.

  “Mom,” Betsy said to Megan when she was back at home. “I promise I will never ever do anything like that again as long as I live.”

  “I hear you Betsy,” Megan breathed in relief. “I know you won't.”

  “It was stupid, foolish, and selfish. It almost took my life.”

  “But you are still here,” smiled Megan, “You're alive and talking. That's all that matters.”

  “I only wanted to be a real person,” Betsy explained.

  “You are a real person Betsy,” her mother insisted. “I have told you that so many times.”

  “But it's not enough,” Betsy continued. “I wanted to be accepted, and I still do. I know you accept me; you, dad and Laura ... well Laura most of the time, but it's not enough. You accept me because you're my family. You accept me because you brought me onto Earth. I want to be accepted for real. I am tired of being in this same house all the time, with nothing but the back yard.”