Free My Sister's Ex by Cydney Rax Page B

ice, and applies it to my forehead.
    “I can’t believe Rachel. She was wrong, so wrong,” he says.
    “Yes, she was.” I blink and can feel hot water spring in my eyes.
    “Don’t cry,” Jeff softly says. “I know it hurts, but it won’t hurt forever,” he reassures me.
    “I hope not.”
    “I know not. Physical wounds heal quicker than any other wounds.”
    Right then Rachel, Alita, Aunt Perry, and Brooke bounce back into the kitchen like they’re boxers in a ring. We’re clustered by the refrigerator.
    Rachel plants her hands on her hips. “And another thing,” she says as if we were in the midst of a conversation. “I am tired of your mama talking shit about me to Blinky.”
    “Rachel, hush,” I say with a dismissive wave of the hand, like her words are stupid. “Leave my mama out of it. You’re frustrated and using her to start messing with me, and she isn’t the issue.”
    “Then what is, bitch? School me.”
    “I am not about to go there with you, girl.”
    “But what if I want you to?”
    “Rachel, grow up and stop acting stupid.”
    “You’re the stupid one.”
    That does it.
    “Oh, so I’m the stupid one? A woman who gives up a perfectly good man and gets mad when he moves on is about as dumb as George W. Bush—.”
    And that’s when she shoves me so hard I nearly lose my balance. I have to rest my hand against the fridge to keep from hitting the floor. Suddenly all eyes are on me. I morph into a scared little girl surrounded by her former so-called friends. I feel insecure, like I don’t know if I should defend myself, or make excuses, or play the innocent role. But in spite of being uncertain, I know I have to raise my fist and swing hard. Raise back my fist and swing again. So what if my sister says idiot things like “Christians don’t fight.” During moments like this, I let Rachel antagonize me all she wants. Just because you believe in God doesn’t mean you have to be somebody’s fool. Like you don’t hurt, don’t have feelings, or don’t feel like defending yourself sometimes because you’re too impatient to wait on the Lord to defend you.
    So when meddlesome Perry throws in her two cents by calling me a “pathetic hypocrite,” whop, I make sure my sister’s favorite aunt gets smacked, too. And Alita being in the room is another potential fist that’s going to come after me sooner or later, so let me get this girl before she gets me. And Rachel, well, she’s the ringleader, the girl-fight instigator who has power and influence over all the other girls. And it’s weird because it shouldn’t be this way; the bigger sister should gang up on the younger one. But these strange kinds of things have happened between me and Rachel ever since we were young.And I see our conflicts won’t end just because we’re getting older.
    “Who the hell you think you are trying to take a swing at me?” Aunt Perry says. “Girl, don’t you know I’ll whoop your ass? You ain’t too big for me to take an extension cord to you.”
    “Marlene, have you lost your mind?” Alita joins in, looking amazed.
    “Hey, everybody, time out. This is wrong and it’s nuts.” Jeff speaks up. He physically separates me and Rachel and gives us all incredulous looks. All these women pushing and shoving and for what? I can’t even remember how things got started. But that’s how it is sometimes when raw emotions simmer underneath the surface.
    It’s just like a volcano. You hear it bubbling, you see clouds of smoke billowing, and you know something dangerous and explosive is about to happen. I can only guess that the volcano erupting between my sister and me is going to expose some things that have been buried and hidden for far too long.
    “Rachel,” Jeff says angrily, “you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
    She opens her mouth to speak, but not a single word comes out.
    “All of you need to chill out before something else happens that you regret,” he continues scolding. The other