Free One Less Problem Without You by Beth Harbison Page A

Charles Tiesman showed up at the door, and it was obvious from his urgent expression that the ruckus had been audible far beyond the room.
    Prinny took in a sharp breath, her sobs now becoming audible. Elisa saw that a hot red had spread across one entire side of her face. Her heart twisted, and she longed to go to her and soothe her.
    Her father did instead, before shaking his head in confusion at Leif.
    â€œNo,” he said. “Why would you—”
    â€œMe?” Leif’s jaw dropped, and his arm shot out like a railroad gate, one boney index finger pointed at Elisa. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t do anything. It was her!”
    â€œI beg your pardon.” Elisa straightened her spine. “Tell your parents the truth.”
    His eyes shifted uncertainly. “I guess she thought I was trying to hurt Prinny, but I wasn’t! I don’t know why she had to get so”—he sniffed as though crying, but Elisa noted that he had no tears welling, and his pupils were like pin dots—“so violent .”
    Elisa found her voice. “That is not what happened!” She was unable to keep the note of childish frustration out of her voice. As if she were one of the kids, too, and had to defend herself to the parent. “I just walked in and found him standing over the poor little thing, and she was sobbing her sweet heart out. Heaven knows what he was doing, or planning to do.”
    â€œAsk Prinny!” said Leif, a look of disbelief on his face, and a posture that said go right ahead . But when he looked at Prinny, something in his expression shifted.
    He looked scared of her .
    â€œPrinny, were you and I just playing? Having fun ?”
    Elisa and the Tiesmans all looked to Prinny.
    Her tear-filled eyes looked to Leif, and then to Elisa. She looked confused and afraid.
    After a long moment, she nodded and looked down.
    â€œTold you.” Leif crossed his arms, noticeably not looking at Prinny again. “Plus, she spilled that stuff everywhere.” He indicated purple stains on the white wool carpet. “Is Prinny even allowed to have juice this late? I’m worried the sugar will interfere with her sleep.”
    The next ten minutes were a blur for Elisa, who was unceremoniously stripped of her job and turned out onto the street with her purse in her arms. The boxes of pastels and colored pencils she’d brought were still in the house, along with a cardigan she’d left the day before, but none of those things had sprung to her mind while the unbelievable happened.
    She walked to the bus stop, wondering why, why that fourteen-year-old boy had done whatever he had done to his sister to begin with, never mind what he’d done to Elisa. In the end, he had lied to protect himself; she supposed she understood that. Kids didn’t understand the ripple effects of their lies. Neither did some adults, but he had time to figure it out.
    But why was a big kid like him making a little girl like Prinny cry? It looked like it had been physical, its own heinous problem, but if it hadn’t, if it had been emotional torture, could anyone say that was better ?
    She wished she could have told the parents the truth before she left. Wished she could have warned them, as what she saw coming down the tracks was far worse for more people than losing this one job was for Elisa.
    For a moment, she’d even thought she’d seen sympathy and openness in Mrs. Tiesman’s eyes. Certainly sympathy—the woman was always kind, but she was protective of her husband and the children to a fault. Inarguably to a fault . She seemed to just want a happy family, even though the truth was that the kid was troubled.
    So even though Leif wasn’t biologically hers, anyone could see that she tried like hell to love him, and forcibly pull him closer in to her as a mother, and her daughter as his sister.
    It’s just that anyone could also see that he was never going to let it