Angie at the Concert -- Chapter Four

Angie walked home from school singing. She stopped at the sight of a big crowd of cars strung down the side of the road that her house was on. She turned her eyebrows in, facially inquiring. "Huh? What is going on?" Angie asked herself.

She continued walking and opened the door. Aunt Marinda was there with a bunch of other people. Angie surveyed the scene in her home quickly. She saw her mother carrying a tray of food over to an unfamilular couple sitting contently on the couch. Her eyes swept back to her aunt. She was chatting nonchalantly to a bright man with a large stature. He laughed heavily. Angie giggled to herself as she compared the man's laughter to a dog sneezing. Angie soon entered the house, closing the door quietly behind her. She swung her backpack onto the footstool by the door where it normally was. She made her way casually through the cramped get-together. She searched for her mother. She isn't in here, Angie thought, leaving the living room and entering the kitchen. Angie's mother was cooking what appeared to be a pie, but she was certainly not doing a very good job of it.

"Uuck!" Angie's mother said as she opened the oven. Smoke slithered out of the oven, blackening the small dining area as well as the cooking space. Mrs. Winter quickly closed the door to the oven, flailing her arms to rid the room of smoke. She reached over the top of the oven to turn it off. She switched it to the "off" setting and turned with a frustrated look on her face. "Your aunt," Angie's mother told her, skipping the, 'hello, honey, how was school today?' "Is the most untimely person that I have ever met! She is out there, just talking away. And tonight is the most important night! I can't have her talking to my boss, Mr. Hopkins, like that! She'll tell him all of my flaws, despite my good reputation. I don't want her ruining my first impression on my new co-workers like this! This is supposed to be a bussiness meeting for my first month of triumph!" Angie cringed. The only other time she had ever seen her mother so angry, desperate, and embarrassed was when Angie was three and had swore in a large, fancy restaurant. Angie shook her head to get rid of the memory of the punishment for that. "Why did she come NOW???"

Angie managed to get out of answering this rhetorical question. "Do you need help with the, the, the, MOM!" Angie was looking for a word for what she assumed was a pie when smoke started pouring out of the oven, even though it was closed. Angie's mom screamed and darted away from the oven. It became dark in the kitchen from the smoke off of the burnt pie. Angie and her mother tried to file people out of the darkened room. After Angie's mom had screamed, people started spilling into the room, curious to see what was going on. "OUT! GET OUT, ALL OF YOU!" Angie yelled at her younger siblings who had squirmed to the center of the crowd.

Angie's mother finally just stomped her foot when people began pushing and shoving into the room. At the abrupt sound, everyone stared nervously, awaiting her next movement. Her eyes flared, but she sounded her 'out' alarm quickly and clearly. At the sound of a forbidden word, the children had to bite their lips to keep from laughing, but the adults quietly and orderly walked out of the room. When they were all out, they started whispering among them but Angie couldn't make out their words. Angie swiftly herded her younger siblings upstairs, away from the angry voices and urgent whispers.

Later that night, things cleared up a bit. The business people left rudely without a proper good-bye and the Mr. Hopkins actually promoted Angie's mother. This put her in charge of a bunch of people. Mr. Hopkins did this for one reason, though, which Mrs. Winter did not like very much. He had said, "Winter, I'll give you your long awaited promotion on one condition: be as bossy as you were just now and you will be paid what you are worth. Angie's mother wanted to have a fit at that, but instead she used her senses and thanked her boss.

The only thing that didn't change was Mrs. Winter's dispute with her younger sister. "HOW could you come ruin my party for me? This is not a social gathering, Marinda, it is a business meeting! It would have gone much smoother if you had not tried to make one of your little so-called pies!" Mrs. Winter shook her head. You can't stay with us! You don't set a good example for my children and you just killed my one first impression for my co-workers as to me being a good house wife and mother!"

Marinda hung her head. "Sorry" She muttered under her breath. She hurried out to her car where she spent the night. Angie looked out her window the next morning. She was gone. Angie's heart sank.