MY SISTER: A Story

By KAMAL M. ELKHALIL

In college, Helen took full advantage of the assumptions people have about college students and experimented with everything. After graduation and while working, Helen took full advantage of the assumptions people have about college graduates and used people around her, including sometimes family and friends for personal gain.

Jackie, on t

• Language: English
• Publisher: TOPLINK PUBLISHING, LLC
• Release date: Mar 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781948779326

KAMAL M. ELKHALIL

KAMAL ELKHALIL BA Leadership University of Memphis Other Work OBSERVATIONS

Book preview

My Sister

A Story

A story that should leave you with the question of where do choices come from.

Kamal Elkhalil

Copyright © 2018 by Kamal Elkhalil.

Paperback: 978-1-948779-31-9

eBook: 978-1-948779-32-6

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

TO MY MOTHER, A WOMAN

WHO NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO BE HERSELF

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the artist and friend B. Tagir for his support in finalizing this book.

Introduction

For the sake of political correctness, most fiction stories start with realistic situations that depict real-life events— theft, deceit, or even murder—only to end with wishful events. The perpetrator does not benefit from their deed. The idea I am assuming is to encourage good behavior. The question here is, can we, as people, learn from bad behavior by adopting it and benefit from it both personally and as a society in general? I believe we can, and so did Helen.

CHAPTER 1

The Glendale area of Denver is one of the oldest area of metropolitan Denver. And historically, the area is known for its Polish immigrants, as around the turn of the century, the nineteenth century, that is, the Polish started choosing Colorado and Denver to be their home. Lewinski and Catherine are a third generation Polish who grew up in that area and went to the same high school—George Washington High. In spite of all the geographic closeness, the couple did not have real personal encounters until after their high school days, when they started meeting each other on the regular basis through a third friend. And with the time they occasionally met without the third party, the couple got to be closer and eventually started dating, expectedly without Catherine’s parent’s approval as they always thought of Lewinski as someone who is not serious about anything, especially education and his future. But as in most cases and despite the parents’ disapproval, the couple got married; and with the time and love, Catherine and Lewinski gave birth to Helen and Jackie.

The Lewinski household was a typical household, as Lewinski worked on the regular basis and supported his family with the essentials. A little more at times, Jack was the regular guy with almost a set routine that was divided almost equally into two main parts: work, which was the most important and very routine in nature. The second was everything else that is not work, such as helping around the house with any handiwork whenever needed and watching a football game with buddies or shopping. Jack and the way he lived his life did not have a direct impact on the daughters’ lives, as his focus was more on financially supporting the family. Aside from that, Jack pretty much left everything else to Catherine. That is probably why when he passed, the girls felt big emptiness and were greatly saddened by his loss and very much missed his presence as a father who cared for and very much loved them. In spite of the great loss and emptiness the girls felt when their father passed away, the fact is that his loss did not affect their day-to-day life much, obviously because of the type of relationship they had with him. Although Catherine worked outside the house on various regular jobs, things changed. After the birth of the kids, she started focusing more on the kids and the family and less on everything else. The change was not so dramatic or difficult for Catherine, mainly because she was somewhat accustomed to the routine housework of cooking, cleaning, and the likes. The new addition of completely taking care of the girls came naturally and did not change things much. Catherine, in her spare time, continued her regular participation in the neighborhood activities, but her main focus was, of course, always on the girls and their forever-changing needs, especially education, as much as she could, usually through school activities and parents’ meetings. With time and when the girls got a little older, Catherine became more involved in the various personal issues of their lives, especially sex, usually through scaring them by continuously reminding them of what boys want them for.

As a mother, Catherine was intelligent and very observant. That is why in spite of her tremendous effort to raise the girls to her standards and morals by getting involved in every aspect of their lives, she was also prepared and openminded for things that might not meet her expectations, believing in the idea that whatever meant to happen will eventually happen. This understanding probably came about as a result of many life experiences and events, two of which stand out: First, Catherine herself got married to Jack despite the big fight and opposition of her family, especially her mom. Second was a close friend’s experience with her family. Mary is a close friend to Catherine and the family for as long as anyone can remember. Mary has a son and a daughter whom she spent everything, time, money, and effort, hoping for specific results. The daughter turned out to be an unknown actress, and the son is thirty-four years old and still undecided.

Exposition Street, where the family resided and the two daughters were born and spent most of their lives, is a type of a place where most of the neighbors knew one another, and the kids played and had fun together. The Lewinskis had the Johnson’s and the Droshkies as next-door neighbors, and across the street are the Pulaskis and their sweet mother, Betty, whom they love so much and spent much time in her house. This closeness started at an early age as both family’s baby sat for each other at times. The closeness continued, especially during the summer months where the kids hanged around the swimming pool and had fun. This closeness among the neighbors was part of the overall peaceful environment of the area. The peaceful neighborhood, along with the families’ efforts to raise their kids, was expected to provide the right environment and to pave the way for the kids to grow and to have a beautiful future.

After junior high school, both Helen and Jackie went to the same high school where both of their parents attended years earlier. A place and time where their personalities, characters, and individualism started to emerge.

After a hectic Monday at school, Helen and Jackie were happy to make it home. They were ready for relaxation, some homemade baked chicken, and TV. Eventually, things went their way, kind of. At the dinner table where all the three sat, Catherine, the mother who appears to be in her late fifties early sixties, with a face that reflects a slightly negative realistic way of viewing things, seems to be relaxed in her chair, asked in a hopeless tone of voice without directing the question to any particular one of the two and not expecting a desired answer, Who wants to go to the mall with me?

Going to the mall is almost always a fun experience to the girls, but not on Monday, not with mom. That is why Helen, who is of medium height and on the chubby side with telling intelligent eyes, jumped up from her chair straight to her mom’s neck, kissed her, and proceeded saying, You know I love you, Mom, but it has been a long day at school plus the homework I have to do.

The mother looked at her and said, I understand, baby. I know how things can be at times.

Thanks, Mom, said Helen and then went straight to her room. Jackie, who is slightly taller and slimmer than her sister, found herself in the position where she has to go with her mother and managed to disguise the fact that she did not like to go with her by jokingly saying, Although it is Monday evening, the least time with boys in the mall, I will go with you mom. This is how much I love you. A few minutes later, both got ready and out of the house to the mall.

Helen was happy that she got the whole house to herself, a quite nice atmosphere perfect for texting, Facebooking, and diary entries. After quickly finishing her homework, Helen put on her pajamas, got her diary, and went on to writing. Between snacking and soda drinking, she went to writing. I always considered myself and my family as blessed and very fortunate people. The question that always comes to mind is why? This is how I see the answer. First, we are a close family, especially me and my sister, which is a rarity compared to what I see around me. Second, we have goals, every one of us has one. My mom’s goal is for us to succeed. But without specifics as to what success is, probably through education and whatever it might bring. As for us girls, we thought success is achieved through money without giving much thought to whether it is a good thing or not to measure success with having money. Worse yet, we did not have a clear plan how to go about achieving our goal. Well, I guess it is not that bad. It is only high school, and we know that we needed to get some things out of the way first. All this thinking and writing Helen was doing came about from a particular incident that occurred early in the day at school. Helen continued writing. My sister Jackie has been hanging out with Paul, a kid with Russian background and a reputation for doing the wrong things, including stealing. Many times I heard rumors about what my sister and Paul did together at the 7-Eleven and other stores. Being close to my sister, she always told me whenever I asked her about the rumors, but what they did today was big. They broke open a couple of lockers and stole some phones and other valuables. They got caught and had to deal with the principal. Worst, my mom does not know yet. Helen immediately stopped writing when she heard her mom and sister coming in the house, so she got out of her room and went straight to the living room where she could tell right away that Jackie told her mom about what had happened earlier today in school. Helen had her hands folded to her back and slowly started walking toward her mom. Trying to ease the tension, she figured that changing the subject would be a good thing, so she said, That was quick. Did you have fun, Mom?

Catherine replied in a tense, angry voice, I went to pay a bill and get out of the house for a change, but your sister decided to spoil everything for me.

Jackie But, Mom, you know I have to tell you.

Helen, in an effort to help her sister and to ease the tense situation, said, Mom, don’t worry so much. These are just accusations, and everything will be OK.

Catherine I hope so. Graduation is around the corner, and I don’t want any trouble.

Taking advantage of the situation, Jackie quickly noticed that was the right time to let her mom know that she was not graduating, something she struggled with and couldn’t find the courage to face her mom and tell her.

Mom, I am sorry, but I have to tell you I am not going to be graduating.

This was not a complete surprise to Catherine, but she never thought her daughters would wait this long to tell her. Although speechless, the disappointment was showing clearly in Catherine’s face.

So when are you going to tell me?

Mom, I am sorry. This is hard on me too, and I did not know how to tell you.

So angry and disappointed, Catherine did not say another word and instead went straight to her room and loudly shut the door, leaving the girls at the living room—one relieved and the other wondering about her sister’s recent act with Paul.

Helen What is it with you and Paul? You know he is always bad news.

Bad news? said Jackie in an unexpected, surprised tone of voice. How so? He always got the right clothes, drives a nice car, and always have money.

Exactly that is my point, where all of these things come from. Remember, we are still in high school.

Wake up, sister. You are the one in high school and doing the books, and everybody else is doing everything else.

And you seem to be OK with that.

Yeah, at the end, it is all about the money. That was the last thing Helen heard from her sister before going to her room. Jackie, who appeared to be ready to talk more about what happened in school and what she really thinks of it and the things her friend Paul does, suddenly found herself alone with no one to talk to, so she decided to go to her room too.

The following morning and after getting out of bed, Catherine sat in the family room, reading the morning newspaper and watching TV while enjoying a cup of coffee. That is when Helen came out of her room in her pajamas

Good morning, Mom.

Good morning, baby. Breakfast is ready with all of your favorites.

Thank you, Mom. I will be right back.

On her way back to the table and right before sitting, a loud alarm sound was heard coming out of Jackie’s bedroom. Catherine, with some leftover anger from the day before, was clear in her tone of voice. "It is about time.

I got tired of waking her up every morning."

Helen sat down and started eating her breakfast while talking to her mom. A few minutes later, Jackie came out of her room, said good morning to both, and went straight to the bathroom. A few minutes later, Jackie joined the two at the table.

Catherine I will be out most of the day with Mary. What do you like for dinner? Anything in particular you like?

Helen I don’t care. Have fun, Mom.

Jackie Have fun, Mom. You need the change.

The phone rings. Jackie picks up.

Hello, said Jackie and recognized the voice as Aunt Mary’s.

Mary How are you doing?

Jackie I am doing fine. How about you. It has been a while.

Mary "I know. Your mom told me you have been busy with the school. I know graduation is around the corner.

Are you ready?"

Yeah, kinda, answered Jackie, expecting the inevitable question.

Mary, who was not paying close attention to Jackie’s answer, said, I am happy for you. Is your mom up?

Yeah, and cannot wait for you to pick her up.

Mary Yeah, I promised to take her out shopping and eat out for a change since we have plenty of time, so we decided why not.

Jackie We are about to leave to school. I’ll let you talk to her.

Jackie, with an obvious relieved expression on her face, hands the phone over to her mom; and then after a little while, both sisters stepped out of the house and headed to school.

Mary Good morning. How are you doing this morning?

Catherine OK, I guess

Mary I am getting ready. I should be there in an hour or so.

Catherine That gives me enough time to get ready. I will see you then.

A while later, Mary, who is about the same age as Catherine with a younger look, walked up to the door, knocked, and pressed the bell. Catherine, dressed up and ready to go, opened the door. Both went to Mary’s car, a nice black Cadillac.

Tuesday morning was a beautiful sunny, cool day. The morning traffic was dying down, making driving around town a pleasant experience.

Catherine It is a beautiful day, isn’t it? It has been a while since we did this.

Yelp, and it will be better after I eat. I am starving. said Mary.

Catherine What do you have taste for?

I don’t know. You know my weakness for sausage, but my blood pressure is high.

You know you can always get the turkey kind. I know it is not the same.

I know. That is what I have been eating lately. I am glad they came up with it.

Mary What do you think of Shoney’s?

Yeah, that would be a good choice.

The decision was made to go to Shoney’s on Thirty-

Eighth and Havana, their favorite location where they are known and very much welcomed. At the door, both were greeted warmly and seated by one of the windows where they could see the street with all of its traffic and action.

Mary, while looking at the menu, said, You know, I just noticed that it has been a while since last time we came here. The good thing is that the menu is still the same. Don’t you like that?

"Yeah, I love it. Nowadays, things change so fast that if you go anywhere, you are