Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story


- Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
stories/537/images/smalluntiltheendoftime1.png


Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


“I have to talk to you”Rita said to Kit when the class finished their lunch and went outside for recess. The two girls walked to a bench and sat down, instead of claiming the two swings first as usual. Kit knew it had to be something serious if she didn’t want to talk about it in front of people. She immediately got excited, she loved secrets!

“What is it?”she asked her

“I overheard my mommy and daddy talking last night…and you will never guess what they said-“

“I bet I can”Kit said as she tried to remember the daily conversations her parents had while she hid behind doors. “Your mommy is spending lots of money”

“No, she actually thinks my daddy is spending a fortune. He bought her a huge diamond necklace and earrings. It was so pretty, my mommy looked like a princess” Rita said with a smile. Her mommy looked so happy. When she grew up, she wanted to be happy with her husband too, have 10 children and a big wedding and a huge dress.

“Really? Wow”Kit said,”Can I see it?”

“Maybe…Im too scared to touch it”Rita said

“Ok so your mommy yelled at your daddy for buying her things? My mommy says my daddy doesn’t buy enough things for her”

“No, well she didn’t say that”Rita said.”I couldn’t hear all of it but…my mommy told my daddy not to pull her hair. Then he said that she didn’t complain when he did it last night…”

Kit gave her a weird look,”What does that mean? Why does he like to pull her hair?”

“I don’t know. But I know what it means for me!”Rita said

“What do you have to do with it?”

“Clayton pulls my hair! My daddy really loves my mommy, he says it to her everyday, and he also pulls her hair and I think she likes it!”

“So you think that Clayton is in love with you?”Kit asked, catching on

Rita nodded her head,”Booger Clayton loves me! What am I going to do!”

Kit laughed,”I don’t know, play with him after school?”

“We have dance class remember? Then homework,then dinner and then I have to listen to Annie…I don’t have time”Rita said,”But I don’t want to play with him! Hes Booger Clayton!”

“I knew he liked you but I didn’t know that he loved you.Do you think he will ask you to marry him?”

“NO!”Rita said,”And if he did, I wouldn’t say yes”

“So what are you going to do?”Kit asked her

“I don’t know….”Rita said with a sigh,”But I was so sure that he didn’t like me but…he must”

“I wonder if my daddy pulls my mommy’s hair”Kit wondered

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Hey Emily? You wanna watch me play ball?”Michael asked her

Emily was almost quick to say yes, but she felt the stares from Abigail, Sasha and the other girls. She didn’t want to be a stinky boy. She felt that she had to sit with them at lunch today so they wont say anything and she felt lonely without him. “Uh…I cant. I promised them that I would play hopscotch”she said

“Oh well I got a new baseball”Michael said excitedly as he pulled the baseball out of his pocket. It was brand new. Emily used to play ball with some of the boys on the neighboring farm.

“Its nice. Brand new”Emily said with a smile. Abigail rolled her eyes, what was so special about a stinky baseball? She hated baseball. Her father was a baseball player for the Yankees, but then he moved out and his mom divorced him. He still sent them a lot of money but never had time for her. Baseball was stupid.

“You sure you don’t want to?”Michael asked, hoping the new, shiny baseball would convince her. She had told him that she liked baseball and knew how to play.

Emily frowned,”No…Im sure I would rather play hopscotch”she said. Sasha smiled approvingly.

“Oh…alright”Michael said sadly

“MIKEY! BRING YOUR NEW BALL! JAMES WANTS TO SEE IT!”Nicky called out to him

Michael sighed,”I’ll see you later then?”he asked her

Emily wanted to say yes…but she felt the stares from the girls,”Maybe”she said

Michael didn’t like that answer either and just walked off. Why was Emily acting so different? Did he do something wrong?

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“I wish your father could see you”Salomi said to Dahlia as she fixed her hair. She was wearing her leotard, tights, a small skirt and her slippers. She was all ready for her first ballet lesson. Gabriel had all day rehearsals for the Roosevelt show.

“Am I pretty mommy?”Dahlia asked her

“Yes, you are very pretty”Salomi said as she put her jacket on her. “Now lets go we are going to be late”she said as she walked to the front door and got her purse and coat. “Rita! Michael! We are going to be late, hurry”she shouted to them

“Coming mommy”Rita said as she put on her jacket over her rehearsal clothes as well. Michael followed slowly behind, he was very slow and sluggish all day. Salomi wondered if he was sick. They all got in the car and she drove them toward the dance studio. Rita saw Kit going in and jumped out of the car first,”Bye mommy”she said as she kissed her cheek,”Have fun today Dahlia. Madame is really nice but you cant be so loud with her, she doesn’t like loud children”she warned her.

“IM NOT LOUD!”Dahlia said. Salomi couldn’t help but laugh at the contradiction.

“She’ll be fine”Salomi said to Rita,”Have a good class. I’ll be back later”she said to her and then Rita walked over to Kit and they went inside. She turned to the backseat where Michael was sitting quietly,”Lets go walk Dahlia in alright?”she asked him

“Alright”he said with a sigh. Salomi frowned, what was wrong with him? She helped them out of the car and felt Michael’s forehead.”What are you doing Mommy?”

“Im just checking to see if your sick, you have been awfully quiet”she said. His head didn’t feel warm

“Im not sick Mommy-“he started to say but then Dahlia started to scream. They both turned and she was halfway down the sidewalk chasing pigeons. Salomi ran after her and grabbed her hand, apologizing to a couple that Dahlia almost ran into.

“What did I tell you about running off? You know better than that”she said to her. “Lets go inside we are going to be late”she said as she grabbed Dahlia’s hand and led her and Michael inside. They went into the beginners classroom and she saw 10 other children with their parents in the room. There was Madame, with her stick and tightly pulled back bun. “Hello Madame”Salomi greeted her

“Oh Mrs. Brewster. I see you are bringing another child to us today?”Madame said as she looked at Dahlia

“Yes, Gabriel signed her up with you. This is Dahlia”she said to her, she turned to Dahlia,”Dahlia? This is Madame, she will be teaching you ballet”she said to her

“Whats that?”Dahlia asked as she pointed to the mole above Madame’s lip. Madame looked at her with surprise.

“Its nothing”Salomi said and mouthed ‘sorry’ to her.

“Vill the boy join us as vell?”Madame asked as she looked at Michael.

“Oh no, not today, but maybe later”Salomi said, even though she noticed three boys standing amongst the children.

“Ballet is for girls”Michael said

“Obviously not sveetheart”Madame said,”I have four boys enrolled in this class this year and one of the most famous ballet dancers in the world is a man. Diaghilev”she said, mentioning the famous ballet dancer in France and pointed to his picture that was hanging on the wall

“Whats THAT?”Dahlia asked Salomi again and she quickly hushed her

“You can stay and vatch if you like. Or you can come back…but you know the rules. After all I taught Rita 3 years ago”Madame said

“Well Im going to take little Michael back home. I think he is coming down with something”Salomi said, even though she was apprehensive with leaving Dahlia here.

“Oh yes, please take him home. I cant have my future ballerinas getting sick on their first day”Madame said

“Im not sick Mommy-“

“MOMMY! WHAT IS THAT!?”Dahlia demanded loudly as she pointed at Madame’s mole. Other parents stared at her in shock. Madame quickly swatted Dahlia’s hand with her stick and Dahlia stared at her in shock.

“Children should be seen and not heard. No shouting in my classroom. Understood?”Madame said to Dahlia. Salomi expected the worse, an all out screaming tantrum. But it didn’t happen. Dahlia only pouted and nodded obediently. “Thank you. Now go over to that corner with the other girls and no shouting”she said to her. Dahlia nodded and walked off.

Salomi looked at her with surprise. She could never get Dahlia to be quiet. She didn’t feel so apprehensive anymore. “You have a good evening Madame”she said to her with a huge thank you look on her face

“No vorries. I vill have her taken care of”Madame said and then greeted another parent. Salomi waved to Dahlia and Dahlia waved back and then they walked out of the classroom and to the car. She looked at Michael and he still looked miserable. “Are you sure that you are feeling alright sweetheart?”she asked him

Michael nodded sadly. Salomi wanted to believe him but said nothing and drove home in silence.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Dahlia was well behaved on her first day and Salomi was relieved that Gabriel was right. Ballet was a good disciplining tool for her two girls and even thought about enrolling Michael but he adamantly declined saying that ‘Ballet was for girls’.

Gabriel rehearsed all week for the Roosevelt show and by the end of that week; the show was to open on that Saturday night. Gabriel bought all of them new outfits. He bought Salomi a shimmering blue gown and a white fur wrap, she wore her new diamonds and had her hair up elegantly. He bought Rita and Dahlia expensive little dresses and Michael, his very own ‘penguin suit’ that was just his size. He looked very handsome. Gabriel even hired a driver for them and he picked them up and drove them to the theater. Rita loved it, she felt like a movie star. Dahlia loved the leather seats and proceeded to stand up and jump on them. Salomi scolded her and Dahlia cried and pouted the rest of the way.

The show was wonderful and the children cheered and shouted for their father as he took his bow. Salomi applauded with tears in her eyes, she loved him so much and he had come so far, doing what he loved. She remembered how he used to balance tables and chairs on his chin at Maisy’s.

They were introduced to the Roosevelt’s at the end of the show. Salomi smiled widely, feeling like she was meeting royalty. Roosevelt was a very intelligent person and so was his wife. She also adored Dahlia who was finally on her best behavior. They invited them out to the opera twice and had dinner with them as well. The day after they had dinner with the Roosevelt’s, Salomi was talked about in the paper, chronicling her every move like she was a star. But if you had dinner with the Governor and his wife, then you must be. Gabriel and Salomi were invited to more parties, dinners, benefits, balls and had to call on babysitters a lot for the evenings. Sometimes they would have to switch babysitters because Dahlia seemed to be too much for some of them.

Soon it was October and the weather got even colder. Rita and Dahlia were rehearsing a lot more for their Halloween recital at the end of the month and the two girls performed for Salomi and Michael whenever they could. Sometimes even for Gabriel when he was home. After performing for the Roosevelt’s he was always asked to be somewhere or perform for such and such. He was becoming quite the entertainer. He felt like he was on top of the world and he had a huge smile on his face everyday, thinking of more things he can spoil his wife and children with. But one day that all stopped. It seemed that Jules was right. He never got around to talking with his bank as Jules requested but he soon got worried when he noticed that his stocks weren’t doing so well. He had met John Rockefeller through the Roosevelts and decided to give him a call.

“Im sorry Mr. Brewster but Mr. Rockefeller is out of town. He will be in Chicago for the next few days”his secretary said to him. Gabriel sighed, he would have to wait. Every night he prayed that the stocks would do better.

However, 2 weeks later, Rockefeller was still out of town but Gabriel wasn’t in the mood to have lunch with anyone. His stocks were plummeting and he was truly scared. He bought a lot of them on credit and put all of their assets into the stock market earlier that year. He thought he could make the family fortune even bigger. But it looked like it would turn out wrong. He wanted to tell Salomi but didn’t know how, and he still tried to be optimistic. The stocks could turn around. He didn’t want to worry her or the children but he couldn’t help but be worried enough for all of them.

Salomi didn’t notice Gabriel’s worries. Dahlia was becoming a handful. She was an angel for the first few weeks in ballet class but she was slowly becoming a monster again. At first Madame would pull her aside after class and explain what Dahlia had done that day. Then she even started calling Salomi at home, demanding that she come back and remove Dahlia from class early. Then one day it was the last straw. Dahlia had stolen a fellow classmates sparkly hairclip and wouldn’t give it back. The two girls argued and Dahlia had slapped the girl and pushed her. The girl fell face first and lost a tooth, blood everywhere. Salomi apologized profusely to the parents and they looked grim, saying that she needed to learn how to raise her children which was a low blow for her. She thought that she was doing just fine. What the hell was wrong with her daughter? She even thought about taking her to some child psychologist.

“After this incident today Mrs. Brewster, I will have to request that Dahlia not come back to my classroom”Madame told her

Salomi stared at her in shock,”You…you are kicking her out?”

“Yes, shes very vild and I can not control her. This is the first time that I have not been able to control a child and the first time a child has been hurt in my classroom. I could lose that child as a client. The parents may not bring her back because of your daughters foolishness. I cant risk that, I cant lose clients. I have put my hard vork, blood, sveat and tears into this school, Im not going to lose it now. Not over some girl”she said sternly, though money wasn’t rolling in as it used to. “I have to you see. You understand”

Salomi nodded sadly,”Im sorry Madame”

Madame nodded and then wrote her a check,”Since Rita was one of my star students and since Gabriel is such a good friend and star himself, I will give you your money back. Lets just forget Dahlia’s dreams of a ballet dancer ever happened”she said as she handed it to her

“No Madame-“

“Please”Madame said to her and Salomi reluctantly took it.”Control that child?”she said to her

“Thanks for your time”Salomi said to her. She grabbed Dahlia’s hand and led her back to the car.

“Am I in trouble now?”Dahlia asked her

“Yes you are”Salomi said sternly,”You are not going back to ballet class and you are going straight to bed when we get home. You have been a very bad girl”she said and Dahlia started to cry but she didn’t want to hear it.When she got home, she was surprised to see that Gabriel was home early.”Is everything alright?”she asked him

”Im just tired and I don’t think Im feeling too well. Im exhausted.I think Im coming down with something”he said to her. Which wasn’t a total lie. Today everyone was in a panic and started getting rid and selling shares. He went to the stock market himself and wished he hadn’t gone. He felt like he would have a panic attack any moment now.

Salomi put Dahlia to bed and served Rita and Michael dinner. She then ran some bath water for Gabriel and made him some soup. He even requested a cigarette and she bought him some. She had stopped smoking once Rita was conceived. She washed him and he asked about her day, hoping her day was better than his and just needed something to take his mind off of everything. However, she told him about Dahlia being kicked out of Madame’s school and he wasn’t very pleased. What was wrong with his daughter? Once Salomi left him alone to tend to the children, he cried in the bathtub. He prayed again that everything would be fine.

Friday was much worse and Monday was a disaster. 16 million shares were dumped. The stock market closed that afternoon to prevent the selling of shares and it would be closed for the rest of the week. He walked all the way from the stock market back to the luxurious apartment, chain smoking the whole way, trying to clear his mind but he couldn’t. He walked in the house and Salomi knew that something was wrong.

“Sweetheart? What is it?”she asked him worriedly. He has been worrying her for the past few days. But he didn’t say anything, he just started to cry and the children looked at him in shock. They have never seen Daddy cry. Salomi held him as he did so and he felt so ashamed. He was ruined and he had lost everything they had.

*________________________________*









You must login (register) to review.