"Dad, I have a surprise for you! You are going to be so happy!”
Jillian’s dad had just popped the button on his trousers after eating the enormous Sunday meal his wife had painstakingly prepared.
“Go on honey, I am ready.” He said.
“I took your advice. I found something that I want to pursue besides instant messaging on the computer. I took the initiative and went to see the High School swim coach. I have decided to start seriously training for the swim team. The coach told me that I have to be at school at 6am to train everyday, including Saturdays, and after school until 5, if I want to have any hope of qualifying three months from now.”
Jillian’s dad thought long and hard, his wife’s stew and biscuits settling into a bulbous mass in his abdomen. Jillian was 14 and her sister, Tricia, was 17. Every morning for the past six years Tricia and her dad left the house at 4:00am to take the hour drive to her gymnastics studio for her morning workout before school. Everyday they just barely made it back to the high school for the 8:45 bell that signaled the first period was about to begin.
Tricia was training for the Olympics and in six months all the years of dedication would culminate in her competing in her first Olympic trials. After school they would be back at that studio and both Tricia and her father would get home long after everyone else was fast asleep. Tricia’s gymnastic coach had told them that keeping to this arduous schedule was the only way that she could be truly competitive for the Olympic trials.
Dad looked across the dining room at the two high chairs which held his two-year old twins boys and then he looked back at Jillian and started to speak.
“Jillian, darling, I don’t know if that will be possible right now with Tricia’s schedule…..” Before he had the chance to finish, Jillian interrupted.
She said. “Dad, for the past six years you have given all of your free time to Tricia and her sport. I have said nothing while, since I was eight years old all I got from you all day was a kiss goodnight, a kiss goodnight I don’t remember as I have been long asleep by the time I get it. Weekend after weekend has gone by and I never see you. You are always out with Tricia.
Now, I have a dream. Now, I want the next six years of your time and attention. I want this so badly daddy. If you don’t bring me every morning, I will never have a chance to make the high school swim team. Over and over again you have told me to get out of my room and to turn my computer off. Over and over again you have told me to find something physical to do. I want YOU to bring me, daddy. Not a taxi, and not another mom in the neighborhood or one of your employees at work.
YOU have to do it. You have to do this for me. I will not wait for your attention any longer. I have been patient for so long while all you care about is Tricia’s dream. When will you love me as much as you love my sister?"
Jillian and Tricia’s dad thought long and hard and in that split second the course he needed to take was clear.
“Go and get your sister and your mother.” He said.
With everyone assembled in the dining room, with his pants button, and now also his zipper undone, dad made an announcement.
“Jillian needs my help weekday mornings and afternoons from now on. She has expressed a real interest in making the high school swim team and needs to be at school at 6am everyday and also train after school. With mom taking care of the twins, I am the only way that she will be able to get there each day. This means that, Tricia, you will not be able to continue your training for the foreseeable future. I have been completely supportive of Tricia’s dream the past six years to the exclusion of the rest of the family, and now, Jillian, who has been completely patient for years, has rightfully asked that she has a turn getting my love, attention and support. I believe it is right to give it to her and I am going to.”
Jillian, out of pure joy, began sobbing uncontrollably almost to the point that she became convulsive. Her chest heaved, and shoulders bobbed up and down. She extended her arms towards her father and hugged him. Her tears flew across the room as they passed over her mouth, making a mist on the china closet.
In that same instant, Tricia temporarily stopped breathing. She too extended her arms towards her father, and then her eyes rolled up in the back of her head.
As she fell limply backward, she muttered.. “Papa no, I am so close, no papapapa nnnoooo, I am soooooo.”
She was unconscious before her head met the hardwood floor of the dining room.
