Four Black Books Volume 1

a novelBy Aida Bowall

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Aida Bowall
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-1495-6

Contents

Chapter 1—Aida at age three.....................1Chapter 2—Aida at age four......................29Chapter 3—Aida at age five......................57Chapter 4—Aida at age six.......................85Chapter 5—Aida at age seven.....................113Chapter 6—Aida at age eight.....................125Chapter 7—Aida at age nine......................133

Chapter One

The first moment she recalled was that of living in a house built by her dad's own hands. The house was located at the edge of town on a gravel country road.

Her sister, Eva, one year than Aida, was still taking her knap. Eva's appearance differed from Aida's. Her hair was dark brown, large brown eyes and pale skin, chubby build.

Aida waited in a large overstuffed chair. She talked nonstop. Her mother finally found a way to get Aida to stop talking. She came to Aida and said "Why don't you look out the window and see if the buss is here yet." Standing in the chair and leaning against the back. She stood looking out of the window. Her hands resting on the window seal one on top of the other. She placed her chin on her hands. Not much longer and the older sibling's would return home from school. A small flock of birds were gathering in a puddle at the end of the sidewalk which leads down to the driveway. . "Look at those birds." Her mother pointed out. "What are they doing?" Aida asked. "They are taking a bath. If you talk you will scare them away. You have to be real quiet to watch them." The flock was having a nice time in the driveway just below the window. Aida's mother returned to the kitchen and Aida decided to join the birds. She ran out the door as quietly as she could so she would not scare the birds. Diving in, belly down, with her hands and feet splashing as hard as she could. Aida stopped to see what her new friends thought of her bath. Disappointed that she could only see one stunned bird remaining (probably knocked into a stopper) as she reached for the bird, it regained its senses and flew away just before her fingers reached it. Aida made her way back up the sidewalk, through the front room, over the freshly waxed hard wood floors and into the kitchen to tell her mother. Aida began telling her mother about the unfriendly flock. Her mother turned to see a pool of muddy water forming at Aida's feet. "Aida! What have you done?" "I took a bird bath." For some reason unknown to Aida her mother picked her up, holding Aida at arm's length carried her to the front porch. "You stand right here." Bewildered Aida waited as her mother went back into the house. Her mother did the strangest thing. "Just stand still." She returned with a pitcher of worm water and began pouring it over Aida. Once she had finished, she took Aida's dress off and carried her into the house placing Aida into the tub. The worm water felt good. "Don't get out of that tub until I get back." "Why?" "I need to clean the floor than bath you." Aida's mother returned. "This is how little girls take a bath not in the mud with the birds."

Eva was born with crooked thumbs. The thumbs were in a permanent closed position. She was tongue tied. A sliver he of skin attached her tongue to the bottom of her mouth, rendering her unable to move her tongue freely. Aida had stayed at home with her older siblings. Eva was taken to the doctor to have that thin strip of skin along the center of the bottom of her tongue clipped. This in office visit gave Eva the ability to use her tongue in a normal manner. Eva was fussy with Aida for a few days. Eventually the two girls once again played in the front room on the floor. Aida began to examine her newly fixed sister. "Does your tongue hurt?" Eva simply shook her head no. "Did the doctor fix it?" Eva nodded yes. "Let me see." Eva stuck her tongue out as far as she could. The girls smiled at each other. "Did the doctor fix your thumbs?" Eva avoided more questions by holding her hands out to Aida. "Let me see." Aida leaned forward to further examine the thumbs. "Can you move it?" Eva wiggled the bent thumb. "Does it have skin to cut?" "No." "Can I touch it?" Eva allowed Aida to examine the seemingly normal thumb carefully. Aida attempted to straighten it. Eva quickly put her hands behind her back. "You try it. You can do it. I saw it move." Reluctantly Eva brought her hands from behind her back. Aida leaned over the extended hand moving her body rather than the hand. There was no skin out of place. The thumbnail was normal. "It looks like mine. See I can bend it and they look alike. Try hard to move it". Eva made the mistake of listing to Aida. There was a small amount of movement. That was enough for the three year old physical therapist. Aida asked Eva to let her see her hand. Determined to fix her sister, Aida took hold of the thumb and straightened it as she stood up. The screaming began. Aida ran around behind her sister putting her arms around Eva's neck. "Don't cry. I fixed it." Their mother came into the room to see what all the screaming was about. "I fixed her thumb." Their mother gasp, "Oh, no you didn't." Yes she certainly had. Aida's mother grabbed Aida by the arm leading her to her room, swatting her on the bottom every step of the way. "You get in that bed and do not get out until I tell you to." Aida cried herself to sleep. Eva was taken to the doctor as soon as their father returned home from work. Aida woke to the sound of her father's voice. She remained in bed. "I don't think she meant to hurt Eva. Didn't you say she said she wanted to fix the thumb? Well it's all over now and Eva's going to be fine. Let's have supper." Aida felt safe enough to venture out to her father. "Hey there you are. Come here I want to talk to you." "Is Eva still crying?" "No, she is not crying." Aida climbed up onto her daddy's lap. "Now we need to talk about what happened." "I fixed Eva's thumb and she cried." "Yes you did. But you should not make your sister cry. You need to be a good girl. You want to be a good girl don't you?" "Yes." Malpractice was never brought up. For the next few days Eva kept her distance from Aida. Aida took to heart what her father had said about being careful, yet continued to practice medicine one more time. As time went by Eva and Aida were playing in the floor. Aida noticed that Eva was using her newly fixed thumb as a normal thumb. "Your thumb is ok now. You can use it. Does it hurt?" Eva held out her hand and moved her digit around. "It's ok I can use it now." Aida examined it carefully. "Is the other one ok too?" Eva held out her other hand reviling her bent thumb. "Does it look the same as the other one?" Eva nodded yes. "Can I see?" Eva hesitated, than allowed Aida to look at the bent thumb. Aida repeated her form of therapy. Once again the screaming brought their mother into the front room. Aida was running in circles around Eva repeating, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "What are you two fighting about?" Eva tried to explain what had happened; she could not get the words out through the sobbing. Aida quickly climbed up onto the couch. Eva held out the second fixed thumb. Their mother turned to Aida who was also crying too hard to tell what had happened. "Would one of you tell me what happen. Who got hurt?" Eva used the uninjured hand to point to her chest. Aida was pointing to Eva. Eva finally squeaked between the tears, "My thumb. She yanked it." Their mother turned to Aida. She smacked Aida on the side of her thy. "You need to learn to be more careful. You wait until your dad gets home I'll tell him what you have done." Their mother turned back to Eva to make further assessment of the damage. "Eva I think it's broken. We will take you to the doctor when your dad gets home." turning back to Aida for further chastising, "Just go lay down on your bed until I come and get you." Aida still crying ran down the hall to her room and cried herself to sleep. Aida woke late in the afternoon to the sound of her dad's voice. She slowly ventured out of the bedroom. Aida stopped once she was in the front room. She wanted to hear the tone of voice her parents were using. She wanted to know if she was still in trouble and if so how much trouble. Aida looked over at the couch, Eva lay sleeping. Good she was not still screaming or dead. Aida heard her father say, "I think she probably took a toy from Eva. Eva's thumb must have got caught on the toy. We should take Eva on in to the doctor to see if it is broken. Is it still straight?" "Yes." Aida froze in her tracks. What had she done? She decided at that moment never to try to fix anyone else. Her parents entered the room. Her dad picked Eva up. "We are going to take you to the doctor now." Aida's mother grabbed her by the left upper arm. Holding tightly, pulled Aida down the hallway to the older siblings. Her arm was hurting, but she made no sound. One last hard pull and Aida stumbled into the room. "Watch her while we take Eva to the doctor." Her mother left the room shutting the door behind her. The children waited until their parents left before leaving the room. Aida was not comfortable around her older siblings. Ellen, just two years older than Eva was far to bossy. The older children were indifferent and rude to Aida. After Eva and the parents returned dinner was served. The talk at the table did disclose good news. Aida was happy to be forgiven. Eva would be able to use both thumbs as normal; nothing was broken, just painful.

The next morning the two girls were playing in the front room floor. Aida noticed Eva was using her thumbs. "Look your thumb is fixed." Eva smiled at Aida, "Yes." "Can you move them like mine?" Aida demonstrated her own thumb use. Eva nodded Smiling at Aida. "But you can't hurt them anymore." "No I won't hurt them anymore." Aida smiled at Eva, "I fixed them." "Yes but that hurt." "Show me this." Aida held out her hands and wiggled her thumbs. Eva repeated what Aida had done. Aida leaned in to look closely at her methods of physical therapy. First the left hand, than the right hand. Aida stood up and walked over to Eva's side and gave her a big hug. The remainder of the morning went uneventful. Knap time came and went. Aida woke to the sound of her mother's scolding. The covers were jerked from the top of her. She smacked Aida on the leg hard enough to leave a hand print. Through clenched teeth, "Get up you nasty child." She grabbed her by the arm and pulled her from the bed. "You already forgot didn't you I'll teach you and you won't forget." She took her to the bathroom pulling her by the arm to get her to move in the direction she wanted her to go. Not that Aida was resisting, she did not make a sound. She did not want to make another mistake rather than to she tried hard to cooperate. She placed her into the tub grumbling, "Nasty child. I'll teach ya and you won't forget. I'll teach you a lesson." She used the same rough handling to bath Aida, as she had used to get her into the tub. Aida's arm was red and painful from the tight grip. She was dizzy from being pushed and pulled by the arm. Aida continued to remain silent. Fear of her mother over whelmed her. Aida was lifted out of the tub, still chocking on the water she had been rinsed off with. Her mother hit her between the shoulder blades to stop the chocking. She had stopped grumbling at Aida. She saw a smile on her mother's face. Her punishment must be over. The process of being dried off was much gentler. Neither of them spoke as her mother dried her arms down to her hands. She hesitated, holding Aida's hands in the towel for a moment. The gruffness returned. "I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget. You already forgot haven't you?" She took hold of both of Aida's hands. "You won't forget this remember what you did to Eva's thumbs. I'll show you what it's like." Her mother bent both of her thumbs backwards. Aida cried out in pain. "This is what it felt like." She bent Aida's thumbs back further. Aida began to scream the pain nearly took her breath. Eva entered the bathroom to see what had happen to Aida. In a soft concerned voice, "What happen to Aida?" Aida was gasping through the tears. Her thumbs had been realest when Eva appeared in the room. Their mother responded, "Go back out it's nothing. Aida just doesn't want a bath to get the filth off." Eva stood motionless. "I said get out." Eva did as her mother instructed. Aida wanted Eva to stay with her. Aida was increasingly afraid of her mother. As Aida's dress was pulled over her head, the crying began to subside. The frail little girl felt completely depleted of energy. Her mother half heartedly attempted to press her arms through the sleeves. The hands failed to emerge. Her hands were pressed agents the unforgiving material before they finally emerged. "Now I want you to get back to bed and think about what you have done. You keep Quiet." She began pulling Aida by the arm until she arrived at the bed. "Come on Eva I'll fix you some lunch." Eva was confused but followed her mother to the kitchen. Aida's arms hurt from being gripped so tightly and used to pull her. She lay in the bed smelling the food, to afraid to call out to her mother in fear of what could happen. The pain diminished her appetite. The tears could not be held back as she cried herself to sleep. Missing meals were not new to her. Never to inflect such pain on another person was not a lesson she cared to learn twice. When she woke, Aida lay listening to voices in the hallway. They were being instructed to remind Aida what was and was not harmful. Aida intended to prove she was a good girl. Maybe her mommy would think better of her as well. She had completely fallen from grace in the eyes of her parents and siblings. She emerged from the bedroom with caution. What would the rest of the family do to her if her mother's reaction to Aida's actions were a glimpse of what lay in store for her times would get rough. Determined to regain her good name she headed straight for her daddy's voice. She knew he would not be happy with her but she had never known him to be physically rough. He was more of a' make you think' kind of person.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Four Black Books Volume 1by Aida Bowall Copyright © 2010 by Aida Bowall. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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