Unbuttoned (part 2)

“Girls! Breakfast!”

Sissy slipped silently into her seat, her lip quivering as she watched her sister ease carefully into her chair.

“What’s wrong with you?” her grandmother asked the older sister. “You’re lame this morning.”

The girls’ eyes met. “It’s nothing, Granma.”

“Sure looks like something. Are you two going to do more than poke your breakfasts?”

Sissy hiccupped. The older girl hissed at her younger sister. “Button it.”

But the little girl burst. “She wouldn’t let those boys at me Granma, she let me get away.”

Their grandmother made the phone-call before gathering them close, rocking and humming.

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I was peer pressured into providing a bit more of “Unbuttoned”. I almost wish I hadn’t written either piece but to not have gone where the prompt led would not have changed what is too often a true story for too many girls. I am not sure how to write the happy ending that this fictional family deserves.  Is there any kind of justice that undoes the damage done? There’s no lesson to be learned; these girls did nothing wrong. They are tough and stand up for each other so we can only hope that these characters have the resilience to not give up on themselves and will grow up as healed and whole as possible. 

 

The July 5, 2018, Carrot Ranch prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes buttons.