Home

The girls clean house, and learn about their gymnastics promotion

 

Home

 

 

 

“I can’t believe that slime sent flowers to you girls. He really has some nerve. No wonder you were so upset, Stacy. I hope we can keep him from doing anything like that again.”

            “I would rather let Bobby catch me skinny-dipping than to get anything else from that creep and you know how much I hate Bobby!”

            “I understand it all now. Stacy, it is so unlike you to get that upset over something like this. I knew something else was bothering you, and it has been for a long time now.”

            “Aunt Laura, Stacy says Mom’s producer tried to hurt her that night. I thought I saw someone here in the house too, but it looked so unreal I thought I was just having another really strange dream and started sleepwalking. I couldn’t tell if it was real or not.”

            “Not tried to, did hurt her”, Stacy protested. “I saw how he hurt Mom and I saw where he hurt her.”

            “Marco hurt your Mom, Stacy?” Laura was genuinely surprised at that accusation.

            Stacy told Laura the same story she had told Kimberly, Ms Campbell and the school nurse. She kept a very stiff expression and was determined to get the details right. So much so, that she showed Laura where they were on the sofa and then in private, displayed the area on her body where Marco had bruised her mother.

            Things began to make more sense to Laura then. From the time frame that Stacy had given, Helen had avoided being with Kevin due to the bruises. Kevin would not have missed that detail and things would have escalated from there. Kimberly was also full of questions and Laura told Kimberly and Stacy everything she had seen and heard at the gymnastics competition. Kimberly began to cry as the facts sunk in. Marco was slime and Stacy was right again. 

            The three sat at the kitchen table for what seemed like a very long time. Laura made the first move to get the girls moving in the right direction. She felt that a really good house cleaning would help both girls get the image and shame they felt for their mother out of the way. 

            Helen had handled the sofa herself, having the old one replaced by a really nice sofa that their father loved to take naps on. They cleaned the carpets and dusted everything in the den until it looked like a band new house. The girls really got into the cleaning, especially Stacy, who pounded the floor mats with so much energy Laura had a hard time holding onto them.

            Before they knew it, it was time to go to the gym and work out. The girls were going to work out for three hours tonight and four hours each night for the rest of the week. Tonight, they found a surprise when they arrived at the gym. 

            “We have got an opportunity to do something really unique with the girls”, Shannon explained. “It is a really simple idea and they’re perfect for the routine.”

            “What are we doing?” Stacy really wanted to know why they had to do a special routine on the uneven bars. This was her weakest event and adding something different at this point simply didn’t make much sense to her. She would just as soon skinny dip in Bobby’s back yard than have to add something that included the bars.

            “It’s a double routine on the bars. Both of you girls doing the same routine on the same set of bars”, Shannon explained.

            “That sounds like fun!”

            “Why are we doing that? We don’t compete like that.” Stacy was genuinely upset with her sister’s gung ho attitude about this new routine and it did not matter why they were doing it to her.

            “This is to promote the upcoming regional meet. They want the two of you to do this routine and they are going to shoot it live to promote the regional meet. It will take about 30 minutes to put your part together and I know you girls will love this.”

            “Laura, I’m not sure I like this. That’s my weakest event, Danielle broke her wrist on the bars and Dad isn’t here tonight.”

            “But I’m here, honey. And I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Besides, I did a double routine on the bars for an exhibition once and it was a blast.”

            “You did a double routine on bars?” Shannon asked. 

            “It was pretty simple by today’s terms but it was a lot of fun. You’ll be fine, just listen to your coaches and follow their instructions.”

            “This all sounds pretty cool. Come on, Stacy. We can do this.”

            “Our routine will be pretty simple. I want Stacy to mount the top bar first and Kimberly to mount the lower bar. Kimberly will swing to the upper bar and then you two will stay in synch with each other. We have one counter motion segment and then the dismount will be from the high bar at the same time.”