This is Part 2 of Brotherly Love, written and contributed by Karen Fix. Enjoy!
Shannon sighed as she headed in the direction of the dreaded office, a place where she and her brother had many a dreaded ‘chats’ and was about to again. On the way there, she got a phone call. It was her best friend.
“Hey girl friend, want to go out tonight, Shannon?” she asked in a chipper voice.
“I would love to, but I’m kind of in a bit of trouble, another time maybe, when I’m free of the ball and chain I’ll be wearing for the next month.”
“So?” Her friend asked mischievously, “That’s never stopped you before,” she chuckled.
“Well…” She hesitated in answering. Then realized that Melissa was right. Her brother’s groundings had never stopped her before. So why start now? “Yeah ok, what time and where?” Shannon asked.
“Around 7 at the local pub, ok? See you soon… and don’t be late these guys are cute and won’t be around long.”
“Ok bye, Melissa.” She hung up her phone, opened the office door and went inside to sit down on the leather sofa and wait anxiously for her brother to return.
“How am I going to pull this off?” She thought to herself, but figuring out how she was going to get out on the town tonight was the least of her worries at this point. She’d be lucky if she could even get a pair of jeans on over her bottom after her brother gets through with her.
With the class finished and the horses back in their stalls, Marcus noticed that they were more soiled then usual, taking a closer look he realized that Shannon hadn’t even been here the whole day. “She didn’t even show up to do her barn chores. What’s gotten into that girl lately? It’s not like her to neglect her duties or obligations. Well it’s time I got to the bottom of her slackness and fast, before she puts our business ‘out’ of business.”
He then headed up to the main building and towards the office. He opened the door to find Shannon out to lunch on the sofa. Watching his sister sleeping he realized that he couldn’t allow her to continue down the road she was heading. It just wasn’t the business she was ruining but her life in general. She was always such a happy and contented kid growing up, full of curiosity and a lot of spunk, always wanting to see what life had to offer. She always made sure that she got her share of life’s opportunities. That was until their parent’s death. Since he took her in she began to change for the worse; she became more short tempered, rebellious and anti social. Even as a kid he remembered how Mom and Dad always dealt with him and his kid sister. They grew up by strict and firm methods, methods that he himself firmly believed in. He just didn’t realize that he would have to enforce these principles on his own sister, but he loved her more then life itself and wasn’t about to let her piddle such a promising future away. Not while he was around and in charge of her care. He had promised their mother before she died that he would take care of Shannon as she was only twelve at the time, and he was determined to do right by her and keep his promise continuing on with the “Family Traditions.”
“Shannon… wake up sis. It’s time to talk.” He gently shook his sister’s arm waking her from her slumbering sleep. She gently stirred and opened her big blue eyes grinning as she looked up into Marcus’s stern steel blue eyes.
“Oh…that kind of talk, huh?” She shuffled up into a sitting position, where Marcus quickly took his seat beside her.
“Yes …one of those ‘chats’ again. You do it to yourself Shannon. You think I enjoy having to get on your case all the time? But it seems if I don’t then you’d just go on doing what you’re doing and going nowhere fast.”
‘And the lecture begins.’ She thought as she rolled her eyes and leaned back on the sofa twirling her blonde hair around her fingers.
“See? You’re not even listening to me when I’m talking to you! It’s like you don’t give a damn anymore….LOOK AT ME YOUNG LADY! I’d appreciate it if you’d at least acknowledge me when I’m speaking to you!”
She looked at Marcus becoming a bit more attentive to his words now. She had never known him to be this firm and strict with his lectures, and it got her a bit antsy.
“Good, now that I finally have your undivided attention I think its time we had a more serious chat regarding your lack of commitment and responsibility to your job, the business and more importantly your future, that you’ve been totally disregarding lately. It has me very concerned!”
