Family

by Rachel Hildebrand | 2016

     It's seven a.m. in downtown New York City. Inside a small apartment building in room 212, Ally Borden’s phone rings out "Young and Beautiful" by Lana Del Rey. She jumps up and whispers to herself, "today's the day." She looks over at her cat Zoey and yells, "Zoey, today is THE day!" She hops out of bed, cranks up the radio, and begins rushing in five different directions with seven different thoughts going through her mind. She begins to brush her teeth, take out her curlers and begins to dress. She runs in to next room and begins to make herself a ham and cheese omelet with avocado. Between runs to and from the kitchen area she takes quick glances at her final master piece, her pride and joy, her last hope, her sculpture. She can't really tell you what the sculpture is of; it's one of those abstract kinds of things. The sculpture is sitting in her living room space which is only a couple of feet away from her bedroom and the kitchen, seeing as she lives in a very small two room apartment. Her ‘living room' has turned into her workshop, the coffee table doubles as a work space. There is only one couch, the one her 'dear' mother gave her and it was so 'precious' it should be kept in plastic. Especially when Ally is doing such a 'behemoth' thing like sculpting. Ally must have her sculpture to the gallery by 10 a.m. and it takes her about an hour to get there with traffic. She looks at the clock, its 8 a.m. by now; she begins to panic and rushes around more frantically than before. Suddenly, she hears a knock on the door.

     Ally opens the door and before she can get a word out, in barges her aunt Susan. Ally's aunt Susan is her mother’s sister; they get along so well, when Susan isn’t talking. Aunt Susan is very much the Debby-downer of any family reunion. All she can do is complain then complain some more, but she lives a life of riches. Aunt Susan is babbling away about who knows what and Ally just takes a moment to try and console Susan and get her to leave since she's on such a tight schedule. Aunt Susan is a tall lanky red head with the curliest of hair and always wears pearls around her neck. Today she is in her casual outfit of a black penciled skirt, a pink top with a black sweater over and of course her black pumps. Once Ally realizes she can't even get a word in she clears a spot on the plastic covered couch and signals for her to sit. Once Susan is sitting, she is still complaining about how busy she is with her book club and being president of the school PTO and her only son Eric's violin lessons twice a week. Ally feels bad for Eric, being born in such a structured family, much like Ally was. All he wanted was to become a rock drummer, but Susan would never allow that. Ally continues to run about the apartment adding some ‘mhm's and 'absolutely’ every now and then to make Susan think Ally’s actually listening. “Well I better get going, I got to go shopping for a new dress to wear to this big gallery thing tonight,” says Susan as she stands and heads for the door. Oh gosh, she’s coming tonight, Ally thought to herself as she opens the door for Susan and out Susan goes. Ally slams the door, lets out a big gulp of air then continues to gather her things.

     By now its 8:40, Aunt Susan really spent 40 minutes talking about herself and only herself. Ally is gathering her things by her sculpture and starts double checking for everything. She needs to be on the road by 9 a.m. Then she hears her front door open and hears a big “hello Al!” She peaks around the corner to see her Uncle Tom and his wife Aunt Dorothy. They are Ally’s favorite aunt and uncle, and she hardly gets to see them since they live on a farm in Alabama. Uncle Tom is Ally’s dad’s brother. He is a very tall and sturdy man, could probably pull a tree right out of the ground and throw it. Uncle Tom has had the same scruffy beard forever and always has on a pair of dirty jeans. On special occasions he wears his clean pair, a plaid button up shirt and work boots. Aunt Dorothy is a very small and kind woman, always cooking and cleaning. She has gorgeous blond hair that flows down her back, she practically sits on it. Aunt Dorothy is very pretty and has the most perfect bone structure in her face. She never wears makeup, and she doesn’t have to. She was raised in the city, just like Ally. When she met Uncle Tom 30-some years ago she was a girly-girl. Always wearing a flowery, above the knee dress, a diamond or pearl necklace and never left the house without her pearl white Coach purse. After marrying Tom and moving to Alabama she has turned into quite the cowgirl. Now she wears blue jeans and a jean jacket, denim on denim, something she would never dare to wear, 30 years ago. The girly girl is still there deep down inside for there is a pink design on her cowboy boots. “How ya doin, Al? Ready for the big show tonight?” belts out Uncle Tom. Ally says how she’s very excited but must get to the gallery by 10 and is leaving in 20 minutes. “I told you she was gonna be too busy for us,” says Aunt Dorothy looking straight up to Tom since he is whole foot taller than her. “Oh she has time to talk for a bit, don’t ya Al,” questions Uncle Tom. Ally does not want to be rude; she stutters her words. “See she wants us to leave. Let's go. We'll come back after,” says Dorothy pulling Tom by the arm towards the door. After? Oh gee, does that mean they are coming too? How many people did my mom invite? I thought she thought art thing was ‘stupid’ and ‘pointless’, Ally thinks to herself as she sees out her aunt and uncle. It's 8:50. Ally grabs her things and heads down to her car. Loads everything in her white Volkswagen Jetta, taking extra care of her sculpture.

     After all the confusion she arrives at the art gallery, she grabs her things and goes inside. She locates the spot for her sculpture and a few of her other side paintings and sets them up. Fascinated she hangs at the art gallery till five, the time her art will be shown to a crowd for the first time. The clock strikes five and people start pouring into the gallery; she slowly passes around the room her sculpture is in. She occasionally takes peaks at who’s looking at her work. Around 6:20 she takes a glance over and there’s a big crowd around her sculpture. She notices some faces in the crowd, in fact all the faces. Her mother has invited all of Ally’s family, cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. She sees Aunt Susan with Eric and Uncle Tom with Aunt Dorothy. Ally’s then spots her mom and dad, and as she approaches them she sees tears in her mother’s eyes. Filled with self-doubt she thinks, “No, my sculpture has fallen apart and everyone in my family is looking at my failure. I can practically hear my mother now ‘I told you this art stuff was a bad business for you then she’ll send me right back to accounting school.' Oh how much I hate accounting,” Ally thinks to herself right before her mother turns around. As soon as her mom sees Ally she gives her the biggest and tightest hug ever. “I knew you were good and I am so proud of you. You truly have a gift,” says Ally’s mom. Surprised to the extreme she hugs her mom back and asks, “But why are you crying? Is my sculpture falling apart?” She learns that these were tears of joy from her mother and a few ‘secret’ ones from her dad. Ally goes and greets every other relative and thanks them ‘oh so much.’ Ally begins to realize that family can at times be extremely annoying and get in the way, but they are your true friends in this tough world and family is forever.