|
After
Beth Rose left the house to marry Joseph Normals, life continued happily
for awhile for the Everymans. However, one day, disaster struck the
happy home: William, swimming alone in their new pool, suffered some
kind of stroke.
Although he tried to fight as well as he could, and tried to call for
help, Maria Rose was busy in the kitchen and didn't hear him, and Billy
was at work.
Maria Rose fell apart, and eventually found religion, as preached by
Normalville's fire and brimstone preacher Jebediah Breeder. She eventually
moved out to join a group of like-minded others, half a country away,
to get as far from the painful memories of William's death as possible.
This left Billy with the whole house to himself - prefect for staring
a family of his own. However, he took his time - he just wasn't interested,
they'd only take time away from his work. It took until he was already
rising quite quickly in the business world that he realized he still
wasn't that interested in a wife or kids per se, but he *was* interested
in the idea of having an heir.
Obviously, he first needed a wife. And Janet Normals was still single,
and after only a few romantic gestures, was more than willing to marry
him - during a small ceremony with only her family present. Anything
else would have been a waste of money, of course.
Billy immediately returned to work, and Janet, to her great delight,
found herself pregnant. Finally, all her dreams come true: a handsome
husband, a child...
However, the dream didn't last very long. The pregnancy and birth was
difficult, and turned out to be twin girls. Complications during the
birth meant that Janet would be unable to conceive ever again, which
left Billy with 2 expensive children that he considered worthless, and
a wife that would never grant him his fondest dream. It was enough,
in his opinion, to drive a man to drink. Janet, of course, noticed,
and so started to focus all her attention on her girls, who were named
Jane Rose and Willifred Rose.
Taking care of twins was hard, and Janet's health never completely returned.
She often went to bed early, totally exhausted. And while she slept
innocently in their marriage bed, Billy started to bring home female
co-workers, to woo and then woohoo, in the hopes of maybe getting one
of them with child - with a *male* child.
Of course, an arrangement like that was bound to fail dismally: Janet
eventually found Billy in flagrante delicto.
Mortified, she demanded a divorce. But the event had also caused her
to become unstable, and Billy ruthlessly used this mental instability
to make her agree to just leave, taking one of the girls - Jane Rose
- with her. The other child stayed with him, and Janet wouldn't see
one red simolean of his money. He had his next chance at an heir already
lined up: Sally Sad, a new assistant at his workplace, who was eager
to please her boss - him.
He quickly moved her into his home. Willifred Rose - grown into a child
shortly after her mother left with her twin - was desolate: she knew
that this spelled the end of any chance of her family reuniting.
Billy, not giving a damn what Willifred Rose thought, quickly married
Sally (in a private and thus cheat ceremony, of course) and equally
quickly ensured that she became pregnant. Sally at first did her best
to become friends with Willifred Rose, who at first responded favorably.
However, it soon became clear that Sally's pregnancy was difficult as
well, and she started to "perk herself up" with a combination of pills
and alcohol. Willifred Rose watched in dismay as Sally's temper and
moods became unstable.
To Sally's great misfortune, the child she gave birth to was a girl
as well, who was given the unimaginative name of Sally Rose by her highly
disappointed father. Billy was quick to let her know that he blamed
her for another useless offspring. Sally, already suffering from post-partum
depression as well, started to deteriorate even move. All she wanted
was to get back to work, to earn money, to feel like a contributing
members of society.
Billy watched her with distaste - but it wasn't enough distaste to keep
him from getting her with child again, thus nixing any chance she might
have had to get out of her utter depression.
This time, however, the results of her pregnancy were what Billy had
wanted: he had his son and heir, Will.
If Sally had thought that Billy would feel gratefulness - or any other
positive emotion - for her after giving birth to his heir, she was bitterly
disappointed.
And his continued drinking made him even less tolerant of her "moping
and passive-aggressive bullshit", as he called it. Instead, it only
angered him, and if that anger was combined with drink - and it usually
was, as he was drinking almost constantly when at home - he became first
verbally abusive, and eventually physically violent as well. Eventually
it came to a point where he put his fingers around Sally's throat and
shook her, while yelling "damn it, woman, why don't you just *die*!"
In Sally's mentally disturbed mind, that was the last straw - she went
and drowned herself in the swimming pool.
Billy didn't much care - he was just turning into an elder, and whenever
he wasn't working or drinking, he spent time doting on Will.
Will's birth had signified the death of any chance Willifred Rose might
have had to get her father's approval - or even attention. But by that
time, she'd long resigned herself to the fact that Billy didn't care
for her and that Sally had spent whatever emotional reserves she had
on Sally Rose, leaving her with only one friend: Kendal Lawson, her
nanny, who had grown to return Willifred Rose's love. Kendal knew exactly
what was going on in their home, and knew that the girl needed a friend
and mother-figure (and they did stay close friends until Kendal's death).
Despite the horribly bad example of her own family life, Willifred Rose
felt strongly drawn to one day having a family of her own. Sally Rose,
meanwhile, grew into a pretty little girl (and Willifred Rose's old
clothes - Billy was not about to spend more money than absolutely necessary
on the girls)
Billy didn't have much time as an elder, though - his liver gave out,
and Death came for him quickly.
Maria Rose, the children's grandmother, was still alive, and moved in
with them to care for them. She tried to mold all of them into the religious
mindset that she now inhabited, but the only one that showed any interest
was Sally Rose, who promptly became Maria Rose's favorite.
Will grew into a happy kid, with hardly any memories of the domestic
strife that had been going on when he was younger. He was a very happy
and outgoing boy, and had mountains of toys that his father had already
bought for him. However, most of his time he spent playing with Sally
Rose.
Maria Rose was not happy: that Willifred Rose resisted all attempts
to being converted to Maria Rose's religion was a constant thorn in
her side, and she also lived next to the graves of both her husband
and her son - and she'd never gotten over either of their deaths.
She spent much time staring into space, or arguing with people only
she could see, while Willifred Rose tried her best to bring up Sally
Rose and Will.
However, Willifred Rose felt more unwelcome in the house than ever,
and left as soon as she entered adulthood.
Sally Rose, meanwhile, grew into a pretty if rather religious teen,
just in time to be declared legal guardian of her younger brother, because
Death finally caught up with Maria Rose as well.
|
