The Girls

The girls spent their first years of memory in Rio, but after the crash Constance returned them to her hometown of Quincy, IL to be closer to family and friends.

She must have felt an unending emptiness during this time, but couldn’t dwell on the memory of Al. Keep moving, push those feelings to the back, or else how would she be able to support the girls. She had her own demons to contend with, but with the four girls aged from 3 to 9, all trying to adjust to a new town, friends and school, she couldn’t think about her own emotions.

They did have allies though. Constance's mother, known as Gram, was very involved in their lives, as were the people Constance grew up with. They helped make the transition as smooth as possible, all things given.

Each of the four girls were unique in their dispositions, but one constant remained throughout their childhood: their willingness to always gang up on little Connie. Perhaps  because she was the youngest, or maybe because she simply didn’t remotely resemble the rest of them - where the other three were tall, thin and blonde, Connie was shorter and rounder, with jet black hair and freckles.

Constance encouraged the girls to include Little Connie in their games of hide-and-go-seek or original skits, but when they refused, Little Connie would tattle on them. That’s how she got the nickname “Rat,” or more commonly known, Little Rat.

The sisters’ all time favorite trick to play on Little Connie capitalized on her not yet being able to attend school. They would run around the yard professing their unwavering disdain for a vile neighborhood creature that went by the name of C-O-N-N-I-E. You’d hear them say things like, “Do you know who is the grossest person on the block?” One of them would shout, “Who?” Another would reply, “C-O-N-N-I-E, that's who.” Then one would say, “Oh I just hate C-O-N-N-I-E.” Eventually they would turn to Connie and ask her what she thought. And since this was the only time that the other girls seemed to be supporting her, she relished in the attention. “Ewwwww.....uggggggh....that C-O-N-N-I-E is the worst. I just hate C-O-N-N-I-E to death."

Of course she didn’t know any better. She hadn’t learned to spell yet.

Then one afternoon in early Fall, Constance realized Little Connie wasn’t playing with the other girls.

She went in the backyard where the girls were setting up a pretend skating rink. “Did you girls see Little Connie after school?”

“I dunno. Who knows where the little rat is hiding.” Marilyn said as she laced up Kathy’s skate.

“Marilyn! Do not call your sister that!”

“Aw. Come on Mom. We all know she’s a rat. I’m not saying anything that isn’t true. Am I right Kat?”

Kathy nodded diligently.

“That’s beside the point. It’s not lady like.

Marilyn stared as she wiped snot from her nose with here sleeve.

“Susan, did you see her?”

“No Mother, but her classroom is in a whole other building than mine.”

“Well it’s going to be late soon so I’m going to need you girls to help me find her.”

“But Moooooom!” Marilyn protested. “Kat and I just put our skates on to work on some neat new tricks.”

Kathy smiled and nodded proudly in solidarity.

“Well you’ll have to take them off and help me look for Connie.”

“Rat is always ruining things.” Marilyn said under her breath.

“Susan, can you run over to Gram’s and see if.....”

Just then a loud clatter came from the open basement window.

“Oh mother! What was that?” Susan said alarmed.

“Maybe it’s Connie and she’s in trouble.”

“Or maybe it’s a robber.” Marilyn wryly smiled at Susan.

Constance picked up a shovel and rake leaning against the house. She gave Susan the rake. “Girls. Stay behind me.”

They circled around to the other side of the house to find the basement door wide open.

“Slowly down the stairs girls.”

“Mom.”

“Yes Marilyn.”

“How am I gonna get down the stairs with these skates on?”

“I told you to take them off Marilyn.” Constance began to get more agitated.

“I can’t. Takes too long. Tell her Kat.”

Kathy pursed her lips and obliged, “Yeah. Takes too long.”

“Fine. You girls stand watch up here.”

“Okie dokie.”

With shovel and rake raised above their heads, Constance and Susan slowly walked down the stairs, step by step.

“Pssst. Connie are you down here?”

“Hey Rat! Show yourself.”

Constance turned to Susan and whisper, “Stop calling your sister Rat!”

“Sorry.”

As they finally hit the basement floor they could hear a faint noise coming from the back of the basement. They inched closer and closer, until they could make out a small figure in the corner.

A tiny black mouse scooted across the floor, causing Susan to throw her rake in the air and start screaming.

“Are you all ok?” Marilyn yelled down. “Do Kat and I need to take off our skates?”

It was barely audible, but the little figure in the corner said, “Mommy?”

“Connie, is that you?”

“Yes.” She said as she sniffled and struggled to catch her breath.

“Thank you for your help Susan. Can you go upstairs and help get Marilyn and Kathy out of their skates and cleaned up for supper?”

“Yes Mother.”

Constance leaned her shovel against the wall and pulled on the switch for the hanging light bulb. There, wedged in the corner of the basement, was Little Connie, her bear named Alvin swaddled in her arms and two empty Hershey’s chocolate wrappers at her feet. Her eyes were bright red and snot was running down her lip.   

“Tell me what’s wrong Connie.” She said as she sat next to her.

“I don’t want to.” She said belligerently.

“Well how can I help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong?”

Connie stared at the window with her mouth wide open and began to think. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”

“Teacher said that we are going to learn something new today that we all will need to know.”

“That sounds exciting.”

“Teacher says today we are going to begin our spelling lessons.”

For the life of her, Constance couldn’t figure out where this was going.

“Teacher said we need to learn how to spell our name first.”

Oh no.

“Teacher said that C-O-N-N-I-E is me.”