| Act3:: Scene 2 The sizzle of eggs frying, sharp, bitter smell of coffee, sunlight shining through the window in a pattern of vertical strips of light and shadow. Slumped over the table, blanket cast haphazardly over her thin frame, Mackenzie let out a low, tired moan. �What time is it?� her voice came muffled from out beneath the blanket. It bore an edge of confusion. �Late enough that breakfast isn�t quite appropriate now� not that ever stopped your father from eating before.� Mackenzie rose to stretch; the blanket fell to the floor like an outer skin, revealing a bleary-eyed, frumpy house nymph. She wanted coffee and a bath, and helped herself to breakfast as the oversized tub filled in the upstairs bath. Her mother took her regiment of pills for the day, downing the entire handful with a single gulp of water. John sat out on the front porch reading the paper as he contemplated abandoning the women to pay a visit to the country club. It was an ordinary morning, really. The three strangers� momentary morning convergence before dashing off in separate directions; if wasn�t for the fact that there was only one kitchen that may too have been avoided. They had never been ones for spending time together, even when Mackenzie was a little girl. As child she would go on the occasional outing to the store with one of her parents- they never went anywhere together. She viewed her friends�� parents� involvement in their children�s lives with a mixture of contempt and amusement. Before she had started school, Mackenzie thought that all families were as detached as hers; it never occurred to her that she might have been in the minority. Now that there was money they had even more excuses to avoid one another. Her mother taught private art classes; her father joined the Monclair Country Club and took up tennis and golf, neither of which he excelled at. Mackenzie had M.A. to attend starting in September and spent her days at the beach with Jayde, Marcus and their whole group of friends. The only time that her family really ever spent time together under the same roof was when they were sleeping. She used to fret over her family�s lack of camaraderie, but after seventeen years, it really didn�t make a difference to her anymore. As long as provided her with a roof over her head, clothes, and food, it meant that they were still aware of her existence. Why, the fact that they took her on vacation with them meant that they at least cared enough about her to not leave her alone for a week, not that it would have bothered her. She would have enjoyed having that large house to herself, to be able to come and go as she pleased without worrying about her parents falling into a rage about her lack of concern over inconsistent house rules. It was hard to be ignored and yet have to live by her parents� rules. Why couldn�t they be like the careless families of Monclair, so swept up in their own lives that they didn�t even have the ability to look outside themselves? |