Family Affairs

If the sleeves of the kimono hadn't been so wide, it would never have happened. If Bethany hadn't been holding her teddy so tightly and had let it go and if the sleeve hadn't got caught on the railing it would never have happened. She would never have fallen down the stairs and broken her arm and she would never have gone to hospital and her father would never have fallen in love with the pretty Polish nurse, Eva.
The sleeve incident was a grey cloud hanging over her, it was a ball and chain that she dragged with her every day.

The week before the kimono sleeve got stuck and she went tumbling down the stairs, Bethany's father had gone to Hong Kong on a business trip and brought them back a kimono each.
They were beautiful, real silk, white with poppies for Susie her elder sister, blue cornflowers for their mother Linda and pink peonies for Bethany.
If the sleeve of the kimono hadn't got caught on the bannister then Bethany wouldn't have fallen down the stairs. She'd been holding her teddy in her right hand and the sleeve caught on the rail and she lost her balance. Everything was a bit confused after that. She remembered gripping her teddy, and the dull pain in her leg. She remembered her sister screaming, even more so than when she found a spider in the bath or wasps settled on her sandwich.
She remembered strong arms and a kind face and then nothing. She'd woken up in a hospital bed and there was her father Mark holding her hand. There was a nurse standing next to him and she was smiling.
Susie and her mother weren't there. Her father stroked her hair and explained that Susie had had a panic attack and so he'd come on his own and Eva the nurse was here to look after her. Bethany remembered feeling a tremor of alarm go through her as Eva and her father exchanged smiles and Eva's hand lingered on her father's arm.

When Bethany got home from the hospital everything was different. Her mother cried a lot and her father was never at home. When grandma came round or Mrs Ellis from next door she could hear them saying that if she hadn't fallen down the stairs it would never have happened. The grey cloud grew darker. Her sister lost a lot of weight and hardly ever spoke. Her asthma got worse.
There was no laughter and giggling at bedtime any more. Bethany's friend Emma came round to visit her and wrote all over her plaster cast. Emma told her that the Netball team had lost the championship and it was all Bethany's fault.

Bethany had been back from hospital a few days when her teacher Mr. Browning came round to see her. He gave her lots of homework to help her catch up and a big box of chocolates. He came round a lot after that and gave her lessons and then went into the kitchen to have a cup of tea with her mother. At first Bethany could overhear her mother telling him the usual story of how if Bethany hadn't fallen down the stairs it would never have happened. After a week or two Bethany heard Mr. Browning calling her mother 'Linda' and her mother's voice out of breath and whispering.

Mr. Browning took Bethany and her mother to the hospital to have her final check up when her leg had healed. Her father was waiting for them with Eva. Bethany was surprised to see Mr. Browning shake hands with her father and watched in amazement as Eva and her mother laughed and joked together about the way her father snored.

Now here they were on a plane going to meet Eva's family in Krakow. Susie was sitting next to the window, still and silent.
Bethany stretched out her leg, the one that had broken, it had healed beautifully. She turned her ankle round in circles like the Physiotherapist had shown her.
She looked at her sister, a lump came to her throat. It was all her fault if Susie was so unhappy.
 Bethany could see her father and Eva in the row opposite taking their drinks from the stewardess. Something shifted inside her, she took a deep breath and felt her shoulders relax. She put her hand on Susie's and squeezed it.

'Susie, I want to say something very important.'

Her sister hardly moved but Bethany knew she was suddenly alert.

'I want to say that I am really sorry. I'm really sorry that I fell down the stairs and broke my leg and that now everything's different.'

 She was about to carry on but Susie turned to her, tears streaming down her cheeks.

'No Bethany I'm the one that must apologize. If I hadn't been so hysterical, if I hadn't had the panic attack then dad wouldn't have gone to the hospital alone. I'm so sorry I've ruined our family. I'm so sorry that I changed everything.'

They were both crying now, tears of release. Bethany pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, she felt the grey cloud lighten and start to evaporate, a huge weight was falling from her. She blew her nose and grinned at her sister.

' Not everything has changed Susie, we're still sisters, nothing can change that. We've got each other. We're really lucky.'

Susie dried her eyes and smiled at Bethany, her face alive with hope. Her hand crept into Bethany's again and gripped hard. the stewardess was asking what they'd like to drink.

They answered together, 'lemonade please,' and then collapsed in giggles.

Bethany raised her glass to her sister,

'We're going to have a lovely holiday, Eva's got two nephews our age, her mother's got a cake shop and I heard her say we are going to some salt mines to improve your asthma. We might even learn Polish.'