Mia Perrin

A Block

October 2018

Mrs. M ELA

Quarter One Project - Essay

“Mommy!” Isabella cried, reaching for her mother. She was running a 101 degree fever, rashes and

peeling skin on her chest, legs, fingers and toes, swelling, redness, and peeling skin on her palms and the soles

of her feet, redness in her eyes, large lymph nodes, an irritated throat, mouth, and lips, a swollen red tongue,

joint pain, and stomach troubles. She had had all of this for five days, but Sofie and Zoe, her parents, did not

have enough money to take her to the hospital. They hoped it would pass, but after five days, they gave in and

decided to take her to see a doctor.

The doctor had done a few tests on Isabella, and came back with news. She had mucocutaneous lymph

node syndrome. Blood vessels throughout her body were inflamed. She would need IVIG, and in high doses.

Maybe even up to three rounds of those high doses. It would cost a lot. Too much for one mom who’s only job

was cleaning up movie theatres after shows, and another mom who just babysat for parents in the area.

The family went home from the doctor’s office. Isabella went to sleep, and Sofie and Zoe went to their

bedroom.

“I’m going to see Iris tomorrow. She has a heart disorder too. Iris’ is more likely to kill her though,” Zoe

whispered, so as to not wake up Isabella.

 “Is Iris the only person in your family you still talk to?”

“Yes. The rest all cut me out of their lives when I was fourteen.”

Sofie’s family stopped talking to Sofie when she came out as gay when she was fourteen. She had lived

a nice life and was good in her classes. She lived in a nice town in Pennsylvania and had plenty of money. After

she came out, she moved in with her Great Aunt Iris in Delaware. Iris had come out as trans when she was

fifteen, and had a similar experience. Ever since Sofie turned eighteen, she pretended to be afloat and not

financially struggling around Iris. She hated being pitied.

Sofie found Zoe when she was eighteen, and they were married when they were twenty-one. They

adopted Isabella that same year. Sofie’s family had somehow heard that she married Zoe, probably through a

friend that was still in contact with both. Sofie’s family thought Zoe was worse than Sofie. They thought she

was possessed by a demon and needed an exorcism, not money.

They thought this because Zoe had Tourette Syndrome. She had lots of motor and vocal tics, and they

were sure it wasn’t just a disorder, it had to be some demon. The fact that she was a panromantic asexual

strengthened these thoughts more.

Zoe had connected with Iris for these reasons. She was worried about Iris’ health. She knew that Iris was

getting old, and would likely pass away.

“So, you’ll have no more family members you still (CHEESE!) talk to once she’s gone,” Zoe asked. Her

tics were getting worse than normal because of the stressful situation. She normally had very few vocal tics.

“Yeah. I guess I never really thought about it that way.”

Sofie got up to turn the hallway light off before getting back into bed.

“It’s not like I want to talk to my other family family members ever again. I hardly ever think about Eva,

Evelyne, or Simon anymore,” Sofie responded.

“But still, they’re family! Eva is your (WIZ!) sister! And Evelyne and Simon are your parents! Don’t

you ever miss them?”

 “No. I don’t.”

“I miss mine.”

“Well, your’s died. Years ago. In a tornado. It’s different.”

“I’m going to let that go because we’re both stressed.”

The two of them rarely fought, so they went to bed, knowing it would be resolved by morning.

The next morning, Zoe got up to walk Isabella to the school bus stop, and Sofie went to work. Mornings

at the movie theatre were never very stressful, because people usually didn’t come until later in the day. The

knew a big horror movie had its opening night later, at around four o’clock. Horror movies always made the

biggest messes.

Sad movies also made almost equally bad messes. Sofie had never understood how sad movies affected

people so much. The only movie she could think of that made her cry was Bambi. She knew everyone cried

during Bambi. Sometimes Sofie wondered if that was what life was like for Zoe after her parents passed away.

She just thought about seeing Iris later. She thought about saying goodbye.

After work, covered in artificial popcorn butter, Sofie headed out to go to see Iris.

Iris had presenile gangrene. It’s the inflammation and clotting of small and medium arteries and veins of

the hands and feet. Iris tried taking streptokinase and lumbar sympathectomy to get better, but it didn’t work as

well as the doctors had hoped. When hearing that she’d need an amputation, she refused to sign the paperwork.

She didn’t want to do it. She would likely quite soon.

“Hi Iris,” Sofie said, pulling back the hospital curtain.

“Hello dear!” Iris exclaimed, voice cracking.

“How are you?”

 “As good as I can be when I’m dying of presenile gangrene, I suppose,” Iris answered, chuckling to

herself as she shifted her position in the hospital bed.

A nurse walked in just then.

“You shouldn’t be talking sir. Your heart is going at 220 BPM,” the nurse said, scolding her softly.

“Alright, alright! It’s Ma’am by the way,” she corrected her. “I love you very much Sofie. I hope you

know that.”

When you think of people dying in a hospital, you imagine the heart monitor beeping slower and slower

until it flatlines. This wasn’t the case for Iris. Her heart was racing, fighting against her disorder. Eventually, it

couldn’t continue fighting, and that flatline came. It seemed a lot more sudden. Sofie now understood Bambi’s

feeling of being lost and confused. She understood Zoe’s pain of losing both of her loving parents at once.

She went home that night, feeling cold and empty. She put on a happy face for Isabella, who was

showing her a dance her class did in school that day.

Zoe knew about what had happened, and was affected by it too. Iris had loved Zoe like they were blood

related. Iris felt like Zoe’s last family member too.

A few days later, the family started to heal. Sofie went back to work, and started doing the dull work of

picking up spilled popcorn and abandoned drink cups. Isabella had heard about Iris’ death by then. She was sad,

but didn’t fully understand death, so she wasn’t as broken as Sofie and Zoe.

That night, while they were eating some pasta, they heard a knock on their front door. Sofie got up to

see who it was, as she wasn’t expecting anyone that night.

At the door was a lady with long blonde hair, trying to close her big, clear umbrella. She extended her

hand to Sofie, who shook it. “Hello, my name is Erica, and you have been left money in a will from a family

member. Your…” she looked down at the papers she was holding, “...Great Aunt Iris. It said she passed away

five days ago. I’m sorry for your loss. If you could come to the Bank of Ocean City, 904 Coastal Highway, on
Friday, so tomorrow, we can transfer the money to your bank account. On Fridays, we open at 8 AM and close

at 6 PM. If you have any questions feel free to call us!” She handed a business card for the bank to Sofie,

opened her umbrella, and walked back to the van, with the logo of the bank in big letters on the side, and slid

into the passenger seat before it drove away.

Sofie walked back into the house, showed Zoe the business card, and pulled her into the hallway.

“Was that knock from a person at the bank?” Zoe asked.

“Yes. She said that Iris left me some money in her will. I need to go to the bank tomorrow morning at 8

o’clock to have them transfer the money into our account.”

“I can do it you know,” Zoe protested.

“No, banks are really protective of this stuff. If Iris’ will only mentioned me, I’m the only person that

can claim it.”

“That’s true.”

The two of them went about the rest of their night normally, not thinking much of the situation.

The next morning, Sofie got up early, put on some nice clothes, and walked over to the bank. It was only

a four minute walk, so she left at 8. When she got there, she walked up to the front desk.

“Hi! Erm, a lady named Erica came to my house yesterday to tell me that my Great Aunt Iris left me

some money in her will,” Sofie told the lady at the front desk.

“Name?”

“My name? It’s Sofie.”

The lady typed something into her computer.

“And your last name?”

“Zan.”

“And how do you spell that?”

 “Z-A-N.”

The lady typed that into her computer as well, then typed and clicked on a few more things before

asking Sofie to type her credit card information into the computer.

Sofie did all of this, and waited for the lady to finish up.

“Sign these, and you’ll see the money in your account the next time you check it.”

“I’m sorry, but what are these for?”

“Well, being a millionaire comes with a lot of paperwork?”

“A millionaire? I’m sorry, my name is Sofie Zan! S-O-F-I-E space Z-A-N! And I’m inheriting this

money from I-R-I-S space Z-A-N! That can’t be right!” Sofie raised her voice now, and most heads in the bank

had turned to her.

“Excuse me Ma’am, may you please be quieter?” she turned the computer screen towards Sofie. “Is all

of this information correct?”

“Yes,” Sofie answered voice trembling.

“Then you will be inheriting $6,674,400 from this Great Aunt Iris.”

“Thank you for your help Ma’am!” Sofie yelled, jogging out of the bank toward her house.

On her way home, Sofie bought a cake for that night. She walked into the house, noticing that they

needed a new one, and walked over to the living room.

“Zoe, you know how Iris was always very wealthy?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“She left us all the money!”

Zoe ran over and embraced Sofie, and started crying tears of happiness. Tears of hope for a better life.

Before they knew it, Sofie, Zoe, and Isabella were living in a million dollar home that had been the

beacon of all of Sofie’s dreams and wishes for years. Isabella didn’t have to take the school bus anymore, now
that the family had a car, Zoe drove her. They all could wear nice clothing, and not stained clothing from the

clearance area at the thrift store. They were the happiest they had been in years.

Sofie and Isabella’s doctors had decided to let Isabella start treatment then, but wait until treatment was

done for payment. They estimated that Isabella would need three doses of IVIG to get better. Without their

newfound wealth, the family wouldn't have been able to pay the amount her treatment cost.

Sofie and Zoe had planned a celebratory trip for Isabella after her first dose, which had happened two

days ago. Before inheriting Iris’ money, they couldn’t go very far out of town. For birthdays and holidays, they

would usually just go to the beach, or if Isabella was lucky, they would go to the mini-golf place, which were in

their hometown. But this year, they wanted to do something special.

Isabella always loved animals, and because they only had that weekend before she had to go back to

school on Monday, they drove her out to 3 Palms Zoo. Her school had taken her on a field trip to a smaller,

cheaper one once, but this one was a real, big zoo that she’d never been to.

Sofie was excited to go as well. Now that she could afford to pay college tuition, she had applied for

college to become a zoologist. She had always loved animals, and always wanted to work with them for a career

since she was a small child. That chance had been taken away from her when her family left her, but she had the

opportunity to get her degree now.

Two hours after they left, they saw the sign for the zoo entrance. The family pulled into the parking lot

and walked up to the gate. It was ten o’clock in the morning, and they could enter. Admission was $5 per person

for families, and they all got in for $15. The lady at the entrance gave them bamboo to feed the animals that

were allowed to be fed. Isabella rushed in and started running for the closest animal exhibit. It happened to be

the reptiles and amphibians. Sofie loved snakes, and poked fun at Zoe for being so scared of them.

They all went to a few different animal exhibits, before getting to Isabella’s favorite, Fox Fortress. It

was home to Shylo the Silver Fox and Princess Peterkins the Red Fox. They were both active, and playing
about in their habitat. It was a rescue zoo, so both foxes were rescues. The whole family thought they were both

so cute.

After staying at the zoo for two hours, the family left to go to Pizzeria DiMeo. There was a wait,

because it was lunch time, so they all sat down to wait for a seat. As they talked about the zoo and its animals,

three people sat down across from them. A few minutes later, another Sofie was called, but with a different last

name. Both families looked up at the name, and noticed each other looking up. That’s when Sofie really noticed

them.

She took Zoe’s arm, and went to the front to ask how long the wait would be, but the other family

followed her.

“Sofie? It’s been so long since we’ve seen you! What are you doing here?” the youngest woman asked.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Sofie said sternly, trying to squeeze by them toward the exit.

“And you must be her wife, Zoe!” the girl exclaimed. “And you’re her daughter…?”

“My name is Isabella! Who are you?” Isabella asked.

“My name is Eva! I’m your mommy’s little sister. This is Evelyne, our mom, and Simon, our dad.”

“What are you doing here! You know I live here. Did you want to see me?” Sofie asked.

“You live two hours away from here. We just came on a little trip for my birthday. May I ask why

you’re here?” Evelyne said, her eyes cold and dark.

“We have inherited money from Great Aunt Iris, who passed away a few weeks ago. We’re here to

celebrate a new start.”

“That’s nice. We sure could use a bit of money right now as well. You see, Eva is still trying to pay off

her student loans, and Simon and I may retire soon. Money becomes precious when you’re a parent.”

Evelyne and Simon held each others hands then, because Zoe was getting stressed, making her twitch

with motor and vocal tics. But they tried to ignore it as best they could.
 “You were never really parents for me. And at least you have enough to actually live a respectable,

comfortable life. I didn’t have that until quite recently.”

Now Simon spoke. “We’re sorry about that now. We’ve learned from our wrongs and learned that we

must tolerate people like you.”

“Tolerate?” Zoe interrupted.

“Well, I don’t condone that lifestyle but I can’t tell you that you can’t be that way I suppose.”

Zoe was fuming at this point, and this was her first meeting with Sofie’s family.

“If you want to meet us back at our hotel, we can catch up!” Eva offered, trying to relieve the tension.

“I’m sorry, but we need to get back home. Isabella has school on Monday,” Sofie said.

“Oh, we wouldn’t mind going with you. We love the beach. That’s why we came here,” Eva said

earnestly.

“Oh, no, we wouldn’t want to put you two hours out of your way!” Sofie said.

“It’s fine. I’d like to see where you live anyway!”

After a very awkward two hour long car trip, they were back in Fenwick Island. They pulled the car into

the garage, walked inside, and sat at the kitchen table.

“So, how much money did Iris leave you?” Simon asked as he sat down.

“All of it, so a little more than $6.5 million,” Sofie answered.

“All of it? She didn’t leave us anything!” Evelyne exclaimed.

“Maybe because you disowned her. Just an idea,” Zoe said, crossing her legs.

“That lifestyle should not be supported. We’re not going to contribute to the promotion of mental

illness!” Evelyne said.

“It’s not a lifestyle. It’s just her life. It’s not a choice,” Sofie intervened. “Anyway, why do you care?”

“It just would have been nice of her to help us when we needed the help.”
 “Well, I think getting minimum wage means that I needed the help more than you. What’s your bank

account at? A measly $2 million?” Sofie shot back.

“You didn’t need ​all​ of her money! That’s just greedy!” Evelyne yelled.

“I pretty sure you’re the one being greedy!” Zoe yelled.

“Yeah, get out of my house!” Sofie yelled.

Evelyne was picking up her purse already. She angrily shoved her chair into the table and Simon got up

with her, slamming the door on the way out.

“Eva! You get out here right now! We’re leaving!” Simon yelled.

Eva stood up, and pushed in her chair lightly. She walked over to the door, and paused. Then she

quickly ran over to Sofie and whispered in her ear, “I’m so sorry! I’ve loved and missed you ever since you left,

but I’m so scared of them, I couldn’t say anything. I’m going to try to move out in a few months, when I finish

college. Goodbye!”

She wrote something on a Post-It note on the counter.

“Eva! We’re waiting!” Simon yelled from the car.

Eva ran out, doing the stairs, and got into her family’s car as it drove away.

Sofie looked over to see a phone number on the Post-It note.

Two months later, Eva was renting out of nice house in Fenwick Island a few streets away from Sofie

and her family. Isabella had gotten better, and the new medicine worked. Zoe was at college to become a dance

teacher at Isabella’s school, Southern Delaware School of the Arts. Sofie was also at college, though Sofie

planned to become a zoologist, like she had always wanted.

Eva still got texts from her parents, asking her why she “betrayed them.” She just ignored them. She

knew that they were bad people. She’d known ever since she was seven, when a fourteen year old Sofie was

disowned. But Eva didn’t think she could ever have enough courage to stand up for herself and Sofie.
But Sofie still loved her. She always had and she always would.