When Wisdom Was Seven Years Old...
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“Where the hell is my dad?!”
Seven-year-old Wisdom Linnea Calvin was looking for her father who disappeared in the midst of her birthday barbeque party.
“Wisdom, dear. Could you find your father and tell him that the grilled lobster is done?” Her mother’s sweet voice made her smile for a bit then shift back to being frowned.
In every event they had at their house, her father constantly vanishes in the middle of an important event and just came back after an hour or two.
Wisdom entered their abode and went to her parents’ bedroom. But her father wasn’t there. She didn’t even know why she looked at their bedroom first.
‘Maybe he’s sleeping?’ She naively thought and just chuckled at herself for thinking her father would sleep under broad daylight, at exactly noon.
Frustrated, she grabbed a carrot and went to the backyard to feed her pet rabbits instead. Her rabbits, Romeo and Juliet, rattled as soon as they heard her coming. She was feeding the two when Wisdom heard strange noises.
She never heard those sounds before. They were moaning but not the sound of someone in pain. She could hear the creaking of a bed and it looked like someone was repeatedly pounding and hitting a wall as well.
“What is that?” She asked, more like herself.
Wisdom followed the sound. She walked inside again and the sounds kept getting louder.
Finally, after five minutes of wondering what those sounds were, she managed to locate it.
It was in the guest room where Miss Lilly Kravitz, her mother’s best friend since high school, was staying.
‘Perhaps aunt Lilly was fixing her bed…’ Little Wisdom thought.
So, she went back to the backyard again and grabbed one of her fatter rabbits, Romeo, and brought it with her. She plans to show Romeo to her aunt Lilly how big he had become ever since her aunt Lilly gave the rabbits to her.
Wisdom was about to knock at her aunt Lilly’s door when she noticed it wasn’t locked at all. It was not close either.
As curious as a cat, she opened the door slowly. This time, she could hear the moaning sounds louder and clearer than ever.
She was about to call for her aunt Lilly when she saw clothes on the floor of the mini-living room. One of those belongs to her father. She couldn’t be mistaken as his father had worn a gray printed shirt and black shorts this morning.
She walked farther and noticed that the bedroom was ajar. She peeked through it when Romeo, the fat rabbit, bit one of her fingers.
She silently endured the pain. It wasn’t that painful at all. The rabbit’s bite was more of a playful one than what she thought.
When Wisdom jerked her head, it seemed that the blood inside her had dried up.
She was looking at her father and her aunt Lilly on top of the bed. Both are absolutely naked and seem to move in a bizarre motion.
“Dad?” Little Wisdom’s voice was so cute that her father didn’t notice her upon her first call. It was her aunt Lilly who saw her first as the latter opened her eyes.
Lilly gasped and beckoned Wisdom’s father to stop by slapping him.
“Dad? Aunt Lilly?” Her voice was louder this time.
The two finally stopped what they were doing.
“Are you two dancing, dad?”
By the time she asked that, her father grabbed a blanket to cover himself. Lilly Kravitz grabbed her clothes and put them on as fast as the strike of lightning.
“Hey sweetie…” Wisdom’s father then said some sweet words and promises to her such as he will buy her a dozen candies if she will not tell her mommy what she just saw.
“But what was wrong with what you and aunt Lilly did? You just said you two were practicing a dance in bed, didn’t you?” Wisdom’s father pressed his forehead on his both palms in exasperation and frustration.
“There’s nothing wrong dancing on top of a bed, Dad. My only question is why are you two naked? Is it really that hot? You could have turned on the air conditioner!” Naïve Wisdom sweetly uttered.
Lilly was just on the corner with her lower body still unclothed. Her father was beginning to show signs of fury and anger.
“Wisdom? Honey, where are you?” Then Wisdom’s mother was now at the door, holding a plate of grilled steak with a fork and table knife.
It took only thirty seconds for Wisdom’s mother to process what happened. Wisdom heard her mother say some foul words to her father and attacked her bestfriend with a table knife. Her aunt Lilly was wounded in the left thigh.
Wisdom was still clutching her pet rabbit in her arms as she started to run away from the scene. All she could hear was her mother shouting and shrieking and crying. Her father was trying to explain what happened and her aunt Lilly was weeping. Lilly Kravitz eventually stormed out as soon as she finished putting on her underwear and skirt.
“Look aunt Lilly, Romeo, my rabbit, is fatter now than before…”
Lilly took one glance at her but eventually walked away. Wisdom still called for her aunt Lilly but her mother suddenly arrived and scolded her for calling out to her aunt.
At that moment, young Wisdom realized that cheating is always possible at any age, under any circumstances, and at any place. It can also be done by the people you hate the most and even by the people you trust and love the most.
***
Wisdom could still remember the day she saw her father had sex with her mother’s best friend.
A tear slid down from her face when her first ever and current boyfriend, Richard Weisz, wiped that tear away.
“Hey, what’s wrong sweetie?” He asked her as Richard handed her a cone of vanilla ice cream.
“Nothing. I just remembered some childhood memories…”
“Good or bad?”
She shook her head from side to side. “The day my mother found out that my father is cheating with her bestfriend. That was a total nightmare for me as I was the first one to witness that they’re doing you-know-what in broad daylight…”
Richard rubbed her back. “It’s okay. I will never do that to you.”
Wisdom looked at him amidst the cold weather that reached even inside the car.
“Promise?” She asked as she licked her ice cream
“I promised.” Richard swore after taking a bite at his cone.
And that was Wisdom Linnea Weisz’ first kiss, even when both of their lips have traces of vanilla ice cream.
***
Wisdom could vividly remember that her and her mother’s life was an absolute hell as soon as her father left with her aunt Lilly Kravitz.
She watches Richard walk away as soon as he sees she and Denver kiss in the midst of a Sunday morning.
“You never knew the pain one went through when you grew up to a broken family, especially the one that was torn apart because of adultery…” Wisdom muttered with certain sorrow.
“I know. I can see it through your eyes,” Denver wiped away a tear that almost fell on the marble floor.
“I forgive him once you know. I forgave Richard once as soon as I found out that he’s dating a former stripper,” she said as she sat down on a white couch.
“But what I cannot bare to see is that Richard continued his polygamous taste for women. He likes to taste different women all at once. And I do not like that.”
Denver then decided to sit beside her.
“But what I cannot stir and endure anymore is watching him do what my father had done when I was younger: cheat at one’s best friend. In our case, she cheated on my bestfriend. And That. Was. A. Total. Nightmare. And. Torture. For. Me.”
Wisdom could no longer hold her feelings. She finally let the water in her eyes rain and flood the entire room. Denver just listened to her sobs. Sobs that turned to cry. And cry that eventually turned to weep.
“I’m here, Wisdom,” Denver declared to the weeping Wisdom.
“I will always be right here for you,” he then let her lean on his shoulder as she continued to weep.
And Wisdom hopes that it is somewhat true. That Denver will always be at her side, whether she had gone through hell or had tasted heaven. She hoped that Denver would not be like her father and her former husband.
Wisdom Linnea Calvin Weisz hoped that he would be the man she had long been dreaming, praying, and hoping for.