Father

Joanna didn’t understand why her mommy was so mad at her. The woman had always told her to stand up for herself if someone made fun of her. And her daddy said that if someone touched her without her permission, or didn’t listen when she said no, that she should hit them first and call for help second. Charles, had done both of those things so she punched him right in the jaw. He was a lot bigger than her anyway, so he was probably faking all that blubbering and crying anyway.
She kicked her legs, heels knocking rhythmically along the bottom of the couch. In the quiet of the house, she could hear the muffled voices of her parents talking upstairs. Arguing would probably have been the better word for it, but she couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying. She continued tracing little pictures in the microfiber of the cushion next to her until the voices stopped and she could hear the door open at the stop of the stairs. Her mother, still in her hospital scrubs with her hair in a messy pony tail walked out and down the stairs.
“Your father wants to talk to you. I have to go back to work.” She walked over to her daughter, lifting her little chin with two fingers. “I’m not mad at you. Just…Try to be good, okay?”
“Yes Momma.”
Her mother bent down and kissed Joanna’s forehead before grabbing her keys from where she had hung them back up by the door. She paused, looking back at her daughter.
“I’ll pick something up for dinner. Love you.”
“Love you too, Momma.”

Joanna waited until she heard the car start and pull away before getting up from the couch. Her mother had left the bedroom door where she had been talking to her father. When he didn’t come down right away, she walked to the stairs and looked up them with a pout. No movement, no sound. Joanna was sure her mother had been talking to her father in person and not on the phone with how loud it had been. And she would have taken her cell phone with her to work….
“Poppa?”
“Come on up, Sweetheart.”
The pout turned to a grin and she made her way up as fast as her legs could carry her. Since her father was always somewhere else for work and only made it home for the holidays and special occasions, the fact he was here was exciting. But, Joanna remembered she was supposed to feel sorry for getting sent home from school so she tried to smooth her features back to something a little more neutral. Once she was sure she wasn’t smiling anymore, she walked into the bedroom.
The man that sat in the desk chair near the window looked like he would have been more comfortable in a boardroom than a bedroom. The dim lighting from candles and the window only barely showed the pinstripes on the three piece suit he wore, the jacket draped over the back of it.
“There’s my girl.”
“Poppa!”
“Ah ah. Careful now.”
The man held his hand up before Joanna could charge forward, pointing down at the floor. Right, she knew to look first. The bare, black-stained, floor was covered in chalk lines and sigils all drawn in her mother’s steady hand. It was like hopscotch jumping across each one to make sure none of them got smudged. She had to stop before reaching the man, though. A semi-circle in thick white powder went from one side of the window to the other. Effectively encircling the suited man.
“Oh…Momma was pretty mad, huh?”
“You know how she is, Jojo. She gets worried when teachers call. They ask questions, ans we don’t like those, do we?” the girl shook her head in a way that made her pigtails wiggle and melt the man’s stern expression into a smile. “Remember the last time? You had to move away and it was very hard for her.”
“I was just doing what you said.” She frowned stubbornly. “That gross boy at school I told you about tried to lift my dress.”
The smile turned to a snarl that showed the man’s teeth. How dare some boy try to so such a thing to his little angel? He sauntered forward, right to the edge of the white border and squatted so he was at Joanna’s height.
“I bet you showed him to never try that sort of thing again, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Poppa.” An affirmative nod.
“That’s my girl. Remember rule number two though?”
“Nothing is unattainable?”
“Close.” He raised his hand, so it was next to his face. “No…”
“No witnesses. Yes, Poppa. I’ll remember.”
She raised her hand as well. The inch-thick line separated their palms from touching. She sniffled, fingers twitching a little.
“Hey now, no tears. Poppa loves you Josie. You know that right?”
“I love you too Poppa.”
The smell of sulfur and ash was immediate as the main straightened himself and picked his jacket up from the back of the chair. The wood under him changed from black to a swirl of red and violet.
“Be good, okay? Momma needs a break. Work has been Hell.”
“Poppa! That’s a naughty word.”
He laughed, pulling the jacket on as he started to sink into the swirl of color, like stepping into a puddle. Or maybe quicksand.
“That isn’t an answer, Joanna.”
“Yes Poppa.”
The candles went out, the blinds blowing in a sudden burst of wind. As quickly as the color and smell came they were gone, the man along with them.
“That’s my girl.”