48. You little.....wh....!

I am standing in the middle of the church parking lot and she is screaming at me. I am shaking. I am trembling and I am terrified. Her voice is loud, almost screechy. I am stunned, staring at her. I am not sure why I am in this situation again. Deja-vu. Another American woman angry, another American woman screaming at me. 

“You little whore! You skank! What do you think you are doing?” Sharon’s face is getting red as her voice keeps increasing in volume. “Do not dare to touch him…or…!”

“I…didn’t…” I stumble and she finally takes her claw off my arm.

I don’t think her questions are meant to be answered. I instinctively rub my arm; it is sore from her tight clutch. I realize she needs to get her anger out and I’d better not provoke it any further. But whether I say anything or remain silent, my mere presence seems to be triggering. 

Sharon keeps yelling and screaming. She has a strong Southern accent and I have a hard time understanding her. Mostly because her speech is rapid, her words shooting at me one after another in quick succession. Besides the words “whore, “bitch,” and “skank,” I am not able to follow her rant. She steps closer, points her finger to my face, and screams again. 

“Weelll, you ain’t getting him!” I deduce the meaning of her outburst and step back. Her face is scary and red with fury, her eyes are glistening, her eyebrows curled into two angry caterpillar worms.

From the corner of my eye I get a glimpse of Silvia and Tim’s car door opening and both of them rushing to see what the commotion is about. I also see Henry approaching from another direction. There are already several other people around us, watching this show. Sharon is raising her hand, about to poke me with her finger or smack my face. I don’t know which. I don’t know what her intentions are but she seems to be capable of anything. I try to step away from her even more but two strong arms grab her and pull her away from me first. Tim is now holding her arm on one side and Henry on the other. They are both calm. Henry leans in closer to her face and speaks to her quietly.

“Sharon, come on now, she doesn’t even understand you.” But his calmness fuels Sharon even further.

‘Oh really? Heck yea, she understands just fine…..whore.” She is about to charge at me again but Tim and Henry still hold the mad woman back. 

Silvia is right next to me, hugging and holding me from the side. 

“Darling, let’s go home.” She leads me away from this insanity. I am stunned and in shock, visibly shaken. Soon Tim catches up with us and hugs me from the other side too. I hope they are not mad at me because I don’t know how to explain Sharon’s anger to them.

We all get in the car and sit there in silence for a few minutes. All three of us need to gather our thoughts and process the events. Finally, Tim looks at me through the rearview mirror.

“You did nothing wrong,” his voice is reassuring.

“Yes, baby, it’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong. Sharon is a little crazy.” Silvia is shaking her head. “I don’t know what kind of evil got into her. It’s Satan.”

“She is jealous, Jarka,” Tim chimes in again. 

We quietly drive home, no one saying anything. I am looking out the window, hoping that this is not the end of my stay in America. A screaming woman, a man involved, me in the middle. I am trying to understand how in the world I keep finding myself in these situations. I have done everything Silvia had asked me to do. I would have never talked to Henry or approached him on my own. I quietly wipe a silent tear rolling down my face. What if they send me away? Who would want to keep this kind of drama in their lives? And where would I even go now? There is no one else to take me in if Silvia and Tim send me away. I still don’t have money for a plane ticket to Slovakia. A deep sigh escapes from my mouth. 

“Darling,” Silvia reaches from the front passenger seat and touches my hand. “You have done nothing wrong, don’t be upset, baby.”

“We will talk at home, Jarka.” Tim chimes in and smiles. “Don’t you worry about anything.”

Silvia, Tim, and I sit on the couch with a plate of leftover brownies in front of us. 

“Here, darling, have some,” Silvia picks up the plate and holds it in front of me. 

“Yes, thank you,” a brownie somewhat soothes my anxiety.

“Listen, Jarka,” Tim takes a deep breath and continues. “It is very very wrong what Sharon did. She called you ungodly names that no one should have to hear. It’s unacceptable,” he shakes his head. “You are none of those things. You are the opposite. You are beautiful, polite, kind, smart, and talented.”

Silvia is nodding her head vigorously. 

“Yes, Timmy is right! And I believe Henry would be lucky to have you!” Silvia glances at her husband who meets her with a look of disapproval. 

“That is true, honey, but I think we need to rethink this plan and back off,” he answers her patiently.

“We do not like Sharon and we would be so happy if Henry just let her go. She doesn’t love Jesus the same way, she is too outspoken and abrupt. But I think at this point we need to let our son make his own decisions.” Tim looks at Silvia. Her expression changes to disapproval now. 

“I think we need to cool off and let things play out on their own.” He reinforces his decision and Silvia reluctantly nods.

“We will not be inviting Henry over to meet with Jarka, ok?” He is still looking at Silvia who appears to be very antsy and shifting in her seat. 

“Timmy…..” she starts her protests again but Tim stops her again. “No Silvia, it’s for the best. You will see.”

He is the man of the family and the decisions on all family matters are ultimately his. 

“What we can do, though….” he looks at both of us, “we will talk to Henry and tell him that his girlfriend’s behavior was very inappropriate and she needs to apologize to Jarka.”

A few days go by. The yelling incident with Sharon becomes the talk of the family and the talk of the church. Everyone is talking about it. People approach me in support, pray for me, and give me hugs. They are clearly on my side, or at least pretend to be. I am relieved by this reaction. For once I am not the villain that needs to be dealt with. 

Silvia backs off her matchmaking and meddling skills and I actually don’t see Henry very often anymore. Only on Sundays and sometimes on Wednesdays. I try to avoid him and not talk to him at all. Even though it saddens me, I am scared of Sharon and I want to avoid additional drama at all costs. She never apologizes to me and I don’t even care. I am not going to be Silvia’s daughter in-law after all. I just want peace. That’s all.

Eventually, life goes back to normal. This includes time with Silvia, Chinese cat food, Home Depot shopping sprees for trees and bird houses, Claire, church, piano…..the usual routine.

Unfortunately, as things start to quiet down, my piano becomes the main focus for Silvia now. She has shifted her attention from meddling and matchmaking to my music skills. The piano keeps getting louder, more prominent. Attention seeker. I am not allowed to shut it up. It is here. In the house, in my brain, in my fingers, in Silvia’s mind. In my life. Again.

“You need to go to Juilliard.” or  “What can we do about your piano? You are so talented. You need to do something with it!” She says on a daily basis.

I ignore her as much as I can. As far as I am concerned, I need to do nothing with my piano. But one morning, as I walk into the big house to share breakfast with her, she is running toward me with a newspaper in her hand, pointing at it frantically.

“Jarka! Come here, look here! Here! Look!”

I glance at her and then the paper and I don’t understand.

“There is a piano concert in town! A college professor is coming to play. We have to go!”

I look at her with skepticism. 

“Uh…Jarka! Oh Yes!! We. Are. Going!”