Taylor and Susan were sitting on a pink plush couch drinking red wine, eating salty stale popcorn while watching Taylor’s box TV laughing at some corny romantic comedy. Susan laughed longer than Taylor, who stopped laughing midway. As she started to speak, Susan continued to laugh raucously.

        “Susan?”
        “Yes,” Susan asked out of breath.
        “Have you heard of a man named Robert Terrence?”
        “Yes, what about it,” she asked in a serious tone.
        “He happened to have passed away this past weekend.”
        Susan shrugged, “Oh. Oh well. You live and you die.”
        “Yeah, but the woman on the other line said that he was your father.”
        “Really?”
        “Yeah, but Robert Terrence is my father,” Taylor threw out there.
        “Well, what do you know. We’re sisters.”
        “How is it that I’m just knowing about it now?”
        “I really can’t answer that, I never knew myself.”
        “But you knew his name.”
Susan stood up abruptly and said, “I’m going home.”
Taylor bellowed, “No, you’re not! Sit down.”
“You may be my friend and my sister, but you cannot tell me what to do!”

“All I’m asking for is an explanation. Why didn’t you once say that you knew Robert Terrence?”
“Because it never came up! My God,” Susan flusteredly yelled.
“Susan, we played together at each other’s house after school when we were younger, and you’re going to tell you’re number one best friend that you never bothered to confide in me that we happened to have the same father?”
“I guess.”
“That’s bullcrap!”
“That’s enough, okay! Drop it.”
“Tell me the real reason why you never told me the truth.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“I have a right to know, Susan.”
“I have the right to refuse.”
“I thought you were my friend.”
“Taylor, you need to understand that as a child, I was treated like a runt. Why would I want to conjure up those old memories just so you can find out who your father was who happened to be the scum of the earth?”
Taylor’s eyelids started to swell up with tears, and vociferated, “I don’t care if he’s the scum of the earth or the richest man on the earth. I needed to know who he was.”
        Susan’s agitation for the guilt and the argument to end reached it’s zenith, “You really want to know who Robert Terrance was? FINE! He was married to your mother for seven years. On the last of those seven years, they had you. Then he left. Later he married a woman who was broke, near homelessness and made a foster family together, hence me. You happy now?”
“I know there’s more to that Susan.”
The aroma of red wine festered across the room.
“I---No, it’s none your business. This is where I draw the line. You call me when you’re ready to drop this whole mess. I’m going home, and you won’t stop me this time.” As she walked out the door, she stepped on an rectangular orange envelope which stopped her in her tracks.
Susan turned around, “You dropped an envelope.”
“Well pick it up then!”
Susan bent over, picked it up, and furiously placed the rectangular large orange envelope on the cluttered, grimey kitchen counter. She tried to walk out again and one thing slipped her mind, and it was in that envelope. Susan turned her old wore out slip-on’s to the other direction again. Taylor sat on the couch in a huff in complete silence. Susan tried to take advantage of this and extended her arm to the countertop hoping to retrieve the envelope. As the creaking from the floorboards got louder, Taylor got suspicious.

“What do you think you’re doing, that’s my mail,” Taylor turned around and stated.
“I must have made a mistake”, Susan scoffed, “this is probably not your mail. I used to live in this apartment building a while ago, and the mailman must think I still live here since I come here alot. I’ll just take it home with me.” Susan giggled uncomfortably.
“Not so fast, what’s in the envelope?”
“Nothing important. Nothing to worry about,” she insisted.
      Taylor slipped on her rugged pink slippers, stood up, and paced into Susan’s face.                                                                            “Tell me what is in that envelope, now,” Taylor demanded sternly. 
“I can’t tell you, Taylor.”
“This envelope arrived at my residence, and is addressed to me, so one way or another, I’m going to find out.”

Taylor grasped hold of the envelope and Susan held on to it tighter. They pulled on it back and forth on the envelope like rope. The envelope felt like a heavy weight waiting to be dropped. The envelope instantly slipped off their fingers, flew across the room, and slid along the dark brown hardwood floor. Susan ran to the envelope, tripping on her loose slip-on’s in the process. Taylor dropped to the floor and pulled on her leg. Susan thrusted hastily to get to the envelope, but with Taylor on her leg crawling upon her back, it was as hard as walking with ankle weights. As Taylor was about to come above her, Susan pulled out a can of mace out of her pocket bag, sprayed Taylor like a bug, and she screamed for dear life. Susan picked up the envelope, and turned the knob of the door. As she was leaving, the screaming stopped. Susan looked over her shoulder and saw Taylor lying on the floor motionless. Susan closed the door, and ripped the envelope open. As she read, her eyes began to burst open, her heart began to pound, and her legs began to shake. She dropped the envelope out of sheer shock, then shook her head to come back to planet earth. She picked it back up, and ran out of the door. Unknowingly, she left her mace, and one of her slip-on’s behind.