Ripples by Patricia Scanlan

Chapter One
    â€œYou’re a stupid cow. That’s what you are!”
    â€œAnd you’re a mean bastard. I wish you’d get the hell out of here and never come back.”
    â€œMaybe I will. You big mouth – ”
    Ciara McHugh pressed her thumbs into her ears. They were at it again. Shouting and roaring. Ranting and raving. She hated them. Why couldn’t they be like other parents? Why did they have to be fighting all the time?
    Why couldn’t her mother leave herdad alone? She was always nagging him.
    Nag, nag, nag.
    He’d just ignore her. That would make Alison worse and she’d say something to get him going. Then they’d be yelling and shouting at each other.
    Her dad’s face would go dark with temper. Ciara was often afraid that he’d hit her mother. Sometimes she’d lie on her bed and her heart would pound so loudly she’d feel it was going to burst out of her chest.
    Ciara heard the door slam. Hard. It seemed to shake the whole house. She heard the engine of the car start. That would be her dad. He’d drive off after a row and not come home for hours.
    There was a dull silence in the house. Soon her mother would comeupstairs to Ciara’s room. She’d start giving out about Barry, telling Ciara that Barry was selfish and cruel. She’d say that he’d never given her any support in their marriage. He wasn’t like their best friend Mike.
    Alison thought Mike was a great husband and father.
    She was always saying, “See how Mike helps around the house. He cooks dinners at the weekend, instead of sitting with his nose stuck into a football match on TV.
    â€œSee how Mike helps his kids with their homework.
    â€œSee how Mike takes them out at weekends and gives them …
quality
time.”
    Alison always paused before she said “quality time”. She made it sound like something holy and reverent. She was always reading books aboutrelationships and quality time and communication.
    â€œMike …
communicates
… with his kids. Your father can’t
communicate
, Ciara. I’ve spent years,
years
, trying to get him to talk to me. Trying to get him to share our life, the way Mike and Kathy share theirs. It’s like banging my head off a stone wall.”
    Her mother always rolled her eyes dramatically at that part.
    â€œI tell you, Ciara, if I can make a go of it with someone else, I bloody well will! I’m not wasting any more time on that thick, squinty-eyed shit. Life’s not a
rehearsal
, Ciara. We only get one chance on the merry-go-round. Always remember that. And if you’ve any sense –
never
get married. You don’t want to end up like me. Stuck with a selfish, cruel, heartless bastard.” Alison usually burst into tears at that point.
    When her mother threatened to go off with someone else, it always frightened Ciara. She didn’t know what would happen to her if her parents split up. Where would her daddy go? Ciara’s stomach tightened. It always did when she thought about it. Butterflies danced up and down. A tear rolled down her cheek. She felt very scared.

Chapter Two
    Ciara didn’t think her dad was that bad.
    He didn’t drink. That was good. Liz Kelly’s father was always drunk. Once, he’d even puked up his dinner in front of a gang of them who were staying over for a slumber party. Poor Liz was so embarrassed. She burst into tears and ran up to her room.
    Ciara’s dad was good for giving lifts, even though he moaned about it. When his football team won and he was in a good humour, he sometimes even gave her a pound.
    His team were doing very badly this season. Financially, it had been a bit of a disaster for her, Ciara thought glumly. She scribbled on the brown paper cover of her copy. She could do with some extra money. She’d been invited to another slumber party in a friend’s house, and she’d have to bring a present.
    It was going to be