"Mom! Karyn's finally making ice cream! Can I have some!" shouted Kevin.
Karyn's mother stepped into the kitchen and took an appraising look at her daughter. "Well, it's about time." She looked directly into Karyn's eyes, not to speak to her but almost as if she was reading something there. "No Kevin, you can't have ice cream right now. Maybe after dinner if you eat your vegetables."
Kevin started to pout, but their mother cut him off.
"Don't you start. And remember this is a special occasion, just this one night. You know the school is paying us to install her in the school cafeteria." She turned her back on Karyn. "Won't that be nice, Kevin? All these years of putting up with her, and she'll finally be making herself useful. It just goes to show, nobody's entirely worthless."
Karyn felt her eyes fill up with tears. She blinked furiously to get rid of them, but still couldn't move her arms to wipe them off her cheeks. Why was her mother so cold and hostile? What the hell was Jon doing?
