Write by the Cards: Day Two
Write by the Cards: Day Two
A yearning for change
If you’re new to The Rebel MFA Way, welcome! This is my daily work for my Write by the Cards: 30 Day Challenge that I’m hosting. Learn more here. Scroll down to the end to see my behind-the-scenes commentary and source material. Note — this is an unedited, raw piece of work-in-progress.
The character longed for something more: {draw a card}.
When Rian woke up the next day, it was Saturday. Saturdays were the most tolerable day of the week because they usually didn’t film anything so they could mostly do what they wanted.
But when she opened her door, Rian heard her parents speaking in hushed but strained tones.
“Mom? Dad?” she called out.
“Just packing, sweets,” her father said, “c’mon in.”
Rian opened the door wider and clocked the luggage on the bed and the frantic way her mother rushed around the room.
“You’re leaving?” Rian asked, unsure of whether to be happy or sad.
“Last minute invite,” her father said, coming over and kissing her forehead. “Hamptons. We’re hoping to close a deal.”
Her mother rolled her eyes. “Jeff, she doesn’t even know what that means.”
He knelt down beside her and whispered in her ear, “It means I can buy you whatever the heck you want when we get back. You’d like that, right?”
Rian shook her head yes. Of course she liked that. Maybe she’d finally get the sleek, white and brown pony she wanted.
“Go get your brother up, sweetheart. Zaza will be here soon.”
Rian could hardly contain herself. Zaza was coming?
Zaza was their weekend nanny when her parents had to go to some convention or trade show. Daddy was trying to get a deal for something he called his “brand” and Mom would probably talk to a thousand other mommies about fake things and then cry in her hotel room. They thought Rian and Jud were stupid, but they knew a lot more than they let on.
It’s true though, that Rian didn’t really understand the point of what grown-ups did. Especially her parents. Before she and Jud were pulled out of school to be homeschooled, she liked to hear about the other children’s parents. Some were doctors or lawyers or executives, whatever that meant. One of her classmates parents even worked for the government in a super secret job. Rian wondered if he secretly chased down aliens like in Men in Black. That would be so much cooler than what her parents did.
When her friend Emily asked her, Rian smiled and said, “they’re influencers!”
Emily scrunched up her nose and said, “My Mom says that’s not a real job. Just a scam for lazy people.”
Rian didn’t know what to say because she thought her parents were lazy. All they ever wanted to do was record things on their phones and laugh at inside jokes with each other.
That’s why, when Zaza came, the house transformed into a different place. Magical. Zaza made everything better.
Rian filled her brother in and checked on the twins, an act of habit at this point. They were fine.
She whispered to Jud, “Maybe Zaza will let us stay up late and watch monster movies.”
“Or have ice cream.” Jud added.
Rian nodded. Yes, everything would be better once Zaza arrived.
Until then, she’d have to put up with her parents.
“Rian, can you change the twins for me? I can’t find our passports…”
Rian sighed and stomped to the twins’ room. She loved Ivy and Fern. More than anything. But as she brought Ivy to the floor and unbuttoned her onesie, the only thing Rian could think was of her future.
I’m never having one of these smelly, stinky things. No thank you.
She wanted, more than anything, to get away from this house, her parents and go somewhere else. Maybe Paris. Maybe Egypt. Maybe Zaza would take her to Russia?
After she finished changing the girls, her mother appeared in the doorway. “Rian, sweetie, Zaza will be here any minute. Get them dressed and come to the family room, you know the stairs are hard on her knees.”
Rian rolled her eyes but complied.
A few minutes later as her parents rushed around the house, Zaza came through the front door.
She zeroed in on Rian and gave her a big grin.
There she is," Zaza said and rushed over to me with her arms outstretched. "How is my little Kotenok?”
Rian beamed. She loved when Zaza used her Russian pet names. She especially loved being Zaza’s little kitten.
“I’m fine,” Rian told her, a little fib. She wasn’t really fine, but she would be now.
Zaza looked at Rian with inquisitive eyes. “You are not very good at lying little girl.” She brushed a stray hair behind Rian’s ear. “But we will talk about it later.”
The truth was that Rian wanted to tell Zaza everything. That she envied Kevin and his wish that came true. That she was so tired of fake smiling and fake pretending. She wanted to tell Zaza that she longed for her to take them all away.
But she wouldn’t say any of those things. But maybe… just maybe, Zaza could help them out in another way.
After her parents caught Zaza up on the details of their trip and she took care of the twins, she sat down on the lazy boy in our family room and placed her hands on her knees.
“Okay, my loves*,* tell Zaza what’s up.”
Rian looked at Jud and he shrugged as if he didn’t know what she was referencing.
“Tell us another story,” Rian asked her instead.
Zaza frowned but rubbed at her temples. She did this when she wanted to think hard.
"Have I told you the story of Vasalisa and Baba Yaga?" Zaza asked.
Rian and Jud shook their head no.
“Well… I can tell you if you want me to. But you have to promise me you will not tell your mother or father."
Zaza got their attention with this. Anything that was forbidden and excluded from their parents was a good idea.
Both Jud and Rian gave excited yelps.
Zaza laughed and pulled the lever on the lazy boy, so the footstool popped up with a zing and her she bounced a bit.
“Never gets old,” Zaza said to them with a sly smile. “Are you ready?”
Rian and Jud nodded enthusiastically.
“Once upon a time there were an old witch who lived in a forest in a hut with chicken legs…”
Behind-the-Scenes Commentary
Welp. Day 2 and I feel like I’m already falling behind! To be completely honest, I totally forgot that I had family visiting for the weekend, so day 2 and 3 aren’t as planned out as I’d like but hey, that’s the point of this challenge, right? To go with the flow.
Beyond the unplanned and spur of the moment writing though, I am curious about Zaza. She just sort of… appeared. I think for some reason my brain is really hooked on 80’s and 90’s movies right now and Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead came to mind. But that babysitter was awful. I wanted Zaza to be different.
I studied Russian in college and I absolutely love the language and the culture so I could totally see Zaza as being this unpredictable Babushka-esque character. I’m also very much in “Myth-land” right now as I prep my 2025 offerings so naturally, the Baba Yaga myth fed into this chapter…
We’ll see what tomorrow brings…