âDad, Iâm home!â
No sooner had Ellinor spoken, Tracy, her stepmother, rushed over and stopped her at the entrance, feigning concern âEllinor, maybe you shouldnât go in just yet. Your dad is pretty licked off at you!â
Ellinor responded calmly. âAuntie Tracy, whatâs going on? Whyâs Dad mad?â
Tracy raised her voice on purpose. âYou upset your sisterâs new movie investor yesterday, and your dad knows all about it! Ellinor, I think itâs better if you donât come home for the time being. Auntie Tracy is just looking out for you Iâm worried your dad might go ballistic!â
Ellinor quietly watched Tracyâs act without a word. If this old woman really cared about her, she couldâve called in advance to warn her not to come home, instead of waiting for her to walk through the door to say these hypocritical words.
Only Amold would believe the sham Tracy was pulling At that moment, Amoldâs irate voice came from inside, âIs that Ellinor? Get her in here now!â
Tracy, who had just been holding Ellinor back, turned around and ran back in to calm Arnold down.
âArnold, donât get angry, whatâs done is done Even if you lay into Ellinor today, it wonât help Sheila recover her losses!â
Tracyâs attempt al pacification only made Arnold angrier. He picked up a nearby golf club, âI have to teach her a lesson today, or I wonât be doing right by you and Sheila Ellinor walked into the living room from the entrance, seeing her father Arnold, golf club in hand, ready to strike, the twoâfaced Tracy, and Sheila, sitting on the couch crying her eyes out, her body shaking, looking utterly wronged!
Seeing Ellinor, Arnold became even more enraged, yelling, âYou little witch, get over here and apologize!â
Ellinor asked, âI donât understand why you would hit me, Dad?â
âYou donât understand?â Arnoldâs voice rose in anger, âTell me, didnât your sister feel bad for you struggling to find work, so she let you be her assistant and even gave you a high salary?â
Ellinor frowned slightly and replied, âI guess so!â
Arnold continued his interrogation âSo how did you repay your sister?â
Ellinor answered earnestly: âOf course I work hard to show my appreciation to her!â
Arnold glared at her, âWork hard? Have you been working hard? Your sister finally signed with a new company and got a film with Director Pollock! She took you along for the meeting yesterday, and you ended up burning the investorâs hand! Ellinor, what were you thinking?â
Ellinor didnât deny it, âOkay, I admit that was my fault, but I didnât do it on purpose.â
Arnold raised the golf club in his hand, pointing at her angrily. âBecause of your mistake yesterday, your sisterâs new movie canât get financing and canât start shooting! Thatâs Director Pollockâs new film, any actor who gets a role in his movie becomes an international superstar! Do you realize that youâve ruined your sisterâs future?â
Tracy choked up: âEllinor, youâre really in the wrong this time! I know you might feel a bit jealous seeing your sister outperform you, but you canât sabotage her career over such a big deal!*