Thea's Kids Novel

Those rich brats were at it again, Thea thought when she heard a window shatter outside. She hurried to the balcony to see what kind of damage they were inflicting this time. She made her way quickly through the upstairs living room toward the sliding glass door that led outside to the balcony on top of the first level of the home. As she ran outside, she could hear those three boys taunting her children.

"...just a bunch of poor street trash. Trash don't need no car." The three boys cackled and laughed together at that. So that is what they are after this time, the car. Thea looked over the balcony to see the familiar white Cadillac Escalade in her driveway. In the driver seat was a woman that Thea had had many conversations with. The woman was the rich boy's nanny, if you can still call them nanny after the children turn thirteen. The woman was young and petite and of an Asian nationality. Every time Thea went to see her about something these boys had done to her property or one of her children, the woman would tell her that her that it was no less than she deserved for continuing to abide in the rich district. There was no getting through to that woman, it was as if she were afraid to scold those boys, or to hold them accountable for anything. The next thing Thea noticed was all three of those boys on her property and that they were throwing rocks that they were picking up off the ground. They were throwing the rocks in the direction of the garage where Thea's kids' as well as her own car were parked. She could hear the glass shattering from where she stood. Enraged, Thea suddenly picked up some tree bark out of a planter on the balcony and threw it directly in front of the boys on her lawn. She had not once heard her children retaliate or respond at all to the rich boys' taunting.

"You get off my property or I will call the police." Thea yelled as she grabbed more bark to throw down. The problem with the bark was that it was light so it didn't offer any real threat to the boys and they knew it. Thea heard furious whispering in the garage as the garage door was finally able to shut, so she knew her children heard her out on the balcony.

The three boys looked up at her with innocent smiles fixed on their faces. She was not fooled. These kids had no respect for authority. She had known they would not stop anything just because she threatened them. In actuality her threat was very empty. She would call the police, she had not bluffed about that, the fact was, the police had been called several times. The results were always the same. The police, along with the boys, would stand at the edge of the property talking quietly and laughing every once in a while. After several minutes of this, the officers would assure Thea that the boys would cause no more trouble.

Thea knew that she did not belong in this neighborhood. She was a single mother of three orphaned children, and she worked full time at a nothing job. She made just enough to pay the bills and feed the children. They lived less than five minutes from an Ivy League school, but she couldn't afford to send her children there. Instead they commuted into the city to attend the run down, poor school district, where they were accepted and where they excelled in all their classes.

"You gonna call the police? That's great, just tell them it's us, and to take their time. We'll wait around for them." The oldest looking boy said, with his angelic face. He was blond, all three of them were actually. They looked to be almost the same age, around fifteen or sixteen, and very good looking. The boys were all laughing after the oldest boy's smart mouth comment, when they turned toward the house and started throwing rocks at the windows. One of the boys, the youngest looking one, ran to the edge of the property and picked up a rock that must have weighed 20 pounds or so and headed toward the house with it. Thea didn't know what to do. She heard thunderous feet stomping up the stairs as she knew her children were coming up to watch with her, the destruction to their home. She was used to replacing a window every month or so, and when it happened that the windows got broken more often than that, the children would board up the broken window with wood. Right then Thea was so frustrated she was on the verge of tears. She knew she would not have the money to replace all the windows they were breaking.

She turned to see her boys rushing toward the open balcony door. Their expression must have mirrored hers. They looked to be so tired of cleaning up after these rich punks, so tired of fixing the damage they caused, so tired of not being able to do anything about it. That was Thea's breaking point. Without thought for the consequences she picked up the large planter that she had picked the bark out of. It was very heavy, but she didn't even notice. She located the boy who was making his way toward the largest window on the bottom level of the house and shouted, "You throw that rock, I swear I will drop this thing right on your beautiful SUV." Her voice shook with anger and fear but she was not bluffing and all the boys stopped at her voice. The boy holding the huge rock looked at the other boys in question. He looked to be the youngest of the three. Thea got even angrier at that, but waited to see what the boys did. The two older boys dropped their rocks and made their way slowly to their vehicle. Each one looking up at her with an expression that said, "this isn't over." "Come on Matt." The oldest looking boy called over his shoulder.

"Mom!" Thea's oldest shouted. Thea looked down just in time to see the youngest boy throw his rock as hard as he could at the house. There was a huge crash from downstairs and a young girl's outraged cry.

The boys making their way to the car laughed and yelled to the nanny to back the car up. Thea dropped her heavy planter on the patio and went running down the stairs. "If they hurt Natty I will find a way to make them pay," She thought as she ran blindly down the stairs. "Natty! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" She cried as she finally ran off the last step. She was frantically looking around the living room for her daughter Natalie."I'm fine Mama. Those monsters completely ruined my science fair project!" Natty shouted at the broken window. Natty was 14 years old and prided herself on her grades in school. It was a good thing that she had started her science project early. Thea knew it wasn't due for another month. Natty was about five foot tall and weighed no more than a stone. She was a beautiful girl with light brown skin and soft gold eyes that at the moment were flashing fire. Her hair was always pulled back in a pony tail because she never wanted to spend the time to do anything else with it. "One of these days, those boys are gonna get what's coming to them."

If Thea wasn't so scared and angry she would have laughed at picture her daughter made. If looks could kill, she thought. Thea turned to look behind her and was not overly shocked to find her boys right behind her. They must have run down at the same time as she did. Their faces were so expressive. Jacob her oldest boy looked both angry and scared. He was turning 17 this year but he thought he was already a man. He looked ready to take on the world. The possibility of Natty being hurt had scared him as much as it had Thea. Jacob was already six foot tall with a smooth dark brown complexion; almost black. He had strong broad shoulders that he seemed to carry the weight of the world on, with a heart that offered shelter to anyone who needed it. His dark reddish brown eyes were kind, gentle and at the moment looking very relieved to find Natty unhurt. There was even a small spark of humor, most likely ignited from the picture Natty made, with her small fist shaking angrily at the delinquents responsible for the ruination of her beloved project. Thea marveled at the difference in this oldest child of hers. She recalled that his eyes were anything but gentle when he and Thea first met.