Report 4: The Williams Family, Interview 2: Ruby Williams and Trish Reed

            I made no further comment, mostly due to my own disbelief at Lillian and Ruby’s openness in what was happening, as Lillian’s stepdaughter Trish lowered herself onto her haunches while trembling with what I could understandably attribute to fear.

Lillian: Like I said, Mr. Taylor, it’s a real riot.  Pay attention.  They’re both getting so good at it. (to Trish) Get moving.  Now.

            At her stepmother’s stern command, the four-inch Trish stood up, managing to take approximately five steps before her sixteen-year-old stepsister’s right foot lifted from the ground and darted in pursuit.  It quickly overtook her, and the taller girl’s toes covered Trish up immediately.  The latter was tripped up with relative ease, whereupon she fell flat on her back.  Ruby hadn’t even needed to lean forward to do it.

Lillian: (laughs) Well, that wasn’t a very good show of it.  Trish, I know you can do better.

Trish: I’m sorry Lillian, I just-

Lillian: (cutting in) Mom.

Trish: I’m sorry Mom.

Lillian: I don’t need your sorries, I just want to see you making more of an effort.  We’re all doing our best here.

Ruby: Mom, maybe she doesn’t need to do this now.  I’ve got some work I wanted her to do in the other-

Lillian: (cutting in) Honey.  It doesn’t matter if she particularly needs to do it.  I’m just trying to make a point.  Now go again.

            Here, Ruby exhaled deeply, arching her back slightly and clasping her hands on her knees.

Ruby: (to Trish) You heard her, little baby beetle.  Get up again, or I might accidentally skoosh you.

            Despite Ruby’s aggressive words, while watching all involved rather intently from my silent position in the armchair, I couldn’t help but notice something strange.  There was an undeniably uncomfortable expression on her face, and as she leaned over slightly closer to her tiny stepsister on the carpet, her hair draping over her features, I could see her biting her lip.

TC: Mrs. Williams, if you have your meeting to attend, there’s really no need to continue onward with this.  I assure you, I’ve seen enough to grasp your point.

Lillian: I know, but now I’m just a little embarrassed for Trish and want to see her make it up.  (to Trish) C’mon down there.  I know you have it in you, even if you don’t want to show it.  (to Ruby) Go again.

Ruby: (to Trish) Better run.  I’m gonna come get you.

            Trish pulled herself up and started to move, this time to the right.  Immediately Ruby’s foot followed her, but rather than using her toes as battering rams for her stepsister, she instead raised her entire foot up and tilted it to the side just in time to act as a wall of flesh for Trish.  The latter ran headlong into Ruby’s sole and quickly fell flat on her back again.

Lillian: Oh, for gosh sakes.  Is that really your best?

Ruby: You still aren’t very good at this, are you, Trishy?

            Before any further prompting was given, Trish pulled herself back to her feet and began running in the other direction, back toward the ottoman her stepsister was seated on.  Ruby’s foot followed and came down with a soft thump on the floor just as Trish made it underneath the piece of furniture.

Ruby: Dang it.  Almost had you.

Lillian: There we go.  Now we have a show.

Ruby: You can run but you can’t hide!

            Trish continued to the other side under the ottoman without slowing down.  Ruby calmly turned herself around on top, waiting for a sign of her stepsister to emerge with her leg raised to drop back down.  I could see Trish changing directions below and attempting to sneak out the other side, but Ruby’s gaze was shifting back and forth, allowing her to be ready as soon as Trish appeared again.  Her foot came down, knocking the girl over.

Ruby: Got you, baby beetle.

Lillian: (laughs) Oh, too slow.  (to Ruby) Pin her.

            I noticed a twitch in Ruby’s body posture, bordering on a cringe, but without any more hesitation she plopped her foot down on top of her four-inch stepsister, aligning her roughly under the ball of her foot.

Lillian: Now Ruby, let’s see a little of that dexterity I know you’re so good at.  Pick her up.

            Another subtle twitch in Ruby could be seen, but she complied even faster this time, curling her toes around the tiny body underneath them until they had Trish in their grip.

Ruby: Better hold on tight.

            Ruby’s foot lifted off the ground as she swiveled back around on the ottoman to face her mother and I more fully, her leg poised parallel with the ground.  With both of her arms and the scruff of her shirt pinched in her younger stepsister’s comparatively prodigious toes, Trish hung somewhat limply from her perch, her head hung low.

Lillian: Better luck next time, Trish.  Maybe the two of you can play one more round for Mr. Taylor here.  I, though, unfortunately have to get going.

TC: I appreciate your time, Mrs. Williams.

Lillian: The pleasure’s all mine.  I’m just sorry we didn’t have more.  Ruby?

Ruby: Yes, Mom?

Lillian: Be sure to put on a good show.

            At this point, Lillian walked to a corner of the room where her purse was resting on a table and picked it up before heading for the front door.

Lillian: Like I said, Mr. Taylor, anything you need, ask Dorothy.  My daughter and Trish, I’m sure, will be happy to help as well.

            Here, Lillian exited the premises.  When I turned back to face Ruby again, with her stepsister still pinched by the arms in her toes, her gaze had shifted immediately over to the kitchen area, where Dorothy had resumed cleaning after bringing out coffee.

Ruby: Dorothy?  Could you do me a huge, huge favor and find my favorite rain boots?  I think I left them out behind the porch somewhere.

            Dorothy agreed to this with a silent nod and disappeared through a different doorway in the room, shutting it behind her.

            It was at this point that my skills as an analyst were once again given reason to feel challenged.

Ruby: Oh my God.  Trish?  Trish, are you okay?

            Ruby’s composure she’d been holding so carefully moments while casually dispensing her taunts down at her stepsister as she fled her foot for the game of tag suddenly dissipated.  The trembling I’d noticed in her shoulders earlier appeared in full force, and her voice was suddenly filled with concern, which I found initially hard to believe after what I’d just seen and heard her say.

Trish: I’m fine.

            Ruby quickly folded her leg in closer and cupped her hand under her toes, allowing her stepsister to easily climb into it.  She then brought Trish much closer to her face and, to my confused surprise, planted a kiss on top of her tiny head.

Ruby: Are you sure?  God, I didn’t mean to move that fast on that second one, it was just that Mom was…

Trish: (cutting in) It’s okay.

Ruby: No.  It’s not.

            At this point, Ruby’s voice was quavering with emotion, and though I wouldn’t have guessed it at that moment, she was on the verge of tears.  She brought Trish close and kissed the top of her head again before pressing her tiny stepsister to her cheek with gentleness I would’ve thought the girl totally incapable of previously, having witnessed what I just did.

Trish: Ruby?

Ruby: What?

            By this point, several tears were already trickling down the taller girl’s cheeks.

Trish: Please, I’m okay.  But what about him?

            Ruby, clearly beyond strained at this point, seemed to only just then remember my presence again, and she looked upon me with both embarrassment and fear.  All of us were speechless for a few more moments.

TC: Are you both all right?

Trish: I’m okay.  She is, too.

Ruby: No, I’m not.

            Ruby’s voice was cracking hard here as her face continued to dampen from her tears.  She still kept her stepsister cradled against her cheek.

TC: I’m sorry.  I just don’t understand what’s going on.

Trish: It’s complicated.

TC: (to Ruby) So you didn’t want to have to do what you just did?

Ruby: Of course not.

TC: Then why?  Why all of that show?

Ruby: Because I have to.

            At this statement, Ruby broke into choked sobs and hung her head while carefully lowering her cupped hands and four-inch stepsister down to her lap.

            I felt I could already understand her answer, but I had to know for sure.

TC: Why?

Trish: Because of Lillian.

TC: She told me, earlier.  How the first time you two worked together like this that Ruby didn’t punish you.  That was…

Trish: (cutting in) A mistake.  My fault.  We accidentally let Dorothy see us.  Ruby was just trying to protect me, and she ended up getting punished for it too.

Ruby: (to Trish) Please don’t say that.  It wasn’t your fault.

TC: What happened afterward?

Trish: Lillian wore both of us in her shoes for two days straight.

TC: Oh.

Trish: Yeah.

TC: So now you play-act in front of her to avoid the risk?

Ruby: Yes.  I pretend like that so Mom will go easier on her.  If I don’t, she doesn’t give her a chance.  She’s almost hurt her sometimes, and there’s nothing I can do about it.  The law lets her.

TC: I see.

Ruby: It’s the only way I can protect her.

Trish: Sir, you don’t have to tell anyone about this, do you?

TC: I-

Ruby: (cutting in) Please.  She’s my sister.  Please.  I’m all she has now.

            I have never in my life seen eyes beg as desperately as Ruby’s did at this moment while staring unblinkingly into mine.  Her every word was incredibly pained and brutally truthful, putting any lingering wonderment I had at her earlier behavior to rest.  There was another pause here, again on my part, as I was not entirely sure how best to proceed.

TC: I’m here to understand, not to enforce.  I have to respect my sources.

Trish: Thank you.

TC: You don’t have to thank me.  It’s my job.

            Ruby dried her eyes with a wrist here, still sniffling from the tears.  The thumb of the hand that still held Trish seemed to be giving her a comforting shoulder rub.

Ruby: No, we do.

TC: I have to say, though.  I don’t know that I can just leave you both.  In this situation, I mean, without at least looking into it.  Is there anything I can do to help?

Ruby: No.

TC: There has to be.

Trish: Lillian has this whole thing set just how she wants, and we can’t do anything about it until we’re not dependents anymore.  Juvy’s off the table for me.  And I don’t go up for review to get out of this for another eight months.

TC: I know this might be a hard question, but I still have to understand.  You don’t seem at all like the person I read about in my file, Trish.  Why?

Trish: You mean why did I do the things I did?

TC: Yes.

            I knew my questioning was bold and even out of line on a girl who’d clearly already been through so much, but in the blur of all this unfolding madness, it was something I had to know, and felt might become useful if I was going to be able to find any way to help the two girls.  Given the airtight regime of the Shrink Act, I knew it was a long shot, but I couldn’t help myself at this point.

Trish: I don’t have an answer.  I know the things I did were wrong, and I’m sorry about them.  I was just so sick and tired of how things were.  With school, and with my friends, and with Lillian.  I just… couldn’t figure out how to function again, and then when my dad… my dad…

            Here, Trish trailed off and slumped lower into her stepsister’s palm.  It was now her turn to cry too.  Ruby quickly brought her higher up again and kissed the top of Trish’s head a third time before settling into a pattern of running a fingertip up and down her stepsister’s back.

Ruby: Shhh.  Please, Trish, it’s okay.  It’s okay.  I’ve got you.  Don’t cry.  Please.

            As she continued comforting her stepsister, Ruby looked back up to me, a look of intense focus on her face.  Her words still quavered slightly but she had much more control over them here.

Ruby: Even if you don’t use this stuff I’m saying, just listen to me.  Okay?

TC: Okay.

Ruby: The Shrink Act is wrong.  Everything about it is sick and wrong.

Trish: Ruby, you don’t have to-

Ruby: (cutting in) Yes I do.  I don’t care now.  What kind of place do we live in, where it’s okay for that to happen?  What kind of… country?  For people to just be tiny and used however people want?  So what, it stops people from going to jail?  Well, this is worse than jail.  This is hell.

Trish: Ruby.

TC: I don’t know how yet, but I will do everything I can to help.  I promise.

Ruby: How can you?

TC: Because I am listening to you right now.

Ruby: You’re from the Techilogic company, aren’t you?

TC: Yes.

Ruby: And you know all about how the Shrink Act works.

TC: Yes.

Ruby: You have to know about things like this, then.  With Trish.  How it is for some people who have to live with it.  You have to.

TC: I’m seeing them more and more.

Ruby: Why are you here, asking these things?  What are you trying to do?

            There was a slight pause here, as I couldn’t imagine my answer, however earnest it was, could be enough for this anguished young girl.

TC: I didn’t want the voices of the people to be lost in the Shrink Act.

Ruby: If you really mean that, please.  Please don’t let hers be lost.

TC: I won’t.

            Note for later use: excise most materials from the second half of this report for personal investigation rather than publication, lest they fall onto the desk of a Techilogic executive or Lillian Williams, and my vow be broken.  Continued mention of this particular case will not be made throughout the remainder of my report until further investigation is complete in order to maintain the safety of my sources.