When I held my baby girl in my arms for the first time I felt so alive. My dad always told me that when you have kids your life changes. My wife Marie and I had been trying for three years before we conceived Kellie, she was our love child. But after, Kellie, we had three more; Michael Jr., Christine, and Suzette. I’d always known that Kellie would be special though, and she was, she was my first baby.

            “How was your day, honey?”

            “Michael, you need to talk to your daughter.”

            “Which one? We have three.”

            “Michael, you know which one I’m talking about.”

            Lately, Kellie had taken a turn down the wrong path, but I believed that she was only experimenting, as all thirteen year olds do.

            “I came home early today after my doctor appointment and she had a boy in her room.”

            “Well, Marie, maybe they were…” I was optimistic.

            “They were naked and he was on top of her, obviously they weren’t studying. Michael! Wake up and smell the coffee, she’s out of control.”

            “I’ll talk to her, right now.” I was reluctant, but I would anyway. When I opened the door to leave our bedroom Kellie ran back to her room crying. She had been there, at the door, listening the whole time.

            “Kellie, honey, its okay.” I needed to comfort her and she needed to know I was there for her.

            “Daddy, I’m sorry.”

            “I know, Kellie.” Marie was leaning on the doorframe with her arms folded. “But, what you did was unacceptable.”

            “Unacceptable! Michael, unacceptable, no! She’s only thirteen and she’s having sex.”

            “So, what!”

            “That’s it Michael, I’ve had enough of this. She’s disobedient, fly at the mouth, and down right disrespectful.” In an instant Marie flew across the room and she grabbed Kellie and threw her to the floor. She’d taken off her bedroom slipper and was beating Kellie from every direction.

            “Daddy, help, get her off me!” I wanted too but Marie had a threatening look on her face, but the look on Kellie’s face hurt me even more.         

            Later, when Marie was asleep I went to check on Kellie, she was still awake.

            “Kellie.” She turned her back to me. “You can’t disrespect your mother like that, ever and you can’t have boys in the house when we’re not home, honey.”

            “You didn’t help me, I called to you, but you didn’t come.”

            “I know honey, but…”

            “But nothing, you let her beat me. I want you to punish her.”

            “Don’t worry, Kellie, I’ll talk to your mother in the morning.” I kissed my daughter on the forehead and tucked her into bed. She was such a little angel.

            The next morning it was chaos as usual. Getting four kids out of the house and to the bus stop on time was a challenge.

            “Suzette, hurry up with that bagel.”

            “Mom, I just sat down.”

            “I don’t care. I’m not going to be late for work because I had to take anyone to the bus stop. You can take it with you.”

            “Mom, can you sign this please?”

            “Michael Jr., what have I told you about waiting until the last minute to give me things to sign?”

            “I’m sorry, I forgot.”

            “Forgetfulness is not an excuse.”       

            “Where are Christine and Kellie?”

            “They already left.” Michael Jr. was stuffing his face with Captain Crunch Cereal.

            “And you two should be gone already too.”

            “We’re leaving right now. Can you pick me up at 6:15 today, I have cheerleading practice?”

            “Okay. But be ready when I get there, Suzette.”

            “Okay Mom, love you. Bye.”

            “I love you too Mom. See you later.” Suzette and Michael Jr., were always the last two to leave the house and the latest. I usually ended up driving both of them to school.

***

            “Honey, dinner was great tonight. What’ll you say we go and take a nice hot bath and I’ll give you a message?”

            “That sounds great. But, we need to talk about Kellie.” We just couldn’t have a peaceful night. We always needed to talk about Kellie, lately anyway.

            “What about her?”

            “Michael, in the last two years she’s been spiraling more and more out of control. Now, she’s having sex for God sakes.”

            “Well, we could talk to her and…”

            “Talk, Michael, you can’t be serious. We’ve tried talking, counseling, punishments; we don’t have any other options. She’s a problem. We have three other children that are so well behaved, active, and obedient, but because of her misbehaving we don’t have time to reward them for doing what they’re supposed to be doing. So, what are we going to do?”

            I didn’t know what we were going to do. I just hope that things would get better.

            “I don’t know, Marie. I don’t know.”

            “She needs to go away for awhile. I say we send her to live with my cousin Beth in Cairo. I’ve already called her and she’ll be glad to have her. Kellie will enjoy the experience, she needs this, we need this.”

            “I don’t know about this Marie.”

            “I knew you wouldn’t. That’s why I’ve decided to send her anyway.” I was furious, but deep down inside I knew Marie was making the right decision for her, for us and our other children. But what would this do to Kellie?

            The next morning when Kellie learned she would be spending her summer vacation in Egypt, she lost it. I think a little part of me lost it too.

            “I hate you, I hate you all! This fuckin’ sucks.”

            “Kellie, we’re doing this for you, it can only help you!” Marie tried to explain to Kellie that this experience could only benefit her.

            “Screw you. This is what you wanted from the beginning, you never loved me.”

            Marie was sobbing uncontrollably and the kids just stood there looking on. I went with Kellie through security and onto the plane to make sure she was settled. It hurt so bad to let my daughter go but I knew she would be in good hands.

***

            “Only two more days honey.”

            “Yeah, I’ll be glad to be back home. I’m so sorry for being so disrespectful mom.”

            “Kellie, we all make mistakes, but we have to learn from them and move forward.”

            “I’ve changed mom, really.”  

            “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

            “You don’t have to believe me, Dad does.”

            Two days later Marie and I picked Kellie up from the airport. She looked different, walked different, and even talked different. She had enjoyed her trip to Cairo and Beth had done a great job with her.

            “Dad, I wanna cook dinner for all of us tonight. Beth taught me how to cook a dish called Saniyit Kufta or baked minced beef. ”

            “Sounds good honey. I’ll fix dessert to go with it.”

            “That’s okay, I’m gonna fix the dessert too.”

            The dinner was great. We sat around the table and stuffed our faces, laughed, and Kellie talked about her trip. It was good to see my family all together and getting along. But in an instant things turned from good to worse.

            “Marie!”

            “Dad, she’s turning blue!”

            “Marie, honey, answer me.”

            “Christine, call 911.”

            She died from an allergic reaction. Peanuts. We didn’t even keep peanuts in the house. Kellie, she insisted on cooking dinner that night and I let her. While Marie gasped for air and panic struck the room a slight smirk appeared on Kellie’s face, then I knew.  Some way, some how I should have seen this coming. I really wanted to believe that Kellie’s trip to Cairo would change her and that she would come back a changed child. But, she did. She was a murderer.

            “Mr. Delcroix, its time for your meds. Your not gonna fuss with me today are you?”