closet, he can be sure that the neat and contemplative girl is the
younger of the two. He raises the photograph and stares at her. The
pixie. So cute. He still does not know whether she is Charlotte or
Emily.
He goes to the desk in the older daughter’s side of the room and stares
down at the clutter, magazines, schoolbooks, one yellow hair ribbon, a
butterfly barrette, a few scattered sticks of Black Jack chewing gum,
colored pencils, a tangled pair of pink kneesocks, an empty Coke can,
coins, and a Game Boy.
He opens one of the textbooks, then another. Both of them have the same
name penciled in front, Charlotte Stillwater.
The older and less disciplined girl is Charlotte. The younger girl who
keeps her belongings neat is Emily.
Again, he looks at their faces in the photograph.
Charlotte is pretty, and her smile is sweet. However, if he is going to
have trouble with either of his children, it will be with this one.
He will not tolerate disorder in his house. Everything must be perfect.
Neat and clean and happy.
In lonely hotel rooms in strange cities, awake in the darkness, he has
ached with need and has not understood what would satisfy his longing.
Now he knows that being Martin Stillwater–father to these children,
husband to this wife–is the destiny that will fill the terrible void
and at last bring him contentment. He is grateful to whatever power has
led him here, and he is determined to fulfill his responsibilities to
his wife, his children, and society. He wants an ideal family l those
he has seen in certain favorite movies, wants to be kind like Jimmy
Stewart in It’s a Wonderful life and wise like Gregory Peck in To Kill a
Mockingbird and revered like both of them, and he will do whatever is
necessary to ensure a loving, harmonious, and orderly home.
He has seen The Bad Seed, too, and he knows that some children can
destroy a home and all hope of harmony because they are seething with
the potential for evil. Charlotte’s slovenly habits and strange
menagerie strongly indicate that she is capable of disobedience and
possibly violence.
When snakes appear in movies, they are always symbols of evil, dangerous
to the innocent, therefore, the snake in the terrarium is chilling proof
of this child’s corruption and her need for guidance.
She keeps other reptiles as well, a couple of rodents, and an ugly black
beetle in a glass jar-all of which the movies have taught him to
associate with the powers of darkness.
He studies the photograph again, marveling at how innocent Charlotte
looks.
But remember the girl in The Bad Seed. She appeared to be an angel yet
was thoroughly evil.
Being Martin Stillwater may not prove as easy as he had first thought.
Charlotte might be a real handful.
Fortunately, he has seen Lean on Me in which Morgan Freeman is a high
school principal bringing order to a school overwhelmed by anarchy, and
he has seen The Principal starring Jim Belushi, so he knows that even
bad kids really want discipline. They will respond properly if adults
have the guts to insist upon rules of behavior.
If Charlotte is disobedient and stubborn, he will punish her until she
learns to be a good little girl. He will not fail her. At first she
will hate him for denying her privileges, for confining her to her room,
for hurting her if that becomes necessary, but in time she will see that
he has her best interests at heart, and she will learn to love him and
understand how wise he is.
In fact he can visualize the triumphant moment when, after so much
struggle, her rehabilitation is ensured. Her realization that she has
been wrong and that he has been a good father will culminate in a
touching scene. They will both cry. She will throw herself in his
arms, remorseful and ashamed. He will hug her very tightly and tell her
it’s all right, all right, don’t cry. She will say, “Oh, Daddy,” in a
tremulous voice, and cling fiercely to him, and thereafter everything
will be perfect between them.