Vanessa ate with her.
Malik stood beside the kitchen doorway.
He could smell the food.
His stomach hurt.
Finally, he asked whether he could make a sandwich.
Vanessa looked up.
“You can wait until you've learned some manners.”
He stared.
“But I'm hungry.”
She put down her fork.
“Then perhaps you'll remember that feeling next time you decide to be careless.”
Malik didn't understand.
He'd broken a glass.
He'd apologized.
And now he wasn't allowed to eat.
Later that night, he found crackers in the pantry.
He ate them quietly in his bedroom.
The next morning, Vanessa behaved as though nothing unusual had happened.
She prepared breakfast for Zuri.
Packed lunches.
And told Malik to remember his homework.
For a moment, he wondered whether he'd imagined the previous evening being as frightening as it felt.
Then it happened again.
This time, he left a wet towel on the bathroom floor.
Vanessa told him he had to earn dinner by cleaning the downstairs bathroom.
He completed the task.
She inspected it.
Then said the mirror wasn't clean enough.
Malik went back.
By the time he finished, everyone else had eaten.
Vanessa told him the kitchen was closed.
He asked whether he could have leftovers.
She said no.
When Adrian came home later, Vanessa described the situation as a lesson about responsibility.
“Malik didn't complete his chores on time.”
Adrian frowned.
“Did he eat?”
Vanessa smiled.
“Of course. He had something earlier.”
Malik stood near the stairs.
He heard the conversation.
For a moment, he considered telling his father.
Then Vanessa looked toward him.
Not threateningly.
Not obviously.
Just long enough to remind him that she would still be there after Adrian went to bed.
He lowered his eyes.
And said nothing.
The punishments became a pattern.
Sometimes Vanessa denied him part of a meal.
Sometimes she made him sit at the table while everyone else ate.
Sometimes she told him his behavior had been so disappointing that he shouldn't expect to enjoy the same privileges as the rest of the family.
She began keeping a notebook.
Malik's name appeared at the top of several pages.
Beneath it were lists of supposed offenses.
Failed to show gratitude.
Questioned household authority.
Refused family activity.
Showed disrespectful facial expression.
The categories were vague.
Impossible to satisfy consistently.
And entirely dependent on Vanessa's judgment.
If Malik asked what he'd done wrong, she called the question argumentative.
If he apologized, she accused him of being insincere.