Siobhan Limerick: On the cutting edge

Annie Kate fumed, huffed, and puffed from her choice seat at the kitchen table.

"Siobhan, if I've told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't dice those onions so large! And that squash has got to be quartered before you toss it in the stove."

"Mother Limerick, I have it all under control. The meal will be just fine." Siobhan thought Annie Kate the most meddling of mothers-in-law. Certainly none of her friends had quite so heavy a burden, but then again, their husbands hadn't died and left them a 40-year old widow with two children to raise, not to mention a 66-year old mother-in-law who decided to move back in the house with them.

Just then, nine-year old Agnes screamed at the top of her lungs, ran down the back stairs into the kitchen, and plopped herself onto Granny's lap. "Mama, Patrick just pulled my hair! He's a terrible brother, a terrible brother!"

Siobhan walked over to her younger child and rubbed her head. "Agnes, dear, you're just upset. Patrick didn't hurt you, really he didn't. Now did he, Mother Limerick?"

"Certainly not, child. Why your brother's upset!"

"Oh, poo! If Daddy were here, he'd take his belt to Patrick!"

"Martin would do nothing of the kind. Why, Agnes, whatever would make you say that?"

"Oh Granny, yes he would! And he wouldn't let Uncle Collin lord it over me, either, at school! I can't go to the bathroom without him watching over me like a hawk." She burst into tears and buried her head in her grandmother's chest.

Annie Kate furrowed her brow and looked at her daughter-in-law. "Siobhan, I do wish you'd ask Collin to go easier on these children. They've had a very hard time of it, these past six months. Agnes, dear, tell you what. I'll talk to your older brother and your mother will talk to Uncle Collin, all right?"

Siobhan felt though she were walking on pins and needles in her own home. "Mother Limerick, I'd like to manage my own children! And I'd like to manage my own household." She didn't say it, but she wished Annie Kate had stayed where she belonged rather than closing up her household and moving in with her and the children. She didn't need the help and, more than likely, would always be a third responsibility on top of the children.