Abhorring Aaron’s Ability(Cam Rascoe) “I hate her; she gets on my damned nerves.”
“Who you talkin’ ‘bout Carol?”
“My little sister Erin, she always gets her way.”

The two girls sat down on a mat in the corner of the gymnasium as Carol continued to gripe about her talented younger sister.

“My mom and dad are going to buy their little princess a car and she’s only fifteen. Just because she sings those corny songs don’t mean they have to give her everything. I didn’t get a car until I turned sixteen and it wasn’t a new one. My father just gave me his old BMW. They can’t make it to our volleyball game tonight because Aa-rr-oon has a show. They always go to all of her damned shows. Aaron, I don’t know why she spells her name like a boy. It’s Erin, E-R-I-N; she thinks she’s so cool.”

Jill struggled to understand why her friend hated having a famous little sister so much.

“It must be cool sometimes to have a famous little sister though?”
“Well if you like her so much you can have her!”

Carol snapped at her teammate for her lack of moral support then continued on her rant.

“Every since she was a baby they’ve been dragging me to contests, photo shoots and shows. Her agent, managers, lawyers, accountants and publicist call all times of the day and night. My parents never took that much interest in anything I ever did in my whole life. They were always too concerned about their golden child. They were even out of town with her on my birthday two years in a row. Sure they threw me big parties when they got back but it was still after my birthday. She even got a bigger bedroom than me when we moved into the new…”

Carol’s complaining was suddenly interrupted by a teammate and fan of her younger sister.

“Hey Carol, I didn’t know that Aaron Alise was your little sister. Do you think you could get me an autographed picture?”

Carol, extremely irritated by the interruption, replied to Janice in a sharp harsh manner.

“My sister’s last name is Novak just like mine and I don’t handle her groupies, you might want to see her publicist for that. Now, if you’ll excuse me I was having a private conversation.”

Carol turned her back on Janice as she stood astonished by her rudeness. Carol turned again to see the stunned girl still standing there and then waved her hands in the direction of Janice as if to tell her to shoo. She then turned back to Jill again and continued bellyaching.

“Can you believe that girl Jill? I get so tired of that. People think that we are all here just to serve Erin. My parents may be but I’m not!”

Jill sighed at Carol’s negative comments and Carol, ever confrontational, quickly picked it up.

“What do you know Jill?! You’re probably just another one of those mindless drowns that walks around following the heard. You probably like Erin’s crap too, figures. You seem the small minded type.”

Jill had run out of patience. Being a kind Christian girl, she volunteered when the head coach of the volleyball team asked if one of the players would take the time to reach out to the team’s malcontent. Carol isolated herself from the rest of the girls and rarely got the opportunity to play because of her lack of enthusiasm. Jill took a deep breath to calm her self before making a frank and insightful assessment of her teammate’s problem.

“You know Carol, most people would be proud to have a little sister who is so talented but not you. You’re too busy being jealous of her to be happy for her. You envy her so much that you dislike anyone who likes her. If you were more positive and tried harder at what you do, you might be happier. You push people away with your negativity; you might want to try to change that. I’ll pray for you.”

With that being said, Jill got up from the mat and joined her teammates warming up before their game. Carol sat and sulked as she allowed Jill’s words to sink into her thick skull. She slowly rose from her place on the mat. Put a nervous smile on her face and joined her teammates in warming up. Her teammates’ faces showed welcoming smiles and Jill walked over and patted her on the shoulder and whispered in her ear.

“Welcome back to the team Carol.”

Jill handed Carol the volleyball. Carol smiled an appreciative smile then sent the volleyball sailing over the net.

Abhorring Aaron’s Ability

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