Green Eggs and Ham: Extra Bit(e)s - Pam

Goodbye, Melanie

At the court hearing, Pam-I-Am was denied custody of her stepdaughter, Melanie Driscoll, after the murder of Gene, her loving husband, father to Mel and her own son, Sam-I-Am. Even after identifying Gene's murderer, the dreaded Kyler Twotymer, Pam still wasn't allowed to keep Melanie.

Pam was back in the house. Melanie was sitting on the couch, holding Sam in her arms, watching T.V. The spy was shifting her gaze back and forth between the food she was preparing and the kids. The only upside was that she was granted one more day with her stepdaughter and that was it. Even though Mel wasn't biologically hers, Pam still loved her as if she was. In fact, due to Mel's own mother passing at such an early age, she called Pam "mommy". Whenever she heard the little girl say that, Pam felt a surge of warmth within.

And now all of that was being taken away from her.

When this thought dawned on her, Pam began aggressively cutting the vegetables, trying to keep her tears at bay. Then she just couldn't take it anymore. She flung her knife aside and it stuck into the wall. She threw her apron off and ran upstairs to her bedroom.

Little did Pam know that Melanie had seen everything. The girl set Sam down on the couch and followed her.

"Mommy?", she asked outside the bedroom door.

Pam didn't answer. She cried and sniffled into a handkerchief.

"What's wrong, Mommy?"

Still no answer.

Melanie then grabs the handle and opens the door. "Are you okay, Mommy?"

Pam turns her head and lets out a sob. That was three times in a row the child called her 'mommy'. It was too much for her heart to handle.

"Oh, I'm fine, Mellie", Pam answered. She puts her hanky in her pocket and sighs, flopping backwards onto the bed.

Melanie climbed up on the bed and crawled over to her stepmother. "Why were you crying?", she asked.

A muffled groan emanated from Pam as she pinched up her face. "Well, Mellie, I..." She stopped herself. She just didn't have the heart to tell her that this was her last day in the house. If she did, Melanie would be upset for the remainder of the day and Pam didn't want that. "It's nothing. Just really miss your dad."

The little girl slumped her head. Pam sat up and enveloped the child in her arms. "I miss Daddy too."

Pam was really impressed. Melanie was only five years old, but was handling Gene's loss a lot more maturely. She had to bite down on her lip to stop it from quivering.

"I love you, Mommy."

"I love you too, Melanie." Pam kissed her stepdaughter's forehead before hugging her again.

Then Sam suddenly cried out in the living room.

"Uh-oh. We better go check on your brother."

——

Later that evening, Pam tucked the kids in bed. Melanie's bedroom was across the hall from the master bedroom where Pam (and Gene) slept, with Sam's crib in the corner.

Upon putting Sam down in his crib, Pam kissed his forehead. "I love you, Sam", she said to him. The little boy let out a happy shriek. His mother smiled melancholically. To think that after tomorrow morning, it would be just the two of them. Pam sighed and left the room. She walked across the hall to Melanie's room.

"Hey, sweetie."

"Hi, Mommy!"

Pam bit her lip again. Then she came over to the side of Mel's bed and pulled the covers up to her chest.