Junior year when most of her friends were applying at traditional four year colleges, Kit didn’t see the point. Instead she wanted to attend a music conservatory and set her sights on New York City. Melvin wouldn’t not hear of it. He had indulged her acting and music pursuits in high school but there was no way that he would pay for her to go to some performing arts school; and especially not in New York. There was no future in that as far as he was concerned.

Kit and Melvin fought constantly about her future and Shirley found herself playing referee long distance. She wanted Kit to have her dream. Her daughter was certainly talented enough, and if she could get through the rigorous auditions required to be accepted to a performing arts school she certainly deserved the chance, but Melvin had a point as well. Shirley and Kit agreed not to make any decisions until Kit came out to California for the summer so they could consider all the pros and cons.

Although mother and daughter had come to an agreement, it didn’t ease the tension in the Porter household as Kit’s behavior was having a negative effect on Bette. The sister that had been like a second mother to her had turned into a sullen self-centered 17-year-old that couldn’t be bothered with the toddler vying for her attention. Kit was either locked up in her bedroom with head-phones on or hanging out in the basement with her band friends.

Maxine made sure that Bette had her own social circle of friends her own age but her daughter wanted nothing more than to hang out with her big sister. As she got older she would often ask her mother, why Kit didn’t love her anymore. Maxine left Kit’s discipline to Melvin and Shirley, but she was protective of her daughter and would not stand-by to watch her get hurt.

Maxine observed that Melvin was quickly losing the battle over controlling Kit. She was as strong-willed and defiant as he was. As much as they had called a truce until Kit left for the summer visit with Shirley to decide the school situation Maxine didn’t let either of them off the hook for what it was doing to Bette.

***

Tragically Shirley was killed in a car accident just weeks before Kit was finishing up the school term and preparing to fly out to California for summer vacation. Shirley’s body was brought back to Pittsburgh where she was buried in the family plot. Kit was already lost to Melvin and with her mother gone she felt hurt, and angry at her parent’s abandonment. That summer she rebelled against her father even more, and her defiance escalated into bad behavior. She moved away from her grade-school friends, quit the band, and started skipping classes which led to hanging out on the streets of Pittsburgh. She was introduced to a different element and coming from a family with money she was easy prey. She made new friends, and started experimenting with drugs and alcohol.

Kit’s life wasn’t the only one taking a downhill turn. Bette’s was too as Maxine and Melvin’s marriage was showing signs of erosion. The beautiful young mother had given up her dream of having more children mostly because Melvin had no interest. They fought about how little time he spent with Bette, and his indifference to what was happening with Kit. Maxine tried to be a mother to Kit, but she was too wrapped up in her own misery to be of much help.

Melvin loved his family, but he was weak. He ran away from the issues at home into the arms of another woman. Unlike Shirley, Maxine did not put up with his cheating. She didn’t know how many women he had before she caught him, but all it took was one and no amount of apologizing or begging for forgiveness penetrated her resolve. She immediately filed for divorce, got full custody of her daughter and ended any relationship with Melvin except to work out visitations. Maxine would have taken Kit too, but she didn’t have any legal right and besides that she didn’t want a drug addicted teen in her home with a three-year-old daughter.