Mommy Dearest

Maybe I should peak in and say hello? Nah, I remember the last time I stopped by to say hi. Don’t want a repeat of that scene. It was an icy, gray, and windy morning. I wanted to borrow the car for a doughnut and coffee run. Dad was away on business, so I had to ask my kooky Mom for the keys. Keep in mind, it had been three days since she’d been discharged from the mental institution she’s been in and out of my entire life. I lightly knocked on her door.

“I’m not going back David. Not gonna tell you again!” Mom said.

“Dad left yesterday, Mom. It’s your son. Can I borrow the car? The fridge is empty, and me and Jamie are starving for some breakfast,” I said.

“Come in son,” Mom said. 

I opened the door to a room in chaotic disarray. Drawers from the dresser lay on the floor like land mines. Robes, socks, and underwear scattered across the discolored lemon yellow carpet. The blackout curtains drawn, with the flashing light from the television, the only source of light in the bedroom. Mom was tucked in her eggshell comforter on the wide king size bed. She was wearing her thick framed glasses, gray nighty, and her dirty blonde hair was immensely disheveled. 

“Sit down son,” Mom said. I pivoted, facing the chair. The seat was covered by layers of towels, jeans, and blouses. I tossed handfuls of articles of clothing onto the ground, and took a seat. 

“Have I told you how you were born?” Mom asked. I shook my head anxiously.

“Surprisingly, you haven’t shared that gem with me yet. Is there a stork involved, or a satanic cult? I sarcastically responded. Mom laid stone faced, and unmoved by my attempt at humor.

“You get your sense of humor from your father. I was six months pregnant with you.Your father was away, based in Berlin. He was waiting on a transfer back to the States for your birth. I was alone. Your grandparents were long gone and buried. The people I thought were my friends were actually party acquaintances at best. Once I got pregnant nobody returned my calls. The people I was closest with were the taxi drivers who drove me to the doctors and back. One morning I woke up, feeling something was terribly wrong. You were trying to tell me something while you were in my belly. Listening to my maternal instinct, I caught a cab to the hospital for a check up. The driver, Miles, walked me over to the pediatric side of the hospital, bless his heart. After the screening, the doctor alerted me the umbilical cord was wrapped around your small, tiny neck. You were slowly being strangled to death in my womb, he informed me, I needed to have an immediate c-section to save your life,” Mom explained. She slid her blanket down her waistline and lifted the nighty up to her lower abdomen, revealing a sizable, crescent shaped scar. 

My eyes rapidly shot to the wall in disgust. My corneas burned with the sight of unpleasantry.

“Mom! Please cover yourself up! Don’t want to see that. What are you thinking?” I exclaimed.

She pulled the covers up to her neck. Gritted her teeth with contempt. With a sinister glare, which could kill a small child. 

“Your father doesn’t want to see it either. I sacrificed my body for you, and what do I get in return? A husband who won’t touch me and an ungrateful bastard. Fuck off out of my room, I should have had an abortion. I hear the scars are barely visible,” Mom said.

Oxy

The Nurse let loose his iron tight grasp over me and took a step back. “Oh, sorry, didn’t know about that. Did they fix you up right?” He asked. I reached behind me to rub my wounded back.

“Yeah, they did me up alright. I can barely feel it anymore. I don’t know if it’s how they treated and covered up the burns or if it’s the oxycontin they hooked me up with, but I feel great!” I explained. His goofy demeanor dissipated the moment I mentioned oxycontin.

“Be careful with those, just take them as prescribed. This whole town is hooked on that damn oxycontin,” the Nurse said. I groaned and rolled my eyes at the notion of hearing a blatant anti drug message.

“Yes mom, whatever you say mom,” I said sarcastically. I chuckled at his expense. The Nurse’s dismay became self evident as his face went devoid of all amusement at my attempt of humor.

“I’m serious. You should walk down main street and take a good look around. It’s like the plague hit. I don’t know if this town will ever fully recover. I’ve attended more funerals than weddings this year. I’m sorry, didn’t mean to bring up death with you. Sometimes I get a little too carried away. You did what you had to do. I had to take a life as well in the war, it was either him or me. I chose him, just like you chose the fate of that dirtbag,” The Nurse explained. The Nurse’s words brought me back to the old decrepit log cabin by the lake… 

“Are you alright? Maybe you rushed going back to school a little too prematurely. It took me about a half a year to get back into the world, after I got back from the war. You could work out a deal with your teachers, where they give you a packet of classwork to do at home. Todd did the home school program with his teachers when he was bedridden with mono,” The Nurse offered as a suggestion.

Shook my head disagreeably at the thought of staying home with my Mother. Hours upon hours of soap operas and game shows, and the sound of her naggy shrill voice ordering me around all day. All things considered about my home-life, I’ll take the path of less time spent in that madhouse.