Runaway Mother chapter 2

‘Man,’ I said to my sister Mary when I finally made it downstairs desperate for some coffee, ‘he is clingy!’ I was of course referring to Ethan who kept me up most of the night. Between monsters and wanting to sleep in with me, I gave up putting him back into his own bed at around 5am. ‘He’s definitely a soccer player in the making!’ I thought to myself as bruises began to blossom on my legs.  I looked across the table at Mary and realised that she was actually asleep on a text book. My eyes widened as I questioned if she had been there all night.                                                                                                                          

I looked up at the clock, it was 6am. When the ding on our watches went off in unison confirming the time, Mary lifted her head, a pen stuck to her face. ‘Boy you are dedicated!’ I said to her. She looked at what she had been working on all night, an assignment for her social studies class, and I could feel panic emanating from her.

I went over to her and put my arms around my little sister. I knew there was only eleven months between us but I always felt responsible for looking after her. She leaned in close and buried her head in my chest. I could feel her body begin to convulse as she sobbed in my arms.

When she finally pulled away, wiping her eyes with the sleeves of her shirt, the coffee was ready. I poured a generous cup for both myself and Mary, making sure to take the sugar out of the press. I had a feeling we would need it.

‘Were you up all night?’ I asked her.

‘The papers due in today and I don’t have it finished!’ she said with alarm bells ringing in her eyes. I handed her the sugar and a spoon but she just poured the granular condiment straight from the bag. She used the spoon to mix it into the coffee and made a face I can’t describe when she drank the whole cup in one go. She held the cup out indicating she wanted more as she began reading what she had already done. I shrugged and fulfilled her request.

I stood leaning on the island in the kitchen cradling my cup in my hands. I watched as she picked up the pen that she slept on. There was an impression of it on her cheek.

‘Where do you think she’s gone?’ I asked Mary who looked but didn’t take the tip of the pen off the page. It took a minute for reality to kick in but when it did, she dropped the pen and buried her head in her hands.

‘For a moment there I forgot!’ she admitted.

‘Are you still up for it?’ I asked her.

‘Up for what?’ she answered as if the last twenty-four hours never happened.  

‘Us looking after Ethan?’ I reiterated.

‘Oh,’ she replied wiping the sleep from her eyes and downing her second cup of coffee.

‘I still can’t believe she’s done this!’ I shook my head.

‘Neither can I!’ Mary sighed.

‘Maybe she’ll find the error of her ways and come back in a couple of days!’ I was taught by my mother to always look at the silver lining in things. ‘I mean, that little guy upstairs is full on. I don’t think I could do it day in day out if I were her!’

‘Are you making excuses for her?’ Mary started, ‘you do realise that all of that responsibility is ours now!’ she pointed her index finger upwards.

My heart sank. I was beginning to comprehend the gravity of the situation. My pulse started racing so I sat down opposite Mary. I knew my mom had it hard, what with our father dying at such a young age and her not even knowing who Ethans dad was. We were up shits creek without a paddle…but there had to be a reason she left. Yes, she had her faults, but I knew she loved us and wouldn’t leave without a purpose. I also had to prepare for the worst. I kept attempting to call her but the same damned automated voice told me that the number was out of service each time. I kept trying nonetheless. Last night as I tried to get Ethan to settle, I attempted to text her, but the messages kept coming back undelivered.

I could tell that Mary was furious by the amount of pressure she was applying to the pen in her hand. ‘Use your words!’ I told her, the same thing we told Ethan when he got frustrated.

She threw down the pen and sighed beginning to rub her index fingers on her temples in a circular motion. She did that when she was stressed. ‘I just made it into robotics class,’ she announced.

‘Really?’ I asked getting excited for her, ‘I thought that class was only open to seniors!’

‘It is but Mr Bradshaw was impressed with my grades and offered me a spot!’ I could see her face begin to blush…I was proud of her.

She looked up at me doe eyed, ‘they meet three times a week after school…’ She stopped to regulate her breathing.

I couldn’t quite get what the problem was.

‘…with you at basketball practice all the time and Ethans school ending at 4pm I can’t do them both!’

‘Are you saying I shouldn’t play basketball?’ I asked.

‘No, I would never suggest that…but…’

I could see Mary pulling on her fingers, something she only did when she was scared.

‘…but…??’ I prompted her to continue.

‘This extra class could be the difference of me getting into MIT or not, and I know basketball means a lot to you, but what about Ethan?’

‘Well, coach said that there are scouts for college coming to my first game of the season!’ I could see Mary looking confused. ‘It could mean a scholarship into college next year!’

At first her face lit up with excitement for me, but it suddenly dropped, ‘so basketball trumps MIT!’

‘No!’ I quickly corrected her, ‘but college for me is a year closer than college for you!’ I could see her roll her eyes. ‘I never thought I would be eligible to progress further, this is a major opportunity for me!’

‘I know!’ Mary nodded.

‘Mary, college won’t happen for me without a scholarship, but you have brains to burn and I sincerely believe that if you could just wait one year for the robotics class, it would still look amazing on your college applications. Hell, you get straight A’s whereas I’m a D student!’

‘I only get straight A’s because I work for them!’ Mary said implying I don’t study…. she’s not wrong! ‘And I have…,’ she looks at her watch, ‘…. less than an hour to finish writing this paper!’

‘So what are we going to do about the little man?’ I asked letting out a sigh.

‘I guess…’ I could see the cogs in her mind turning, ‘…I guess I could go to the robotics class next year!’ she said with her eyes clamped shut. I knew how much this meant to her so I was touched that she was taking my future into account.

‘So are you good to look after Ethan when I’m at practice?’ I asked her.

Her eyes filled up with tears.

‘What’s wrong Mary?’ I asked in the most sympathetic voice I could muster.

‘If she doesn’t come back, neither of us will be going…scholarship or not!’ a single tear escaped and rolled down her red, rosy cheek.

My heartstrings tugged. She was right. I had to find my mother! If I did get the free ride to college, there’s no way I could accept it with Ethan and all that comes with him.

I hear the floorboards creek from my room above. I looked at the clock, it was 6:45. I went to the press and took out his paw patrol bowl and set it on the table. I couldn’t help but smile as I hear the little mite shuffle down the stairs on his bottom. He’s well able walk down them, but every morning he shuffles. He walks into the kitchen in his onesie pyjamas, his ducky under his arm, and makes me think of how young he still is. If my mom didn’t come back, we had years of looking after him ahead. I chocked back some tears and picked him up and gave him a massive squeeze. He wrapped his arms around my neck and squeezed back.

As I sat him down opposite Mary, the questions started.

‘Where’s mom?’

I lied and told him she was at a work conference and that I didn’t know when she would be home. The little guy had very little sleep under his belt, so emotions were running high.

‘But I want her!’ he pouted.

I held up the box of rice krispies in one hand and cherios in the other. ‘Which of these would you prefer?’

‘I want mom to make me pancakes!’ he said folding his arms his bottom lip protruding.

I wanted to avoid a full-blown tantrum.

‘We aren’t doing pancakes today buddy, they’re only at the weekends, so which would you prefer?’ I held the boxes out for him once again.

‘I want my mom!’ he said before beginning to cry.

‘Why don’t you ask ducky which one he’d like?’ Mary suggested. She was a genius!

Ethan nodded his little head, tears streaming down his face. I mouthed the words, ‘thank you!’ to Mary whose eyes were back on her paper.

‘Ok ducky, would you prefer rice krispies of cherios?’ I put one of the boxes down and carefully pried ducky from under Ethans little arm, holding him up to my ear.

‘Ducky wants rice krispies because it makes his mouth feel funny when they pop!’ I told Ethan who wiped the tears away with the sleeve of his pyjamas. ‘Would you like to feel them pop?’ I asked him. He nodded his little head again.

As I poured the cereal into his bowl, Ethan put his ear down to hear them crackle.

‘They’re not popping…you’re doing it wrong…I want my mom!’ he said in quick succession as I went to get the last remaining milk carton.

‘Hang on there little dude, I haven’t put the milk in yet!’ I said in a weird voice trying to get him to smile. Low and behold it worked. ‘Are you ready to hear the biggest pop of all time?’ I asked him getting another smile. ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ I said in the type of voice an announcer uses on one of Ethans favourite tv shows, ‘are you ready for the biggest pop of all time?’ Ethan nodded with enthusiasm. He put his ear to the bowl again. ‘On your marks, get set, pop!’ I poured the milk into the bowl and Ethan listened intently, dare I say that he even giggled. ‘Crisis averted!’ I said to myself…. or so I thought.

It took me almost an hour to get him dressed. We had the first full blown tantrum. I kept telling him to use his words but the more I said it, the more he flailed his limbs on the floor screaming. I wished for Mary to help but knew about her assignment. I looked at my watch, it was 7:35. I had to do something or we’d both be late for school, so I picked him up and tried to calmly take off his pyjamas and put on some clothes. I just grabbed the topmost of everything from the chest of drawers and he was screaming so loud I was afraid the neighbours were going to think I was murdering him.

Finally, we were dressed. I carried him down the stairs and noticed Mary had left. I put him down in order to pick up both of our bags as he continued to cry so I picked him up again and took long, quick strides to his school.

We got there with a minute to spare. The teacher who was welcoming the students into the classroom was shocked when I just handed him to her, Ethan still crying, and ran. I had to get across town in order to go to school myself.

As I ran, I cursed my mother. Why did she have to do this just before I had a shot at college? As I rushed through the metal detector they had put in after the gun scare from a neighbouring school, I was thirty minutes late. I ran down the corridor and entered my algebra class, apologising for my tardiness.

‘Sorry, I overslept!’ I said as I tried to regulate my breathing and scanned the room for a free table. The teacher handed me a pop quiz the minute I sat down and I began to panic. I looked at the problems on the page as I was still breathing heavy and they just looked like hieroglyphics to me. I pulled a pencil out of my bag and turned the page over to see if I recognised some of the questions on that side. There was one, so I started there.

I was just coming towards the answer to the problem when the bell rang and the class was over. I kept writing regardless. I wanted to receive a grade other than zero. The teacher prised the page out of my hand.

‘If you were here on time Mr Fisher you would have had plenty of time to answer a question!’ there was a sense of smugness in his tone, one which I didn’t appreciate, but instead of taking the bait I stood up and looked him in the eye before leaving for my history class.

I took my time and strolled down the corridor to room 43. I was the last to take my seat and we were asked to read a section from our textbook. I recalled that particular book sitting on the kitchen island when I was getting down Ethans cereal. I buried my face in my hands.

‘Where’s your book Mr Fisher?’ the history teacher asked.

‘I’m so sorry miss but I left it at home,’ I admitted.

Thankfully my history teacher isn’t a dick like my algebra one and lent me one of her books. I thanked her and opened the book to page 139. I read and re-read the first line about ten times. My mind couldn’t move away from the goings on of the morning, or the note my mother left. I still believed she was going to come back.

My mind began to wander and suddenly I was a young boy again. Me and mom were at an ice cream truck as Mary was at a birthday party. My mom challenged me to an ice cream contest. We received two of the tallest cones I had ever seen. The aim of the game was to finish first. Mom led me to an adjacent picnic table where we sat as she made sure I knew the rules.

‘You have to not only eat the ice cream, but the cone as well, ok peanut?’

‘Why do you call me peanut?’ I asked her just before the contest started.

‘Well, when you were in my tummy, daddy and me didn’t know if you were going to be a boy or a girl. In the pictures the doctor took of you, you were all curled up in the shape of a peanut so we called you that.’

I smiled at the memory and remembered that I won the competition even though I got the worst brain freeze ever afterwards.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and jumped out of my skin.

‘Welcome back Mr Fisher!’ the teacher said as I opened my eyes, I must have fallen asleep!

‘Sorry miss!’ I offered and yawned.

‘Does my class bore you so much that you feel you can nap in it?’

The rest of the class laughed.

‘No miss.’

‘Do you know all the material already and feel that this class is too easy for you?’

‘No miss.’

I knew she was making a holy show of me so I wouldn’t do it again, but she didn’t have Ethan kick her all night and have to deal with an epic tantrum this morning! She didn’t know that I was now the head of my household clinging onto memories and hope that my mother would return.