"Hi Rory," she said with a stupid grin on her face as I walked in the front door. I stopped in my tracks, unable to believe that she was actually here, in front of me.
I slowly put my school bag on the floor.
"Hi..."
A couple months ago, my mother had called, telling us that she would be stopping by to visit us. She also told us that she had been in rehab & was clean for however long. She added that she was excited to see us & would be hoping to stay for a while. I vaguely remember the message. We deleted it right after listening to it.
Ray was standing off to the side, watching the floor. He wasn't the biggest fan of his sister, understandably. No man wants his prostitute of a sister dumping her accidental baby on him & then running off with only a 'hello', aka, 'ask-for-money', every several years. I had only ever talked to her once before, when I was seven years old. And that time, I had gotten my hopes up so high that I thought I might actually be able to live a normal, nice life with my mother once she came by 'next week' to spend time with me. Soon after though, it became apparent, after she never showed up, that she had no intention of wanting me, especially when Ray informed me that she had decided to go to Mexico to take a personal vacation from her crazy life of being a whore. That was when I began to have deep resentment toward my mother, leading me to become...less forgiving than my uncle.
"How are you?" she said with a cheeky grin as she walked over to me, arms raised, to give me a hug around the neck. "Look at YOU, my lord, what a handsome young man. You must have all the ladies after you at school, huh?"
"Nope," I said, rather sharply.
"Well, that's ok. Somebody will some day recognize how beautiful you are. Good looks must run in the family. At least, that's what dad always told me, huh Ray?" he turned her head to uncle Ray, giving off a pompous laugh.
"Yeah, it's like you made a LIVING off your looks," Ray said with a sarcastic tilt of his head.
My mother rolled her eyes & scoffed "Ugh. Not what I meant. Well that life of mine is OVER with anyway! I've been clean for almost two years now, can you believe that?"
"Not really."
She again ignored his comment.
"Well, you go off & do whatever. But be around later, dinner will be at 6:00. Home cooked. How's that sound?" she asked, cheekily.
"Dandy," I grumbled & went off to my room.
Later that evening after I had gotten some homework done, dinner finally came about. I was tempted to just leave. Really didn't feel like sticking around. But I was hungry & hey, maybe something entertaining will happen. What's the worst that could happen? She leaves? Ha.
When I got downstairs, I was actually surprised to see what was out on the table. Steak, with mashed potatoes & gravy, along with a giant bowl full of steaming biscuits that was next to a plate with five ears of buttered corn lying on it.
"Wash up sweetheart," I heard my mother say as she walked out of the kitchen. Excuse me?
"I'm good," I replied.
"Rory, please wash up," she looked at me. I looked back.
"I'm good," I said slower. She didn't seem to like my attitude. Ohhhhhhh well.
The three of us sat down at the table & began to eat.
"So, Rory, how's school going?" she asked. Was this woman SERIOUS?
"It's fine."
"Yeah? What classes are you-" she was cut off by Ray.
"Ok, cut the shit, will ya?! What are you doing here?" he said angrily.
"I don't know what you mean..."
"You know EXACTLY what I mean. Why are you here?"
"I want to make up for everything. All these years I've hated myself for not being a part of Rory's life," she said softly, looking over at me. "And I know that it won't be easy, but I really hope you'll forgive me & let me at least TRY to be a part of your life. If you can find it in your heart, that is."
Ray cut her off again. "That's what you said LAST time. And the time before THAT. You don't wanna be in his life. You keep leaving him here with me. How do you expect me to believe you."
"Because I'm staying," she exclaimed rather emotionally. She shook her head & rubbed her face with both hands. "Because...I plan on sticking around."
"Why, you need money?" Ray accused her again.
"NO DAMMIT, I DON'T NEED MONEY!"
A silence fell upon the table. As usual, I appreciated Ray's love for me by him repeating his dislike of having me to take care of. But I had to agree with him this time. The last few times she had 'poked in' were fake & ended up in her asking for a bit of money so I couldn't say my uncle was unjustified in his...mood.
"The bottom line," she said, lowering her head, "is that I'm staying for a while. I'll stay on the ouch, in the garage, on the roof if need be. But that's final."
She glanced at me shortly, hoping I had something to say. Nope. I had nothing to say to her. The three of us continued on eating in silence.
The mashed potatoes were horrible.
The next day at lunch, I had told my friends about the new potential living situation at my house.
"So is it permanent?" Rafik asked.
"No," I said.
"Oh. Well when is she leaving?"
I shrugged. "I dunno. I mean she claims that she's not gonna leave."
"Well then it IS permanent."
"No," I smirked & shook my head. "You don't know the woman. Granted, I don't either, but just as happened the other times, she won't keep her promise. She has no intention of sticking around. I'm telling you."
"Well is your uncle gonna let her stay?"
I shrugged.
"I hope not. I'm pretty sure she'll just make my life a zillion times worse than it already is."
"If she suddenly wanted to take you out of Ray's house & have you live with her, would you go? I mean, you're uncle isn't exactly a great guardian."
I hadn't thought about that. I wrinkled my forehead in thought & sat up.
"Gee, I didn't think of that. She's been absent all my life & he's abused me since I was little. Puh. Great options to choose from. Besides, I'm practically a legal adult by now so a custody battle would be the stupidest thing in the world."
"She's probably gonna wanna get to know you."
"I know..." I said in disgust. I had no intention of feeling the same way.
Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket. Taking it out, I looked to see who was texting me during school. I didn't recognize the number, but I looked at the new message anyway.
Hi Rory, it's me, mom. When you get home from school today, I need to talk to you, ok?
"Who is it?" Trent asked.
"It's...her," I said.
"How'd she get your number?"
I put my phone away. "I dunno but she wants to talk to me after school."
"About what?"
I shrugged & grabbed my book bag, slinging it over my shoulder. "Not sure. But I'm gonna find out."
"Right now? School's not over," Ally said. "You can't just leave."
"Watch me," I grinned.
As I walked away from them, I tried thinking about what she wanted to talk about. As I walked out of the building, I waited until I was out on the sidewalk to open my bag & pull out a small bottle of booze. If I was going to talk to HER, then I refused to be "all there."
God help me...
...for once.
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