Monday, April 25, 2016

say it ain't so


say it ain't so



"Are you, insane?" Carson didn't get it. They almost moved in with his Mom and her new family. But it was a crowded house. "Our place, is fine."

It was as if Brittany was playing with fire.

"I know. I..I just think..it would, you know, be like... a stay-cation." She was folding some of Theo's out grown clothes in a box, to give to Good Will.

"We, already, had one of those." Carson put his hands on his waist, thinking any other time, he would be hugging her and they might be kissing about now, in their own bedroom.

"For Mom." Brittany looked at him, as if they needed to do this for her mother. "She won't have to worry about Brick..or.."

"But..we will." Carson shook his head. What was Brittany trying to do to him?

"You'll see, you'll like it. Its-its a house. You, can grill. There's a big back yard for Theo." Brittany, seriously thought this was a great idea.

"But..but what about.. our bed?" Carson had finally gotten used to this bed with Brittany. Had she thought about those kind of things?

"Oh..and there's Dewey." Brittany smiled.

"Who's Dewey?" Carson hoped she was talking about a cat, but she wasn't. It was her little brother Dewey.


if it wasn't so



"Dewey?" Betty's voice was stuck. She didn't want to talk about her son Dewey, especially over the phone with Britany. It was as if she was suddenly coming down with something. She wanted to say he was in a safe place. A boy like Dewey wasn't safe here.

And she'd moved out this way, thinking there would be no trouble, like the inner city. Yes, of course, Dewey had enough sense to stay away from a gang, but that didn't mean, they weren't out to get you.

"He's in Boystown." She said it, as if he were in a movie.

"What did he do? Mom?" Brittany sounded so alarmed.

"He didn't do anything." Betty knew he was a good kid. But she couldn't be with him, all the time. He was a teenager, after all. Oh, if only she'd sent Tiffany to Boystown, at the first sign of trouble..maybe things would have been different.

Perhaps, it was a fact..she was a failure as a mother.

Betty set down on her sensitive bed, which wiggled at her weight.

Where did she start?

First, there was Carmen, the brightest of them all, with a full four year scholarship..who committed suicide. Oh, she was just so far away from home. All on her own.

Betty wanted to believe it wasn't her fault. It gave her a shiver, thinking about it.

"He just needed some guidance." But she'd put him there. She'd locked the boy out of the house when he didn't meet her impossible curfew. It was for his own good. She'd called the police on him.

Yes, these were things Brittany didn't know. It was like a secret game. Betty needed to see this threw. It was only going to help him.

But she hadn't always been nice to him. Not when things went so badly for Carmen. Maybe, that's when it started.

Yes, Carmen was on her mind a lot. And Betty had taken it out on Dewey.

Even, after all this time, the family was still falling apart. Bitter tears rose to the occasion. "He's fine." She kept insisting, but Brittany wanted to see him.

2 comments:

  1. So much heartbreak in this family. I wish Betty would learn the error of her ways.

    xx

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  2. Betty needs to be honest with Brittany... there will only be more problems otherwise...

    ReplyDelete