thing flew out the window. If she wanted a fight, we’d have a fight, and I’d win because I could point out the obvious flaws in her logic, like the part where The Sex with vampires was okay. Not that she brought that up right then, but I wasn’t ready to let it go yet.
“Oh, come on! I wasn’t that bad! And you should have told me about him before so I had time to process. You dumped him on me out of nowhere. I didn’t realize necrophilia was your thing.”
“SEE? That’s why I couldn’t tell you!” She stomped towards the steps, her fingers wrapping over the stair rail as she leaned forward. I walked backwards until my back pressed against the wall. I’d never seen my mom so mad before, and even though I was mad too, she freaked me out. She wouldn’t hurt me or anything, but no one stood next to a bubbling volcano without getting burned, and right then she was Mount Vesuvius on the cusp of blasting a big lava load.
“I couldn’t tell you because everything’s black and white with you. There’s no room for gray. Everyone’s an asshole, everything sucks, everything’s this way or that, never in between. Well, that’s not life, Margaret Jane. Nothing is ever absolutely one way or the other. Jeff’s a good guy.”
“He’s a vampire! He sucks blood to live! From living people! He’s a glorified leech, and he’s dead! ”
That was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes did a creepy bulging thing, and there was a sound reminiscent of a cat with its tail stuck in a door. I expected her to scream, but instead she turned around, went back to the TV, and adopted the beer/remote control rotation again. She dismissed my presence like I’d become a ghost. I stood there with my back to the wall, unsure of what to do. I’d done some amazingly stupid stuff in the past, but she’d never gotten this furious with me. A small, lizard part of my brain suggested I should apologize, but if I was too pissed off to think straight, the sorry wouldn’t mean much. Besides, someone should know what they’re apologizing for before they made amends.
I crawled up to my room, letting Mom do her seething anger thing. Hopefully, she’d be over it tomorrow. I’d have a crappy night’s sleep in the meanwhile, but maybe when we were both less wound up, we could talk. As I slid between the sheets, feeling lower than crap, I convinced myself that we’d find some common ground in the morning, this was a minor setback in the scheme of things.
Whoa, was I wrong.
M OM WAS GONE when I dragged my carcass out of bed. I stumbled through the living room, catching sight of the MF list hanging from the edge of her desk. It had today’s date on it and a circle around a two star goblin job in Hanson with the words ‘I’m here’ written in Janice’s hen-scratch. Apparently, she was mad enough to leave me behind on jobs I was more than qualified to handle.
“Shitty shit, shit!”
I wadded the list into a ball and threw it at the trash bin, missing by a mile not because of lack of skill, but because I have the motor function of a squirrel with brain damage in the mornings. It didn’t help that I was exhausted. My sleep was terrible, partially thanks to my mom problem, but also because I had nightmares about Allie’s leprechaun buddy all night. I dreamed he chased me around the house with a fireplace poker. It wasn’t conducive to proper rest and relaxation.
On the bright side, at least my shoulder didn’t hurt anymore. There was some tightness when I moved a certain way, but my answer to that was to not move that way again, problem solved.
I consoled myself with a bowl of Lucky Charms, saving all of the marshmallow bits for last. My second bowl was not because I was hungry, but because I figured if I ate so much I exploded my mother’d be sorry she left me behind. I was about to dig in, but a knock on the door interrupted my marshmallow heaven. Considering we were visited by precisely no one, I found it strange, but I
“Oh, come on! I wasn’t that bad! And you should have told me about him before so I had time to process. You dumped him on me out of nowhere. I didn’t realize necrophilia was your thing.”
“SEE? That’s why I couldn’t tell you!” She stomped towards the steps, her fingers wrapping over the stair rail as she leaned forward. I walked backwards until my back pressed against the wall. I’d never seen my mom so mad before, and even though I was mad too, she freaked me out. She wouldn’t hurt me or anything, but no one stood next to a bubbling volcano without getting burned, and right then she was Mount Vesuvius on the cusp of blasting a big lava load.
“I couldn’t tell you because everything’s black and white with you. There’s no room for gray. Everyone’s an asshole, everything sucks, everything’s this way or that, never in between. Well, that’s not life, Margaret Jane. Nothing is ever absolutely one way or the other. Jeff’s a good guy.”
“He’s a vampire! He sucks blood to live! From living people! He’s a glorified leech, and he’s dead! ”
That was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes did a creepy bulging thing, and there was a sound reminiscent of a cat with its tail stuck in a door. I expected her to scream, but instead she turned around, went back to the TV, and adopted the beer/remote control rotation again. She dismissed my presence like I’d become a ghost. I stood there with my back to the wall, unsure of what to do. I’d done some amazingly stupid stuff in the past, but she’d never gotten this furious with me. A small, lizard part of my brain suggested I should apologize, but if I was too pissed off to think straight, the sorry wouldn’t mean much. Besides, someone should know what they’re apologizing for before they made amends.
I crawled up to my room, letting Mom do her seething anger thing. Hopefully, she’d be over it tomorrow. I’d have a crappy night’s sleep in the meanwhile, but maybe when we were both less wound up, we could talk. As I slid between the sheets, feeling lower than crap, I convinced myself that we’d find some common ground in the morning, this was a minor setback in the scheme of things.
Whoa, was I wrong.
M OM WAS GONE when I dragged my carcass out of bed. I stumbled through the living room, catching sight of the MF list hanging from the edge of her desk. It had today’s date on it and a circle around a two star goblin job in Hanson with the words ‘I’m here’ written in Janice’s hen-scratch. Apparently, she was mad enough to leave me behind on jobs I was more than qualified to handle.
“Shitty shit, shit!”
I wadded the list into a ball and threw it at the trash bin, missing by a mile not because of lack of skill, but because I have the motor function of a squirrel with brain damage in the mornings. It didn’t help that I was exhausted. My sleep was terrible, partially thanks to my mom problem, but also because I had nightmares about Allie’s leprechaun buddy all night. I dreamed he chased me around the house with a fireplace poker. It wasn’t conducive to proper rest and relaxation.
On the bright side, at least my shoulder didn’t hurt anymore. There was some tightness when I moved a certain way, but my answer to that was to not move that way again, problem solved.
I consoled myself with a bowl of Lucky Charms, saving all of the marshmallow bits for last. My second bowl was not because I was hungry, but because I figured if I ate so much I exploded my mother’d be sorry she left me behind. I was about to dig in, but a knock on the door interrupted my marshmallow heaven. Considering we were visited by precisely no one, I found it strange, but I
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