The Weakness in Me by Josie Leigh Page B

evening. Slowly, he stalked through his kitchen and living room, through the hallway and finally seeing a familiar figure hunched over his dresser. Her long blonde ponytail was glittered with grays, and she wore a floor length broom skirt and a brightly colored vest over a white t-shirt.
    “Mom, what are you doing here?” Jason growled , immediately suspicious of her presence.
    “Well, I figured I’d help with you with your laundry, since you’re always at her house,” Jamie answered, depositing rolls of clean socks into the drawer.
    “That key is for emergencies only, mom. Besides, I can do my own laundry, I’m nearly twenty-seven, not five,” Jason moved in front of his mother, blocking her access to his sock drawer. “You need to stay out of my dresser,” he said, coolly.
    “Why? Afraid I’ll find this?” she asked, holding up the small, white leather jewelry box. “Why do you still have this? I thought you sold it years ago.” She dangled the box away from her body as if it were diseased.
    “That’s none of your business, mother,” Jason sneered, snatching the box from her hand and shoving it into the pocket of his green cargo pants , before catching a whiff of something on the air in his bedroom. “What smells like garlic and ass?”
    “It’s this new salve treatment Sven gave me f or my femur issues,” Jamie said, as if it was important to him to know this information. “And it’s garlic and patchouli, Jason, no need to be rude,” she tsked.
    “OH! Did Sven say why the last one didn’t work?” Jason raised an eyebrow.
    “ You know that I found him not long after you ‘reconnected’ with your ex-hussy,” she started, putting reconnected in finger quotes. “He says her lotion is throwing me out of whack. You always smell like her now, since you are constantly with her,” she rolled her eyes. “Sven says that’s why your spleen is so out of balance now,” Jamie folded her arms on her chest leaning against his closet door, shooting him a smug look.
    “I see,” Jason bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the notion that the Swedish Rastafarian healer his mother found on Craigslist had any idea what he was talking about and wasn’t trying to scam her. “So Sven says I smell like Sammy’s vanilla shampoo ? And I have an unbalanced spleen ?” Turning away, he tried to get his burst of laughter under control again, his shoulders shaking from restraint.
    “Stop that! ” she screeched, pushing him in the back. “I’m serious!” she growled. “He said to put some persimmon fibers in your shoes and it will help. They are only eighty for a pack of seven, or one hundred for an eight pack. I’m happy to get them from him for you,” she sighed. “Of course, you could just stop spending time with her and her bratty little clone,” his mom offered.
    “ That’s not possible! Besides, Corigan looks more like Caleb than Sammy,” Jason protested, knowing after last night, he wasn’t going anywhere.
    “If you ask me, ” his mom started again, even though he hadn’t asked her. “I think she caused that whole thing so you’d have to come back to her. She’s always been trying to take you away from me,” she huffed. “Ever since she was five, you’ve always wanted to spend more time with her than your own mother,” Jamie shot him her ridiculous ‘woe-is-me’ look. The appearance of this look signified her desire to play the victim in all of this and it broke the last of his resolve to get along with her until she decided to leave for the day.
    “That is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said, mother,” Jason seethed with anger at his mother’s words and stormed out of his bedroom toward the front door, yelling over his shoulder. Forcing himself to unclench his fists and jaw before he continued was not a simple task. He paced his living room, trying to calm down. Yet, finally, the words he was fighting to suppress spilled out of his mouth, “Sammy planned