Suzie’s House 433 : We Can Do What We Want Now

When Emma walked into the living room, she almost tripped over a pair of white orthopedic shoes – the kind her mother wore to work. A pair of hospital uniform pants lay over the back of the couch. The matching top lay on the floor by the hallway leading to the bedrooms. As Emma closed the front door, her nearly nude mother walked by with a shirt half way up her arms.

“Mother!” Emma couldn’t help being shocked. Her mother never, ever did anything like that.

“Oh! Emma.” She clutched the shirt to her chest and did a little joggy thing to get behind a wall. “I didn’t know you were home.”

“I… I just got here.”

“Were you at band practice?” Her mother talked from behind the makeshift shelter of her wall.

“Yes. Mother, what… why did you…” Emma couldn’t come up with the right way to say it. It wasn’t so much seeing someone in their underwear that got to her. It was the shock of how much her mother had changed.

“I was just so tired when I got home, and… I don’t know. I didn’t think it would matter.” Her voice moved around, becoming louder and quieter along with the rustling of fabric.

“But you always said… You said ‘a place for everything and everything in it’s place’ didn’t you?”

“No, Honey. That was your father.” Her mother came out in jeans and a knit shirt. “But he isn’t here now. Right?” Her attitude was down right lackadaisical.

“So what? We can do anything we want now?”

“But isn’t this all right? I mean, why do we have to keep living the way we used to? When it’s just the two of us, we have a chance to do what we want, don’t we? Or do you want your brother back?” She put a little extra bite in those last words.

“No, well. Um… I guess it’s all right. I kind of miss Dad. But yeah. This is all right. Anyway, what’s for dinner?”

“Your favorite. Chicken pot pie.”

Frozen food again? Emma got the feeling her mother had changed too much.

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