look up from her paper and check the clock. She didn’t want to know how many minutes she had left before Eric came down and started talking about all the crap he had to deal with last night, how much he despised his boss, Tim Wheatley, who did nothing except walk around the campus with his clipboard, guzzling energy drinks and checking off tasks on his list. Eric’s morning grumpy was usually her cue to slip upstairs to begin the onerous task of rousing Josh from his vampiric slumber.
The boy was sixteen, hated school, hated mornings, loved his bed, and the twenty-minute ritual of asking, then telling, then ordering, then yelling at him to get up and get ready for school was without question the part of her day she dreaded most. Pretending to be asleep was step one. Step two was trying to hide under his pillows. Steps three through six were reserved for loathing, slander and violence. Occasionally he would throw a shoe at her standing there in his doorway, and more often than not would wind up swearing at her.
‘Lee-me the fuck alone!’ was one of his favorites.
‘Are you seriously this stupid?’ was another.
‘You don’t have to be such a bitch all the time,’ was somehow worse.
Yes, somehow. Somehow fifteen years had gone by and she still couldn’t find a moment to herself, except during the first hours of the morning, and the last hour of night, when dinner was done and she could putter around the house, listen to some music on her headphones, read a book, watch a movie, anything so long as it was private and in some way self-nurturing.
Geri loved her husband. Eric was a reliable partner, even after twenty-seven years. And God knew she loved her son, though Josh had become a young man-child-person who seemed less like her son than some invasive, messy stranger who rarely spoke a sentence not laced with profanity. Problems in school, fights, pot smoking, depression from breaking up with that awful Melanie, who’d done a real number on him, despite Geri’s warnings when she saw the emotional manipulation coming months before it started. Lately sports and girls were out. About the only thing Josh seemed to enjoy anymore was eating, scratching himself, watching unrated Korean movies, and of course sleeping in as late as possible.
Today was their last day of school, and she had half a mind to let him skip it altogether. But no, he could handle one more day. She wanted to stress the importance of finishing what you started. He could sleep in tomorrow and for the rest of the summer, at least until she convinced him to find a part-time job.
Geri looked up. 6:52.
She could hear a shower running upstairs, but she knew it was Eric, not the boy.
She should start knocking on Josh’s door now. Get the ball rolling so they wouldn’t be late for first period.
Geri had already showered and dressed, and applied what little make-up she needed to avoid looking to her students like the tired mother she was. She was dressed in her heather-brown twill pants, black ankle boots, and a cream blouse with a black cowl-neck sweater over it. She felt as ready for the day as she was going to get.
She carried her defib mug to the sink, rinsed it – thud thud … thud thud thud – and set it to dry on the rack. She shut the faucet off, cocking one ear.
What was that? She’d heard something while the faucet was running. Had someone knocked on the door? God, she hoped not. Who knocks on your door at seven in the morning? No one you wanted to speak with, that was for sure. She ignored it, hoping she had been mistaken. She went back to the kitchen table and raked up her paper, carrying it to the recycling bin.
Ding-dong .
Okay. The last time it had been a knock. Now they were ringing the bell.
‘Take a hint,’ Geri said, knowing they wouldn’t.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, she thought, though she hadn’t seen one of those in a long time and maybe things had gotten so bad out there, they’d given up, taken their gospels to the
The boy was sixteen, hated school, hated mornings, loved his bed, and the twenty-minute ritual of asking, then telling, then ordering, then yelling at him to get up and get ready for school was without question the part of her day she dreaded most. Pretending to be asleep was step one. Step two was trying to hide under his pillows. Steps three through six were reserved for loathing, slander and violence. Occasionally he would throw a shoe at her standing there in his doorway, and more often than not would wind up swearing at her.
‘Lee-me the fuck alone!’ was one of his favorites.
‘Are you seriously this stupid?’ was another.
‘You don’t have to be such a bitch all the time,’ was somehow worse.
Yes, somehow. Somehow fifteen years had gone by and she still couldn’t find a moment to herself, except during the first hours of the morning, and the last hour of night, when dinner was done and she could putter around the house, listen to some music on her headphones, read a book, watch a movie, anything so long as it was private and in some way self-nurturing.
Geri loved her husband. Eric was a reliable partner, even after twenty-seven years. And God knew she loved her son, though Josh had become a young man-child-person who seemed less like her son than some invasive, messy stranger who rarely spoke a sentence not laced with profanity. Problems in school, fights, pot smoking, depression from breaking up with that awful Melanie, who’d done a real number on him, despite Geri’s warnings when she saw the emotional manipulation coming months before it started. Lately sports and girls were out. About the only thing Josh seemed to enjoy anymore was eating, scratching himself, watching unrated Korean movies, and of course sleeping in as late as possible.
Today was their last day of school, and she had half a mind to let him skip it altogether. But no, he could handle one more day. She wanted to stress the importance of finishing what you started. He could sleep in tomorrow and for the rest of the summer, at least until she convinced him to find a part-time job.
Geri looked up. 6:52.
She could hear a shower running upstairs, but she knew it was Eric, not the boy.
She should start knocking on Josh’s door now. Get the ball rolling so they wouldn’t be late for first period.
Geri had already showered and dressed, and applied what little make-up she needed to avoid looking to her students like the tired mother she was. She was dressed in her heather-brown twill pants, black ankle boots, and a cream blouse with a black cowl-neck sweater over it. She felt as ready for the day as she was going to get.
She carried her defib mug to the sink, rinsed it – thud thud … thud thud thud – and set it to dry on the rack. She shut the faucet off, cocking one ear.
What was that? She’d heard something while the faucet was running. Had someone knocked on the door? God, she hoped not. Who knocks on your door at seven in the morning? No one you wanted to speak with, that was for sure. She ignored it, hoping she had been mistaken. She went back to the kitchen table and raked up her paper, carrying it to the recycling bin.
Ding-dong .
Okay. The last time it had been a knock. Now they were ringing the bell.
‘Take a hint,’ Geri said, knowing they wouldn’t.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, she thought, though she hadn’t seen one of those in a long time and maybe things had gotten so bad out there, they’d given up, taken their gospels to the
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