Mom’s Anatomy

It’s been five months since dad left with another woman. He doesn’t even call to see if we’re doing ok. But It’s fine. At least now we know the true colors of that piece of shit. But still, it’s almost unbelievable how 21 years of my life were spent with someone who couldn’t give less of a rat’s ass about us.

And since he’s proven he’s no longer a man and jumped ship, I had to move back with mom to help her make ends meet. But I guess that’s one of the few silver linings of all of this. I get to see her more and help her out both financially and emotionally. And that’s what’s most important. Especially since I have a sneaking suspicion that she’s still being affected. Not as severely as when it initially happened, but it’s still clear that she needs me.

“Mom, I’m home,” I call out as I walk into the house with groceries in my hands, “They didn’t have pineapples so I got you some mangos. I didn’t wanna come back without some vitamins so I grabbed the next best thing.”

No response. Weird. I walk out of the foyer into the living room and there she is, on the couch in her pajamas staring into the TV. She was always known to be too infatuated with her shows. I walk over to her and kiss her on her head, grabbing her attention.

“Mail’s here,” I say before walking in the kitchen to put everything up,

“Funny,” she responds, “You forget my pineapples?”

“Nope. In fact, they’re so offended that you thought I did, they turned into mangoes.”

“Aww. Well in that case, I apologize.”

“Nope. Deed’s been done. Plus, I have a feeling they’re into the mango life.”

“Well bully for them.”

I finish putting up the food and head back into the living room.

“So whatcha watchin’ anyway?” I question,

“Eh, just something that came up when I turned it on. It looked boring at first, but when I was about to turn it, it got interesting. So now I’m hooked.”

“Mind if I join?”

“Not at all, but there’s a few minutes left. Not sure what’s coming on after this.”

“That’s fine.”

I take a seat beside her, watching the last bit of whatever this is. But even with the snippet, I get what she means. This is interesting. I’ve gotta see if this comes on again.

But it ends and the next show comes up. As it goes on, I find that it really isn’t offering much.

Stale jokes, unnecessary laugh track, boring characters and plot, kinda disappointing. But as I’m stomaching the garbage before me, I feel some weight being applied to my shoulder. I look out of the corner of my eye to see that it’s mom’s head. She’s leaned against me and bunched up. Aww. It’s insane to think that just two decades ago, the tables were turned.

I subconsciously bring my arm behind her back, embracing her more and she accepts my embrace, wrapping her arm around me in response. She looks so comfortable. And she’s so warm and soft. I guess that should be expected from a mother, but this is different. I turn my attention back to the “show” and start blankly as the unamusing banters and dry plot. That is until mom starts giggling. Really? She actually finds this funny? But then she says,

“Havin’ fun there?”

I turn to ask what she means, only to discover that I’ve been rubbing her stomach this whole time. I immediately pull my hand away before saying,

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t me-”

She interrupts me by grabbing my hand and placing it back where it was.

“It’s fine,” she assures, “I didn’t say I didn’t like it. It’s actually nice.”

Odd. But ok. As long as she enjoys it. I start rubbing her stomach once again and she settles herself in the couch. This actually is kinda nice. I mean, removing the obvious weirdness of the gravity here, it is a bit soothing.

After a while, the show’s over. Thank God. And another show comes up. A few moments into it, I’m thoroughly confused. I guess it’s one of those shows where everything only makes sense if you watch the whole thing.