“Stop that”, said his mom.
“Stop what”, asked Jack as he smoked his blueberry scented cigarettes.
“Stop smoking”
Her mouth was inhaling the smoke that engulfed his room. She sat there at his study table where he had stuffed all his drugs in the drawers. Furiously, she screamed at him with her dark colored lips and pointed at him with the only finger left on her left hand. She was disappointed at him because of the drugs that lay in his desk with a needle to the side. With concern, she began to ask him “Why”.
“I don’t know”, said Jack, five feet tall.
He weighed only 112 pounds and sat there making no effort to move anywhere. He was mad at his mom for sneaking through his stuff and yelling at his cool habit of using drugs. His mom already knew that his dad had done the same and had never stopped until she divorced him. Then after that Jack’s hatred came through as he yelled back, figuratively beating his mother’s heart to a pulp with his abusive language.
“Look woman”, said Jack, “you can never tell me what to do with your butt lying around here with all those damn wine coolers.”
As his mom tried to explain to him that she was trying to stop. He continued by saying “whatever”
“Not only are you drunk, but you go out with strangers every night. Man, you are as addicted to that lifestyle as I am to mine. So, don’t you ever judge me or tell me what to do”, said Jack.
He then thought, there is no reason for her to be in my room, so he yelled “Get out” and pushed her body aggressively to the ground right outside the door as it slammed.
There she wept right at the door knowing that what her son said was the truth, the ugly satisfying truth. Yes, she is an alcoholic and still prostituted on the corners of the New York Junction, but she tried to set an example for her son by hiding her lifestyle, however, somehow her secret had eventually come out.
As she stayed there at the doorway and thought about her decision, she began to believe that it was the only source of income for her family. She had to live this dark dream of prostitution or else they would starve to death. Plus, she thought it was good pay, better than minimum wage no matter the consequences. At that moment, she got up, went to her room, and went to sleep knowing that in the back of her mind that for her son to change, she must be willing to do the same.