Heels of Shattered Glass
Marietta
When I was eleven years old, my dad was called to join the army to defend our country from foreign adversaries.
Unfortunately, he tragically passed away, and that left my mom all of his belongings, and me to raise as a widow.
For a few months she slugged around genuinely depressed and fully in mourning until one day, I woke up to music loudly playing from the small stereo in our living room. The sound of my mother singing to herself carries its way to my ears. Befuddled as I was by this sound, I couldn't help but be happy to hear the smile in her voice from the distance. I quickly rose from my bed and skipped to the bathroom to greet her. " why are you so excited Mom." I asked her in a teasing manner. When my dad passed away the military gave us a year of his pay for his service but of course, he wasn't making very much to begin with. After he passed my mom's drinking habit and retail therapy had all about drained it. Hence, we weren't exactly living lavishly. Her depression made her lose her will to clean but not her will to make a mess so if I don't clean up after her and myself constantly the entire house becomes a mess.
"I have a date tonight with a real classy man baby." She squeals as she powders her nose for a third time. " he works at a bank, he's a teller. He told me he's gonna take real good care of us 'okay. Take care of the house and tidy up while I'm gone in case he wants to come over here for a drink after our date. Can't have him thinking we aren't tidy girls." She slides a red. Stick over her lips and once satisfied with the hue, turns back to me with a "Goodbye sweetheart, I'll see you much later if the date goes well my love."
No idea what that means.
As I watch her walk out the door I come to the realization that I'm gonna have to clean the house by myself again for the millionth time, and this time to make matters worse- I have a time limit.
Sometimes I really miss my parents.
I know if my dad was here everything would be different
Maybe it's wrong to miss my mom while she's alive but it feels like part of her died with him and is buried in the ground somewhere.
At times I just feel so alone and I can't believe this is my life now and that everything that happened actually happened. Lost in thought I walked into our small hall closet and got to work with the broom and the dustpan.
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Since my dad passed my mom has probably been on twenty dates with 'real classy men' They don't seem to work though, it's definitely not because of my mom's lack of beauty as she needs no help there regardless of what she may think but more because after a while my mom can't stay consistent and they start noticing cracks in the facade.
The vacuum blares as I get lost in thought, walking the final unclean strip I turn the vacuum off as I hear my mom's keys go into the door and mumbling female and male voices against it. I rushed to put the vacuum away and into my room as quickly as possible.
The front door opens and footsteps start down the hall as I listen to muddled whispering between the two. Just as I reach to get my glass cup out of my dresser drawer to press against the wall, the whispering stops and her door closes.
Ahh well. Oh well. Bedtime it is for me.
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Two weeks later on a Sunday morning, I woke to the loud sound of trucks and my mother squealing out of our front door. Confused I get up to see what the commotion is about and am surprised to see my mother's "boyfriend" of two weeks and two little girls in a black convertible parked in front of our house along with an extremely noisy truck with the bigger word "MOVERS" on the side. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and looked at my mother even more confused.
"I feel like I'm missing something here," I uttered weakly in her direction.
"Oh, baby isn't it soooo exciting EEEE!!!" She jumped up and down " Hoover and his two daughters are gonna move in with us, and we're gonna be one big happy family. Haven't you always wanted sisters?" She laughs down at me.
Did I tell her I wanted sisters at a certain point? Yes, but I meant sisters that were her and my dad's kids, and no offense but these little girls look so snobby I'm honestly worried their gonna call me poor and tell me the ends of my hair are split (which they are). They're wearing matching outfits to the hair at anything above 9 that's super scary. Plus my mom let me watch that horror movie with the rooms and the twins the other day so I'm kind've traumatized.
Hoover gets out of the car as the movers drop the truck's back door open and commence to grabbing various pieces of furniture, as one group grabs furniture from the truck another group makes there way up the lawn past me into the house and starts grabbing furniture to take out, Herval moves from the driver's side of his car to the back seat and hold the door open for his possibly twin daughter's? The girls jump out of the car grabbing each other's hand's and begin to walk in toe with their daddy to our doorstep.
Did I actually wake up this morning? Maybe I'm still dreaming, none of any of this makes sense this has to be a nightmare.
I chuckle to myself having figured it all out and feeling calm now. Yep all of this is just a dream and I simply need to pinch myself to wake up. I squeeze my elbow with two fingers when i feel the sharp stinging sensation.
Oh no.
As the terrible three continue their advance up my driveway and into my life.
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You know what? I should try hoping for the best, this guy is obviously very interested in my mother moving in this quickly so maybe this will be like the movies where everything works out and the girl's life changes for the better and they all live happily ever after.
The girl's and Hoover made their way past the threshold and straight to the middle of our small but spacious living room, the girls plopped onto my couch as Herval walked to my mom and grabbed her for a kiss. In the midst of this movement, I made my way to the kitchen and peeked through the barn doors as I was getting nervous about everything going on.
After their moment of affection, my mom pulls away from Hoover looking for me. "Honey, where are you." She asked looking around the room. "I have some people I'd like for you to meet." She said with a syrup smile.
So the show begins.