Only Me

It was one of those days. You know, the kind where it is 5 p.m. and the 2mm of film on your teeth reminds you that you have not brushed your teeth yet. You feel the grime, and you can taste it a little if you concentrate, but you decide to wait 'til bedtime to brush. Liam was being a pill. He refused to say anything but "eeeh, eeeh, eeeh" all day long and in varying bursts of sound. I had a headache, a lower backache, an IT band ache, and yes, a butt-ache as well (don't ask unless you want an interesting account of fissures and Botox).

My car was in the shop. I was waiting for my mom to pick up Liam and graciously hand me her car keys so I could in turn drive to Corvallis for Melida and her kids. She was late. Then later. Liam was pulling on me to leave. I was calling her phone and getting voice mail, over and over and over again.

Finally I hear her car honk. "We're going, Liam!" I shout as I spring up from my squalor and grab him. I run out onto the front porch and wave. "I'm coming, just let me grab my shoes!" Liam haphazardly steps off the porch towards the Honda. But, as if playing a cruel joke in which I am left without a date for the prom at the last moment, my mom speeds off and heads up the hill for the house (yes, I live at the bottom of my parent's hill).

It was more than I could handle. The canker sores in my mouth prevented me from fully shouting my concern over being stranded, and instead I managed to let out a pubescent whine of a call " Mom! Mom!" I cried "You can't leave, I DON'T HAVE A CAR! I DON'T HAVE A CAR!" I pound my feet on the ground for emphasis. She didn't hear or notice and continued to drive away...

As I turn around to fetch my child and cower back into the house, I notice I have an audience.

Anna, Antonio, Carlos, Anna's cousin, and Lupe. They are staring up at me from the garden 15 feet away. Concerned and probably confused. Only their children, Carlos and Lupe speak complete English. From where they stood, they could not see my mother's speeding car. I was the lunatic shouting and crying on the porch. I wave and walk into the house.

Minutes later, as I walk back outside for my mom's hoped for re-arrival, I see Lupe swinging on Liam's swing.

"Hi Lupe." I say, keeping my eyes on Liam.

"Why don't you have a car?" She asks.