Single Mom // Michael Clifford.

2.

"Yes, mom!" I kept saying on the phone, "I'm just preparing her tiffin,"

"No, mom. I'm not giving her something unhealthy. I'm giving her vegetable sandwich,"

"Mom, I've taught her how to eat a sandwich, recently. No, she won't make a mess. I'm not stuffing too many vegetables in it,"

"Mom, I don't mean I'm not giving her enough of vegetables, I'm giving her enough for her appetite,"

"Yeah, mom. Okay, bye. Love you, too. Yes, I'll tell Annora that her grandma wished her goodluck. Okay, mom. Yes. Yeah, okay. Alright. Yes, I'm gonna pick her up. Yes, I'm giving her a full bottle for water. I was just going to give boiled eggs for breakfast. No, mom. Nooo, I haven't boiled them yet, I was preparing her sandwich. It'll just take two minutes. Bye, mom."

I took a deep breath and disconnected the call. Well, that was one hell of a phone call. Everyone was so protective about Annora that I had to be the one who got all lectures on parenting. By everyone I mean Elinda and my mom. You should see the get together meetings of me, my daughter, my mom and Elinda. Its like a lets bitch about how bad of a mom Selita is. It didn't bother me, though, because I know that they only mean good for me and the fact that there were people who would be there for Annora no matter what just really made me happy.

"Annora!" I called out of the kitchen to wake her up as I set two eggs to boil.

"Annora, c'mon, wake up, honey!" I called out again as I filled water in her little bottle as I hear the washing machine beeping indicating that the clothes have been washed. As I was about to put on the cap on the bottle, I heard Annora cry from her room. I dropped the bottle and ran into the room to see that Annora fell from the bed. Stupid me. I should have gone and woken her up. I picked her up and hugged her close to me.

"Mommy, my head hurts," she cried.

"Mommy is so sorry, Nora," I replied kissing her forehead.

"I don't want to go to school," she cried harder.

"C'mon, honey, you are a strong girl, right? School is good, you'll learn new things," I tried convincing her.

"Okay, mommy, only if you say so. I don't want to leave you," she said in a small voice.

"Its a matter of three hours, Nora," I sighed, "C'mon lets get dressed for school!" I cheered up, trying to get her a enthusiastic about the entire situation.

"Mommy, there's water everywhere," Annora spoke as we got out of the bedroom.

"Shit," I muttered, "Fuck, oh god, I should have switched off the washing machine!" I was panicking.

"Mommy, don't say those bad words," Annora whined. 

"Sorry," I mumbled.

I set her down on the bathroom and give her the toothbrush and stepped out of the bathroom and mopped the floor. I wish I did not snooze my alarm clock for 15 minutes. I could have really used those fifteen minutes to save a life. I ran in the kitchen and got the boiled eggs out and prepared breakfast in like 2 minutes, I was the worst mom ever. I looked over at my phone and saw that there were just 25 minutes, I did not want Annora to be late on the FIRST day of school, the only person who could save me right now was Elinda. I called her in a hurry as I heard Annora calling me from the bathroom.

"Hello, Elinda, morning," I said, anxiously.

"Mommy, I don't wanna go to school," Annora was still whining about it.

"Asshole, why would you wake me up so early?" Elinda was whining too.

"Annora, school is good. You're a good girl, aren't you?" I looked at Annora, pleading her to go to school.

"Mommy, school means staying away from you and waking up early," she made a sad face.

"Elinda, can you please take you rich boyfriend's car and come over to my place? I'm running late and I want to drop Nora to school," I explained, "Annora, in three hours you'll be home. It won't be that bad, c'mon, now please remove your clothes and get in the bathtub," I instructed Annora.

"You had one job," Elinda muttered on the phone, "why are you using my boyfriend?"

"I'm not using your boyfriend, I'm using his car," I replied, "Annora! Don't splash water everywhere,"

"Mommy, what does boyfriend mean?" Annora asked me.

"Elinda aunt will tell you what it means, now please just stop spalshing water on me and stop playing with the bubbles! Just take a normal bath, once!" I sighed, "Elinda, please? PLEASE?" I spoke on the phone.

"Alright, alright, I'll be there in 5," Elinda sighed, "I was really cuddled against Luke right now,"

"You can cuddle Luke any time you want, just be here now," I replied.

"My head still hurts from falling!" Anora spoke.

"Head hurts? Falling?" Suddenly Elinda was awake as ever.

"She fell from the bed while waking up today," I explained, "Annora, I bet it will be fine in some time," 

What an asshole mother,  you are, didn't you set pillows at the end of the bed? Why couldn't you sit next to her and wake her up? Who wakes their 4 year old daughter from the kitchen? The lecture was on and on from Elinda. 

I held Annora in one hand as I wrapped her with a towel like a burrito and set her on the bed as I took the phone on my ear again,  "hey, you can give me lectures on bad parenting in the car, can you just come here first?" I told Elinda.

"Fine, I'm almost there," she replied and hung up the phone.

I readied Annora and served her the boiled eggs and while she was eating I combed her hair and grabbed her bag with tiffin, bottle and a few poem textbooks. I held her up and wiped her face, holding her in one hand and her bag on the other, I walked out of the house, shutting the door behind me and waiting out for Elinda.

She arrived after 2 minutes and I was thankful to God that I had a friend who would always turn up when I needed her. I sat in the car with Annora on my lap and sighed in relief, "Thank you so much," I muttered.

"Its no problem, but, if Annora falls out of bed again, I'm going to kill you," Elinda replied. 

Elinda was average heightened , tanned, brunette and thin. She was 22, too. We have been friends since school and I was really lucky to have her in my life.

"I'm sorry!" I replied in defence, "Mom took half an hour on the phone! Everything was a mess,"

"Hiiii Elinda auntie," Annora giggled, "you look so tired,"

"I know, baby," Elinda replied to Annora, "your mom woke me up in a hurry,"

"Mommy woke me up in a hurry too, my head still hurts," Annora whined.

"Hey, you did not fall that bad," I sighed.

Annora stood up on my lap and kissed my cheek, "I'm just kidding, mommy,"

"Sel, you have to meet my boyfriend," Elinda reminded me, "its been two weeks since I've been asking you to,"

"I'm sorry, I just lost my job and its all been such a mess, but yeah... your boyfriend. He's totally going to hate me," I replied.

"What is a boyfriend?" Annora asked again, sitting back on my lap.

"Um... he won't hate you. He's heard so much about you, he really wants to meet you," Elinda replied, "And when a boy is your friend... they're called boyfriends," Elinda answered Annora.

"Really? That's your explanation?" I rolled my eyes, "Fine, we can meet for lunch?" I asked.

"Yes!" Elinda and Annora replied together, "I'm gonna have lunch with my baby," Elinda stopped the car near the school and picked up Annora, hugging the life out of her.

"Yay!" Annora cheered, "Mommy, I'll go to school now,"

I just smiled and got out of the car, too, and took Annora in my arm and pecked her cheeks, "have fun, okay?"

"Okay," Annora smiled, "I love you, mommy," she kissed my cheek too.

"Love you too, baby,"