Head Over Wheels

7- ULISSES

"Ulisses, are you going to sleep all day? Don't you have practice? How can you sleep in this mess?"

Sometimes I think I should record this line and save it as my alarm ringtone. But since she would just say that every day, punctually, at 10 AM, I figured I might as well let her dulcet tones wake me up instead and save memory.

"Practice is not until three" I yelled back at her. "Please don't... ugh" I yelled as she opened the drapes and let the blinding sun in. I let out a frustrated groan.

"And you think you're sleeping until lunch time? I need you to start sorting out the things you want to give away, and what you are bringing with you. And, baby, you have to figure out the Aquiles situation."

I looked at my phone screen. One message from Bia. That one I would have to read in private.

"Mother! Do you mind?" I said, holding the silicone liner for my stub.

"Aren't you showering first? You know this is not the waterproof one" she said, eyeing the leg charging."

"As soon as you leave. Please."

"Ok, Ok. I'm leaving. It's not like you are naked. Time to buy new Pjs, by the way.

I was wearing plaid pajama shorts. And they weren't that old!

"Since you are leaving, could you please get me the mechanic one, please? And the pad?"

She rolled her eyes, but walked to the door and picked it up.

"I think I left the pad in the bathroom last night."

"Lazy much? You need to have these things within reach." She yelled from the bathroom. "I wonder what the people in your skating school and your tough friends would say if they knew you're asking me to pick up after you. "You'd probably be... cancelled. is that what the people your age say?

"Thank you!" I gave her my best smile as I picked it up.

I got the leg with the blue plate, my very first. At the time, I had chosen a customized one in grafitti. It was a little worse for wear, with some scratches and not as shiny as it used to be. I put I put it on my stub, over the liner. Then the pad, which I vaccum sealed. oThe ritual got easier with time.

"Need anything else?"

"No, mom, thank you."

I let out a sigh of relief as she started to walk out the door, but again, she stopped by the bannister. "Have you decided what you are going to do? I don't mean to nag, but we really need to figure out what to do with the dog."

I lifted my head.

"What do you mean 'the dog'? How cold can you be, mom? We can't just leave him behind! He is not a toy do dispose of!"

It was her turn to let out a frustrated sigh and sit on the chair by my bureau. I felt a little guilty for giving her a hard time. She was still young and fit, at forty years old. She was way too shy to wear revealing clothes. But the dark circles under her eyes were apparent, and she looked so much skinnier these days, her nurse uniform looked loose on her waist. We had the same jet black, wavy hair, and similar mouth. For all the times I heard people mention that I was my father's son as a skater, I felt kind of proud to at least look like my mother.

"We've been through it, Ulisses. Where would we put him? We can't bring him to Belo Horizonte. The apartment we'll be staying in is tiny, there will be barely room for the two of us. That is, if you are coming with me." she said, pointedly. "And Aquiles is a full-grown pitbull. He is too big and too energetic to be confined to an apartment. I won't be able to stay with him, or walk him. And, if you come with me, you will be out all day, in school.