Paul McCartney Is My Teacher

Your Mother Should Know

"I'd better go find my mom." I stuttered, and a teary-eyed Ms Senneth nodded.

I went up the rickety staircase and they began to follow me.

"Step five-" I tried to warn Paul as his foot went through the stairs.

"Oh Winona, I'm sorry." He apologized, pulling his foot out of the stairs.

"That's fine, it's not like they weren't already broken." I laughed slightly. "You okay? I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"Quite fine, thank you." He answered.

It was unusually quiet. Even when my mother is asleep, she snores louder than my grandfather used to.

"Mom?" I called out. No response, not that I really expected one from the heaviest sleeper alive.

"Maybe she's asleep?" Ms Senneth suggested. I cleared my throat uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it..." We rounded the corner of the top of the stairs. The shaggy carpet sank with each step I took. We passed my room, the only clean room in the house. It's where my dog, Chita, stays. I have two cats as well- strays from the neighborhood, that I wanted to take in. I don't trust her being anywhere else, not in a house of this condition. I opened the door and like a bullet, Chita came rushing out, almost knocking me down.

"Hey girl." I grinned for the first time today as she licked my face and I scratched her soft ears.

"Is she a sheepdog?" Paul asked, crouching down to let her.

"Sheepdog Airedale Terrier mix." I answered. I looked up at Ms Senneth.

"I have two cats too, like you have Lulu-belle." I told her, referring to her cat.

"Oh, let me see them!" Ms Senneth said. It made me smile to hear her squeal over cats again- I'd missed that over the summer.

I pushed the door to my room open further and my eyes went directly to the eldest cat: there was Eeyore, sitting on the heater as always. A lazy old cat, he barely ever moved with the exception of eating and doing his business. However, he did like to cuddle.

I felt a swirling feeling and looking down I saw my more energetic cat at my feet. 

Her name was Canary, and she is the cutest kitten ever. Maybe I'm biased, but she is adorable. She likes to follow me and she gives me so much love, and, if I believe in that type of exposure, she could easily become one of those cat superstars that people with no lives idolize.

"That's Eeyore." I said, pointing to the fat cat as he relished the heat. "And this here, is Canary. Y'know, like in 'The Cat And The Canary'." She took a liking to Ms Senneth.

I turned around and turned the knob on my mothers door. The smell of alcohol and rotted miscellany emitted from the room and I almost gagged. But I pushed forward nonetheless- waking my mother was never a pleasant task.

She was lying on her bed, motionless. With both of my teachers trailing behind me, I approached the unconscious woman. But there was something wrong.

I felt her pulse- she wasn't breathing.