Traffic

Chapter Two

Two more days. Just two more days. I can wait two more days.

Kelly had put a small heart on her calendar for Friday in anticipation of seeing her crush.

If mom doesn't say 'yes' I am going to die.

Waiting until dinnertime to ask her mother so she would have witnesses, Kelly sat in angst. She barely touched her food and had a knot in her stomach, nervous, not about asking her mother, but about the answer she was almost positive she would give.

"What's the matter, squirt, you've barely touched your food. I made it special, just for you," Kelly's older sister, Francine said.

"Nothing," Kelly said, "Trace, can you pass the peas?"

"Pass the peas? Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Trace chuckled.

"Sweetheart, what is on your mind? Ever since you came inside, you've had this weird look on your face."

Kelly looked up from her plate and glanced at her siblings before her eyes rested on her mother, "I just want to ask you something, but I'm sure you'll say no."

"You don't know that for sure. Go ahead, ask me."

Drawing a deep breath, Kelly began, "So there's this guy, Tyler, who goes to school with Jessica and I think he's really cute, so today, Jessica made me go talk to him and he invited me to a party at his house on Friday and I'm sure you'll say no, but Jessica told me to ask anyway, just in case because she said you might not say no, but I thought you might and—"

"Kelly," her mother interrupted.

Kelly stopped talking and looked at her mother, trying to read the look on her face.

"I know Tyler's parents, they're good people. Plus, he's only a few houses down, so I know you'll be safe and I'll know where you are. I don't want to keep you from making new friends."

Kelly's eyes lit up, "Really?!"

"Yes."

Kelly looked to Trace and Francine, "You two are witnesses! She said yes!" She then jumped up from her seat and hugged her mom, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

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The rest of dinner was fairly quiet, and afterword, Francine asked Kelly upstairs to braid their hair and get ready for bed. As soon as the two were out of ear-shot, Trace turned to his mother, who was doing dishes, "Hey mom, can we talk?"

"Oh boy," she replied, "That's never a good sign. What's up?"

"Fred says she saw dad today..."

His mother put down the dish she was holding and looked at Trace, "What?"

Trace nodded, "She said she saw him at the store. Luckily, she had already clocked out, so her co-workers thought she was gone already, but he was asking for her and she panicked. I waited nearly twenty minutes for her to come out to the car and when she got in, she told me to drive quickly, then she told me."

Trace looked as his mother dried her hands, then rubbed her eyes, her breaths becoming shaky. He quickly intervened, "Mom, don't cry. Please. We'll figure this out, it doesn't have to be a problem—"

"I just don't understand why he wasn't in for longer. I knew his release date was coming up, but I didn't realize—he must have gotten out on good behavior. God that man could talk his way out of anything..."

"Don't cry, mom," Trace said again, rubbing her back gently, "I'll go to the police station tonight if you want me to, and we can figure out what to do about him. None of us want him to get to Kelly. Or Fred, for that matter..."