Picture Picture

Chapter 5: Flip side!

5

Flip side!

“Ma, would you please lower the volume down?” Nicky asked the nth time. But her mother still wouldn’t fully oblige. She’d lower the volume a few notches then raised it again after a few minutes. It was Thursday night, and she was working on an essay that needed to be passed the next day. She was at the kitchen area, at the dining table, while her mother was right across her, lying down on the small old torn sofa that faced the television.

“Ma!” Nicky called again.

“Oh, it’s not that loud,” her mother replied.

“It is. And I can’t concentrate,” she complained.

“Why don’t you take your mind off that for a while and join me here. It’s Gossip Girl, now.”

Nicky drew out a small grunt. “Well, I should get this done. And I’m not that much of a fan of that show,” she sighed. “You’re probably the only mother in the world who encourages her daughter to leave her assignment and watch TV on a class night.”

“I just think you need to relax for a while, Nic. You looked so stressed for a sixteen-year old. You should not beat yourself up, you know.”

“I got deadlines to catch, ma.

Even though Linda, Nicky’s mother, was working only as a clerk at the Municipal office, she still could afford cable. They had not that much bills to pay, except for the electricity, water and a few debts. Besides, she still wouldn’t worry too much because Nicky’s sibs were still small. She’d been saving money for all her kids’ college education, though, but she was confident Nicky could get a full scholarship for college in either UP or other prestigious universities. Nicky had applied for CHED and DOST scholarships as well.

Now Nicky’s mom was a couch potato, and it sometimes made Nicky wonder why it didn’t rub on her that much. She felt lucky she wasn’t the type to hog the TV set all day, though. But this difference between her and her mom made Nicky realized of other qualities and attributes her mom had that she couldn’t see in herself. For one thing, her mom was beautiful, soft-spoken, relaxed, laid-back and carefree. It frustrated her why she couldn’t be at least any one of these things. Her mom would often say you’re just like your father.

Nicky hadn’t met her father to confirm if what her mother said was even true. She barely knew the guy except that he died from a shipwreck. Her mother wouldn’t say much about it despite Nicky’s persistent questions. After almost ten years, Linda met another man, but after a year of relationship he had gone abroad, and she had not heard anything from him, since then. He left her with Dexter. She soon discovered he already had another family. Nicky remembered this guy.  She didn’t really like him because he smoke and drank. A couple of years after, Linda met another man, and not later she bore Jenny. But unfortunately, the man also left her, this time, for a younger woman. He left without knowing they had a daughter together. Linda didn’t bother to tell him. Nicky also remembered this man. He was rather okay-looking and rich. But she also didn’t like him. She wondered if maybe, she wouldn’t like her father, either, had she met him. She hadn’t liked any of her mom’s boyfriends, and she felt relieved and somewhat happy her mom had not had any for the last two years. She hadn’t heard of any suitors, too. She didn’t want another man coming in and going out of their house. She didn’t like the meaningful glances and the wild chatters the whole neighborhood threw in about her mom. She didn’t like the way Aunt Gracia, their next-door neighbor, who was not really a relative but whom she called aunt to show respect, sneer and talk to her mom in an undermining manner. 

“Blaire is such a doll,” Her mother suddenly said. “She’s really fun to watch.”

Nicky sighed as she continued working on her assignment.