Hazel's Hitchhiker

25: Hello Mother

Warning: Brief Physical Abuse

Joey

"Joey," my shocked mother began. "I didn't expect to see you here." Her eyes were on Hazel trying to figure out who she was. "And you brought a friend with you." She just stood there at the door looking confused. I suppose all three of us were confused. It made sense considering that nobody had actually prepared for this moment that nobody ever expected. In that quick moment, it had become apparent how much my mom aged since the last time we saw each other. She was no longer the young lady that I used to know.

"Yeah," I took the initiative to respond to my mom. "We're on our way to start school in Austin. Your address was on my phone and here we are."

Not knowing what to do, my mom just stood there with a smile and a scratch on her head.

"Hi, I'm Hazel." She lifted out her hand and the two of them shook on it.

With the awkwardness growing between the three of us, my mom decided to invite us in and had us sit in the living room while she went to the kitchen to make us lemonade. The two of us sat close to each other on the couch in complete silence waiting for the lemonade to make its way to the living room.

"Alright," began my mom with three glasses of lemonade on a tray. "Some nice homemade lemonade." The tray of drinks was placed on the table that laid between the couches. Hazel was the first one to take the drink and give it a sip.

Once we all had lemonade in our hands and had our first sip, my mom began to ask questions.

"So Joey, you said you're going to Austin? I'm assuming the two of you are going to The University of Texas at Austin?"

"Yes, I'm actually going on a basketball scholarship."

"Yes," she took a sip of her lemonade. "You were always athletic. Doesn't surprise me." Her sight went towards Hazel. "Are the two of you dating?"

Immediately, Hazel spit out the liquid that was in her mouth which wasn't much. "Uh, no," she quickly responded without hesitation. "We're just friends. I actually tutored your son in high school for a couple of years. If it weren't for me, he probably wouldn't have made it to Austin."

She just nodded her head in response taking yet another sip and put her sight towards me. "You did always struggle in school. I can't tell you the countless nights I argued with your father about getting you help."

The last thing I wanted to discuss was my dad which is where this conversation was likely to lead. Maybe we could discuss that later.

"So what have you been up to mom? Are you working?"

Her face lit up and stood up from the couch as she instructed us to follow her upstairs. We followed her upstairs into a random room which was filled with paintings. My mom was a painter? This was a side that I wasn't aware of at all.

"This is my painting room. I spend a lot of time up here painting as much as I can. You wouldn't believe the number of paintings I've been able to sell in the last three years. Can you believe there is an actual market for this kind of thing?"

It was surprising to see my own mother get lost in her own paintings. These paintings somehow made her seem alive. For a moment, it seemed like she forgot that we were there in the room. And it didn't take long for Hazel to get lost in one of the paintings. Wanting to see what Hazel was looking at, I stood next to her and checked out the large painting. It was a painting of a man. The first half of the man was painted light red with a lot of small images of happy things happening on that side. Some of the things included a baby being born and a wedding.

On the other side of the man, it was painted black. One of the images that caught my attention was an image of a beer can. Of course, other images included a crying lady and a confused-looking child. It quickly dawned on me that this was a painting of my own father. This painting showed the good parts of him and the bad parts of him. If there was one thing that was for sure if it was me doing the painting, the temptation to show all of the bad parts would've been all too real. It was clear that my own mom was confused when it came to this man. What the hell was the confusion? The confusion caused a quick forming fist.

It had been only twenty-four hours since my own mom had left me alone with my old man. Never had I ever dreaded a bus ride home so much. Going on that walk last night after she left, I didn't end up returning until about midnight. My return wasn't eventful as my pop was fast asleep on the couch with a couple of bottles of beer on the floor. The living room floor was about to become a mess as he never picked up after himself. Once I got home from school, my body stood at the door about to enter it. My arm began shaking and for a brief second, it seemed like my body was going to pass out.

"Where the hell have you been boy?" immediately asked my old man once my feet took a few steps inside the house. The guy sat on the couch with more beer cans piling up.

"Sorry dad, guess I was at school." Hopefully, I could get to my room in one piece.

"You damn well better be at school!" Standing up and with his grip, my body was thrown to the couch and landed on the floor. My forehead hit a beer can which created a cut and some bleeding. "If you end up like a bitch like your mom was, I'll put a damn bullet in your head! You hear me boy?"

My ears heard him loud and clear, but responding was hard with my body stuck to the floor. That didn't stop him from screaming into my eardrums commanding me to not become like my mom. He would not stop until I gave him the answer that he wanted to hear. At that moment, all I wanted to do was die.

"I won't run off like mom did."

That was quite a chapter! Hope you enjoyed meeting Joey's mom. Don't forget to comment and vote!

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