What My Mother Forgot

The Times My Mother Forgot: 8th Grade

My world was now a place of shifting custody schedules, new love interests for my parents, plus all the other fun things that accompany puberty.

And my parents refused to even speak to each other.

They would only relay messages to each other through us kids.

One weekend my Dad dropped us off, and Mother wasn't home.

She'd left a note on the fridge saying she went grocery shopping with her boyfriend and would be back soon.

But, drop-off time had been set strictly at her insistence.

However, my Brother and I were not disappointed to discover we had no parental supervision.

We went out.

Basically, we rode our bikes around and checked to see if our friends were home and whatnot until the streetlights came on. 

Surely she would be home by then.

At home, we tried to call a few times at the number she'd left, but she didn't answer.

We scavenged the cupboards and made ourselves something to eat before watching TV.

Then on the floor above us, in the kitchen, our dog started to bark, and we heard the screen door slam shut.

Someone was trying to break in.

We called our Dad and went down the street to a friend's house. 

My father made the half-hour trek back to pick us up.

We called and called her.

I knew she would be mad that we didn't wait for her.

It was night by the time we reached my Dad's. Eventually, he reached her, and livid, she came to pick us up.

"Why didn't you call me!" She screamed.

"We did. Multiple times. You didn't answer!" I said.

The rest of the way home, she screamed about how we should have just waited.

That we'd made up hearing someone attempt to break in, and that we were fine.