Beyond Revenge

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Catherine stood looking through her closet for the best clothes. She planned to be gone 3 days if she didn’t find a job on the first day.

She opted for a pair of black trousers and a ruffled hot pink blouse. A pair of high heels and her make-up bag to polish off her look. She’d come to learn that first impression was the most important of them all. Keeping that impression professional was what she wanted.

She threw in a couple more clothes and zipped her suitcase closed. Taking out her wallet she realized she had enough money to pay the gas, hotel for 2 nights and her food. She dismissed the temptation of hitting any shopping malls. She left two hundred dollars in one of the kitchen drawers and stuffed the rest back in her wallet and some change in her pockets.

she walked outside where her vehicle was parked and threw her small suitcase inside. Then she walked over to the neighbors to kiss her boy good-bye.

“ Bring me something, Mommy” Jason said when she headed back to the vehicle.

“ Sure hon” she replied. She didn’t have the money to buy anything but she would give him anything he asked for. She’d scrape the money wherever she could, to give him the best. He was her life. She couldn’t understand how any mom could deny anything to their children. She would work harder and longer days if she had to, to see him smiling and happy.

“ You will spoil Jason” her mom had told her many times “ you try to give him the best education that’s all he needs besides a clothing and a full stomach” she’d repeat over and over.

“ Mom I won’t just give him ‘anything’ like you gave me. I always envied the other girls in school. They wore nice clothes. They never wore the same clothes over and over like I had to. You know how I felt mom? I felt cheap. I don’t want him to feel that way ever and I’ll do whatever it takes to give him the best and more. He’s smart and he’ll know the right way always mom” she replied.

“ Catherine I never gave you all the unnecessary luxury you wanted but you had all you needed” she said in a tone that screamed she was hurt by her daughters’ words “ your dad always worked hard to give you food and good education, which you didn’t appreciate when you zoomed out of your home with that boy that left you” she finished in an upset tone letting the tears roll down her already sagged cheeks.

Catherine thought of her mom’s words while she drove through the mountains on her way to the city. She opened the window and the chilly breeze of the mountains enveloped her. The sun was seeping through the trees beside the road. She liked driving this road because it was refreshing to her mind, soul and to her nostrils. The smell of green pine trees was soothing.

Maybe her mom was right. She’d given Jason only nice clothes and he attended the best school but she also made sure he got disciplined. Taught him how to be a gentleman always.

Jason was of two extremes. He had an explosive nature that he couldn’t control sometimes. And he also mastered a caring and loving personality that he must’ve inherited from Catherine. He was a combination of both his parents with a little more. He was eccentric. Catherine should’ve worked harder on humbling him a little but she wanted him to always hold his head up high and never be ashamed of himself for not having a father with him. She’d wanted him to be exactly who he was---even though sometimes she couldn’t handle the explosiveness that erupted out of him.

At last she arrived the city. She was exhausted. She’d have to buy a hotel room right away and freshen up before going into any store.

She stopped at a red light while she listened to a country song. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel in rhythm with the music.