Mud & Kale

Meet the Hippies

"Pass the rice, honey."

I slid it toward Mom. "Pass not slide, Maude."

"Sorry, Mom."

Mom scooped some more rice into her plate before sliding it back to the middle of the table. 

Hypocrite.

"So, how was work?"

"Nice."

My parents looked at me, while my little bro continued to shove peas down his throat.

"What?" I asked, slightly exasperated.

Dad tugged at his beard which was almost to his pot belly. The man was so close to becoming Santa Claus. Except, he was vegan, so no milk and cookies for him. 

"You really thought it was nice?" He finally grunted.

"Well, it was pretty shitty-"

"Honey, remember foul language is a no-no, especially around Toby," Mom hissed. "He's still my precious baby, and I'd like that for a while longer."

"Mom, I'm not a baby. I'm five," my brother protested, causing the pea mush in his chubby mouth to be in full display.

Mom proceeded to pet his messy lot of hair like a damn puppy choking up roadkill. Hey, I wasn't much of a potty mouth, but I liked to keep Mom on her toes and I knew cursing irked her. Despite being a free spirit back in the day, her mouth wasn't so loose. The only time I ever heard her curse was when she was pushing out that little bugger.

"Then what the hell am I to you, Mother?" She threw me a glare that I had already anticipated.

"Okay, sorry, I'll just continue then. So yeah, the day overall was pretty stupid with all these tween wannabes trying to get their fix of Beatles merch. Gosh, they probably only know Paul McCartney and John Lennon. And to top it off, this one Barbie stepped her preppy, little foot into the shop. You could tell that she was clueless, so I quickly directed her to Pop. Although, she left before she could add another Backstreet Boy album to her collection."

"Oh dear, when does it get better?" Mom asked, on the verge of annoyance. She had heard the complaining part so many times that I'm surprised her ears hadn't already started to bleed.

"Well, this girl came up to the store at the last minute." I shoved some rice into my mouth. My stupid face was probably turning beet red.

"Oh!" Mom exclaimed. Dad stopped shoving food in his own mouth.

"Yeah, she made the day a lot better. Her name's Kayla."  

I trained my eyes toward my plate, not wanting to come in contact with their questioning faces. I don't like talking about stuff like this. I mean it was hard enough to explain to them that I liked girls back in sophomore year. Yeah, they're accepting and supporting. I just don't like to divulge about who or what I like. I still don't. What can I say, the spotlight's not for me.

"So, that's who you were chatting with?"

I looked at Dad.

"Yeah, chickadee, I heard you and Kayla talking while I was in the back. I mean, I couldn't hear what you guys were saying, but I heard some laughter," he teased.

I bit my lip, wishing we would talk about something else. 

Why did I even bring it up?

When they realized that I wouldn't divulge, Mom picked things up. She was always doing that. Dad and I preferred the silence, while Toby and her just chatted about practically nothing.