[Dinner Party of Bliss 🍷]

mother?

Something slithers through the open door of my bedroom. I’m tucked under my blankets, holding a book I got tonight for my eighth birthday. It’s about monstrous mythological creatures. I have to stay frozen; what if it’s a monster which wants to trick me? I peek from under the blankets and hold my breath. The monster has the form of a woman. She’s middle aged and her curls are very messy. What if it’s Medusa? I think I saw her curls turning into nasty snakes that won’t hesitate to poison me.

I realize it’s just my mother with a glass of water. She’s sitting on my bed, her fingers caressing my forehead.

“Why aren’t you sleeping, Monten?”, she whispers.

“I just wanted to read this story. I’ll sleep soon, I promise”.

Her breath strokes my face and reminds me of how she hasn’t brushed her teeth for more days than she can pinpoint. Her old pajamas are suffering around her body, after having been with her through thick and thin. She never gets out of her pajamas, or her bed for that matter.

“It’s far too late for you, my prince. What if you can’t sleep again? Come on, take this for me.”

She gives me the glass, along with a pill, and places it in my hand. “This pill is too big,” I think, “but if it’s going to make me fall asleep faster, I’ll take it”. It slides down my throat. My mother kisses me goodnight and turns off the light.