Friendship of a Blue Jay

Chapter 5: Image of Mr. Smith (flashback)

It was a warm breezy day as the Smith's (all except Ms. Smith) were in the car strolling down the street. Windows were open and Mia's hair was plastered behind her face in a blown out motion. The car rolled over gravel and it made a loud popping sound.

The house looked strangely picturesque today. Maybe because everybody was so happy after the family camping trip. Mr. Smith had let all the children choose a treat from the grocery store and he had bought himself a pack of beer. Everybody was still smiling but suddenly Mia's disappeared as she glanced over at the alcohol. Her mother would be upset.

She could just smell a fight coming up.

The car stopped and they walked in. Ms. Smith was grinning and as she started to unpack the groceries and her's also disappeared suddenly.

"Um, Martin....why did you buy this again?" she mumbled.

"Look honey its ok, I'm not going to do anything like I used to." He said defensively.

No, No, No, Mia thought, please not this again. Mia could not stand this. When her father drank. Her mother yelled. Mia's siblings were then bitter and so was she. It was not working. Dad drunk because Ms. Smith bickered about everything being perfect, if you made a mistake she could not stand it.

Mia hurriedly climbed up the stairs and slammed the door. She could hear Johnna saying "Why do you guys do this!?" At least her sister understood, Thomas was only four at the time. She read her favorite story book. It was supposed to help her. It did not work. She could not get her mind off. What if her parents got, what was the word... divorced. She had seen it in movies but never thought that it could happen in her living room.

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Mia arose the next morning to the sight of broken glass.

Ms. Smith sweeping the kitchen that held pieces of broken glass in every corner. Her husband was on the couch in a weird position and Johnna was removing a piece of the broken plate from Oliver's foot. It was chaos. Pure madness. Ms. Smith threatened to leave, he said go ahead. Neither of them meant it. But this time it was worse than usual. They were usually all figured out by morning.

As Mia's mother walked away from kitchen, holding back tears she went upstairs. Mr. Smith clumsily rolled off the couch and slid on a jacket from the front closet over his bare chest. He grabbed the car-keys and Mia could see the outline of his wallet in his back pocket.

What if he did not come back?

She shook off the taught hurriedly and started to prepare breakfast. As she set toast and cups of orange juice on the table her brother and sister followed. Ms. Smith came back a few minutes after they finished the food. Mia would have offered her some: but she had learned it’s better not to get involved. She set down a large back that in huge letters said MARTIN'S STUFF. She had already put clothes, his family pictures, and other things in there and she laid it out on the porch.

Mia had seen the box before, but it never had anything inside, and certainly it was never placed on the porch. This is scary she thought. Ms. Smith had not come inside yet. As the minutes passed she deiced she rather go outside and check and she can kinda disguise it as a walk.

As she shut the door she spotted the red truck her father rode out of the corner of her eye. Her mother's face was inside the window, even from the distance they were you could see the abhor towards each other in their eyes. The box wasn't there anymore.

Mia had gotten away with the walk. She decided that she would start sneaking out in times of need. And as that need became stronger, the urge became harder to resist. It started as an obsession and another imperfection for her mother to hate. If only Mia could explain to her mother it was not her fault, but Ms. Smith's passion for flawlessness that drove her to it.