A mother's love

Chapter 7

Having seen where he lived, Brenda's thoughts about Brian grew increasingly anxious. For a second night in a row she drove to his house late at night and sat in her car looking at it. He wasn't telling her the truth about his mother. She had no proof of this, just a feeling. Sitting outside his house she was confident that if she were to knock on the door and go inside Brian's mother would be there. She had to remind herself that she needed to wait for Brian to come to her in his own time. Showing up at his house at 10 p.m. out of the blue would have been too obtrusive and, she recognized herself, disturbing.

The restraint that was required of her was killing her. She didn't stay outside his house as long as she had the previous night, fearing that if she did her urge to find out the truth about his mother was going to get the best of her. In the end she couldn't restrain herself. After being kept up all night by thoughts about what Brian was keeping from her regarding his mother Brenda called in sick to school in the morning, planning to visit his house while he wasn't there and see for herself what the truth was about his mother. She would ensure Brian didn't find out about what she'd done by pretending to be a Jehovah's Witness while speaking with his mother. She dressed for the part by wearing a pink knee length skirt with a white shirt, black jersey and flat shoes. She let her hair down and fastened it at the front with an Alice band, thinking that would make her look more puritanical. She felt certain that she wasn't going to be asked inside to proselytize, which would give her only a few seconds to take the measure of Brian's mother, time she had to make the most of. Brenda had never done anything like this before. She approached the house nervously, with growing doubts about her ability to successfully deceive Brian's mother.

The woman that answered the door confirmed all of Brenda's worst fears. She was barefoot, wore rumpled clothes, looked and smelled like it had been days since she had last washed, and in her right hand she held a beer can. The sight of her disconcerted Brenda so much it took all she had not to turn around and leave.

"Good morning, I am a servant of God, here to ask you if you're ready for the second coming of his son Jesus Christ."

"Not interested."

She tried to close the door, but Brenda would not be deterred and blocked it with her hand.

"If you don't mind my saying, your soul looks like it is very much in need of salvation, perhaps you should be interested."

"I don't need your salvation! Who the hell do you think you are? Knocking on my door and judging me, telling me I need salvation? Take your salvation and get off my porch and get off my property!"

She slammed the door shut and Brenda did as she was told. Her whole body was shaking; she staggered back to her car. In the car her shaking became uncontrollable. Her keys fell out of her hand and onto the floor when she tried inserting them into the ignition. As desperate as she was to get on the road and get out of there she had no choice but to remain in her car and wait for her nerves to subside. Brenda had never smelled anything as vile as the breath that Brian's mother had expelled when she had upbraided her for judging her. The potency of it was unreal and had almost made Brenda too disoriented to speak. She couldn't afford to be patient with Brian while she waited for him to come to her. His situation was far worse than she had ever imagined, somehow she was going to have to force the issue with him.