The Walk

Chapter 1

"Alright, I think that's the last of it" My mom said placing some of my records in the last small box. I looked up at her and saw her eyes gloss over and then a small tear fall from her left cheek.

"Momma, are you okay?" I said wrapping my arms around her torso and resting my head on her chest. 

"I'll be alright, you're just my only baby and now you're growing up and moving out" she said rubbing my back "And should I mention not only are you moving out but to a whole different state." she giggled slightly. 

"Mom, I'll always be your baby girl, its just I'm going to be your baby girl in California." I said letting go of her and making eye contact with her. I shot her a big smile and then went back to my checklist making sure I didn't forget anything. 

"So I was thinking while you finish organizing, I will make you a goodbye supper!" 

"Okay, yeah that sounds great what did you have in mind?"  I asked looking up from my checklist.

"Your favorite, Spaghetti." she said smiling

"Oh my gosh! yes, that would be perfect!" I said getting back to my checklist since tomorrow I was getting in car and making a two day trip to California. 

I numbered all of the boxes I would be taking and I had it written down what was in each one. I'm not OCD but I do like to have order and I thought this was a great idea to help me. I knew what was in each box and if i was looking for something all I had to do was look at my sheet of paper and find the item I was looking for, then the box number and then I would have the item I was looking for. 

I got done numbering and categorizing my boxes and it only took me around forty-five minutes perfect timing since my moms spaghetti only takes about that same amount of time, I made my way down the hall and to the kitchen.

"hey mom, hows the spaghetti coming?" I asked taking a seat at the breakfast table. 

"umm yeah just five more minutes" she said, but she didn't sound happy she sounded almost upset but it couldn't be about me moving, we already had our being upset at each other moment six months ago when I first told her. This was something different, something I wasn't familiar with.

"Mom, is everything okay? you sound upset." I questioned

"I'm fine" she said turning to me giving me one of the worst fake smiles I have ever seen. It made me shake my head and laugh a little that she thought I would buy that.

"mom, I'm the queen of fake smiles, and that was the worst one I've ever seen" I said crossing my arms across my chest. My mom just looked at her sauce pan and stirred the red homemade mixture much more than she usually does. My mom has made spaghetti thousand of times and I've never seen her stir the sauce that much, ever. "Mom, What happened?" I asked a little more stern

"You're dad called me right before I started cooking." she said grabbing plates from the cabinet and setting  one in front of me and the other across from me. she grabbed the pot of noodles and scooped some out for me and some for her as well. After she put the noodle pot back on the stove she placed the sauce pan in between our plates since we both like to add our own amount of sauce to our spaghetti. My mom likes a lot of sauce and I like just a little bit right on top. When she sat down I finally began to speak. 

"My dad called? Why?" I asked confused, my parents got a divorce when I was eight months old, my dad wanted nothing to do with me and so I never met him, but if my mom ever spoke of him she only said good things such as, "he was the sweetest guy you would ever meet" or  "no one had a heart as big as his". I remember when I was sixteen I asked my mom why she only said good things about him, he left her to raise a baby by herself and hasn't tried to contact her, her response was, "He wasn't ready to be a father and he will come back when he is". I've never forgotten that either, when my dad was ready he would come back.