All of Her

Mother

It was kind of dumb to try and pretend I didn't see the cruiser next to me. I'm all full of brilliant ideas.

"Dennis..."

Sheriff Staller had his window down, looking at me.  He looked sort of amused, as I tried to pretend I was surprised to see him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir..."

I was going to say that I didn't see him there, but I could see that he wasn't buying it.  He wasn't mad, it looked like, but, he had something he needed to say.  He motioned for me to come closer.

"Now, I've just been talking to Mr. Davaricci -- you know him, right?"

I sort of curled my face up, like I was thinking.  But, again, he wasn't buying it.

"His daughter Carmela...?" He looked at me, waiting.  I knew what he was going to say.  And I knew he wanted me to spill it.  But, again, stupid me put on the dumb act.

I nodded my head ans shrugged my shoulders, not letting on anything.

"Mr. Davaricci says you've been hanging around their yard..." He spoke as if he was tired of talking. "...when Carmela and her friends are using the pool...?"  He said this more like a question, waiting for an answer.

I nodded, looking down at the ground.

Carmela had her friends over all the time, swimming in her pool.  I'd go and watch.  They were all so cute.

"He says you... watch from the trees, out back?"

This one was a question.  He wanted me to tell him what I was doing, I could tell.

"I was just out back, in the woods... I wasn't spying." His eyes blew right through that cover.  He wasn't looking for excuses, though.  Sheriff Staller wasn't a jerk or anything.  He didn't bust people on the heads, or stuff like you see other cops doing.  He just wanted to keep everyone happy.  I coudn't look at him, though.

"Now, Mr. Davaricci wanted me to speak to your mother --" I was about to plead, but Sheriff Staller put his hand up. "But!  I'm not gonna do that, Dennis.  I think you have enough sense to know what's right to do, and I don't think your mother needs to get all worried about something like this.  Just keep away from the Davaricci's and their yard, and watch out where your eyes are.  That good?"

I nodded.

"Dennis?" he persisted.

"Yes, sir."

Sheriff Staller was a good guy.  I'm not just saying that because he didn't get me into trouble.  He just is.

"Now, go on with what you were doing, and keep your nose out of trouble. Hear?"

"Thank you, Sheriff Staller."

He knocked his knuckles on the car door, gave me a look like he wasn't sure if he should smack me one, and then drove off with a friendly wave.  I tucked the CRIMSON VAMPIRE comic in my bag and turned to head home.  Mother was waiting for me at the door.

"What did the Sheriff want wth you, son?"

Her frame filled the doorway.  She didn't much like to have our dirty laundry out for everyone to hear, but she was also not pleased to see me talking to the Sheriff.  And she wanted that known to me.

"What?"

"Pardon me?" She demanded.

"Pardon me, ma'am?"

"You heard what I asked you, don't make me repeat myself."

"Nothing, Mother. I mean, he didn't want anything..."  Sherrif Staller was nothing cpmpared to Mother.  If he was able to pick apart my white lies, Mother was able to see within my soul.

"The Sheriff pulls over to speak with you, and you want me to believe it was about nothing?"  Her fists were on her hips, where they usually are. Her eyes didn't leave me.  Her eyebrows were scrunched up, slightly, like she was waititing for the answer to a really weird puzzle.  Her jaw hard and tensed.

"I meant it was nothing... much. There was some graffitti on the school bus --" I rememebred the other day that this happened. "He was just asking everybody if they saw anything."

There was no change in her face, or her hands on her hips... or the world around me.  Nothing seemed to move.

"Why," she started slowly and determined, "...would he come all the way out here, five miles from were the school is, to come and ask you, and only you, what you saw at the school?"

She wasn't waiting for an answer this time.  She kenw I had none.

"A liar from the second I brought you in to this world." She pointed me into the house, but she didn't move an inch from the doorway, making me bend past her.

I headed straight for the stairs, as if running to my room wuld end the whole thing.

"I am not done, son."

I knew that, really.

"Sometimes, I wonder what it is you think of me," she said. Her eyes looking deep into me. "I can't tell if you think you're some good liar, or if you think I'm some kind of ninny."

I waited for her to give me the answer, though I supect I already knew.

"Are you a ninny?" She asked, sincerely.

"No."

"You sure?"

I nodded my head, not convinced of my own answer.

"Well, I think maybe you are." She pulled out a folded paper from her apron pocket. As soon as she started to unfold it, I knew what t was.

"Well, only a ninny would think to hide disgusting pictures under the bathroom sink, when he knows full well that his mother cleans that bathroom three times a week." She held out a centerfold that I got from David Hummel.  I didn't ask for it.  He just crammed it in my book bag and told me to grab a box of tissues when I looked at it.  I swear, that guy never thinks of anythng else but what makes his pants tighter.

"Did you actually think that I wouldn't find these?" She didn't need an answer.  "Stupid as stupid could be.  Just like your father was.  What are you gonna do next, hide your money in my purse?  Honestly!"

"I'm..."  I couldn't finish.  It was enough to stop Mother in her tracks, though.  She bore into me.

"You're what?" she fired.

"I'm..."  I tried hard to make it all go backwards in time. "... stupid... I'm not."

"Well, I'm afraid your report card would disagree with you."  She laughed.  "Stupid as the day I brought you into this world, and not a lick smarter than a goat."  She laughed again, as if all of this just made her day.  She crammed the centerfold into her apron and tugged me by the ear, pulling me up the stairs and to my room.  I could hear her calling me a stupid goat between her laughter, as she went down the stairs.

I got off easier that most times.

She was in the kitchen now, I could tell by her voice.  I was still cautious to pull the Scarlet Vampire comic from my back pocket.  She didn't see it.  I tucked it under the pillow and grabbed my notebook from my desk drawer.  I flipped to my list.  I fingered down the list of names until I found Carmela.  I crossed her off.  And then added Sharon.

Thanks for coming by and reading my story. Please do me a favor and leave a comment.  I'd really like to know what you think.