Dreams

Chapter 7

My mother's idea of fun has been known to include everything from a Jane Austen movie marathon to a day devoted exclusively to reading old court records, so I had some concerns. But as it turned out the day was actually quite enjoyable.

We ate breakfast, and the pancakes were superb. Mom didn't rush me over that, which was nice. I suppose she figured once I was up she might as well let me savor my breakfast.

After breakfast was done we went to the park and played football. Playing football in the park with your mom also probably sounds lame, but she's better than I am, somehow or other. She's more enthusiastic about it too, sprinting this way and that like an over caffeinated bunny rabbit. We did that until one of us was nearly exhausted (guess which) and then we walked around town and looked in the shop windows for a while, and mom started interrogating me.

"So." she said, while picking through some gardening gloves in a bin outside a gardening store, "Tell me what's been going on.  You don't seem to have a lot of friends, honey."

I didn't even deny it. What point would there be to lying? "Well...no, not really. I don't really have any friends mom. I'm not sure I want any."

She looked up at me, her face painted with concern, "Why, sweetheart?" her voice had that tone of painful worry that moms get sometimes, but I could only take her so seriously, because she had a pair of hot pink gardening gloves on her hands.

I shrugged, "I don't know, mom. I guess it just doesn't seem worth the work."

"Oh, sweetie." there's a direct correlation between the number of endearments she uses and how worried she is about me. The numbers were getting dangerously high. She took off the gardening gloves and held my face. "Having friends is work. Relationships always are work, people are work. But they're so worth it. You have to believe that."

"I know, mom, I just..." I wasn't sure what to say to her. I didn't want to tell her the truth, which was that I just didn't care enough. So I just stood there in silence, looking into my mom's eyes.

After a moment she nodded and patted my cheek gently, "Alright," she said, "We'll talk about this more later, let's go feed the fish."