The Rise and Falls of Melody Wilson

Part 8

 

It was almost noon when I finally woke up and decided to drag my tired rear downstairs.

No one else seemed to be awake when I finally clamored into the empty kitchen. Silence was a common thing in the house and I was glad for some sort of noise when the coffee maker started its usual puttered purring.

 I pulled my favorite dark green mug, with a brown rim, from the cupboard and set it on the counter while I waited for the coffee maker to finish. I was just getting bread from the breadbasket when I heard someone come into the room. Expecting it to be my brother, I turned around ready to offer my soon-to-be-toast. Instead, I was surprised to see my mother. Her eyes were bloodshot and underneath her eyes were dark and beyond tired looking, she looked up at me as she rubbed her eye, giving me a tiny smile.

 "Hey sweetie." she rasped.

"Hey mom." I smiled and turned to put the bread in the toaster. "Are you hungry?" I asked facing her again as she stepped closer to the counter.

She shook her head sleepily. "Not really, but that coffee smells good?"

It had just finished dropping out the last of the liquid when I snatched my cup up and poured the contents of the container into it.

"Here," I offered her the mug- knowing she didn't like anything else in her coffee- and she took it, sipping it instantly.

"Mmm... Good brew." she said turning to go out the kitchen. I watched her walk out through the wide opening to the adjacent living room. As she passed a window with sun streaming through it, she flinched and covered her face with her free hand. She groaned as she lowered herself onto the couch and pulled the remote out from its usual location between the couch seats, switching the TV on.

I turned back to the toaster, pulled out the warm toast and placed it on a plate. I grabbed some jam from the fridge and swiped it generously onto the crisp bread.

I walked out to where my mother was sitting, after putting everything away. I plopped down next to her and bit into my toast, holding the plate out to her and she grabbed a piece. I took another bite and turned to the TV where Tom was chasing Jerry around with a big mallet in hand.

"How bad was I out?" she broke the silence, still looking at the television.

"Like a light." I said focusing on Jerry's maneuvering tricks as he tried to stay out of Tom's way.

"Thanks for not taking me to the room." She said her eyes watery but still on the screen.

I shrugged "It's not like I could have dragged you there even if I wanted to." I stated, taking a side-glance at her.

We sat there for a while, watching Tom and Jerry's entertaining antics in silence. I felt my mother move beside me, then I felt her slide her hand over mine in the space between us. I turned my hand over wrapped my fingers around her small hand.

 

***

 

 Saturday morning cartoons were over and my mother had changed the channel to her favorite type of TV entertainment: Soap operas.

I was in the kitchen, starting a late lunch, when someone came in behind me.

The fridge opened and closed, and Riley leaned on the counter next to me, clutching a carton of soy chocolate milk.

"You know, you’re going to have major wrinkles when you get older from all your frowning." Riley took a swig of the chocolate milk.

I pulled the large flat counter grill out from under the sink and placed it next to the stove. I plugged it in as I said, "What do you care?" I turned it on and set it at the appropriate temperature, "You probably won't even be here to see my crinkly old skin."

He just shrugged and placed his lips back on the opening of the carton. I rolled my eyes and pulled the butter, cheese and ham from the fridge and the baguette from the breadbasket.

I quietly buttered the outside of the bread and layered on the ham and cheese before placing it down on the hot grill top. Out the corner of my eye, I watched Riley tilt the carton back and guzzle the contents of it down, tossing it into the trash can when he finished. "I was going to give that to mom." I stated peeking under the sandwiches to see if it was crisp enough.

Again, Riley just shrugged, "Charlotte needs to take care of herself. If she wants to drink a six pack in one sitting, then she needs to handle the consequences that come with it."

"How'd you know she was drinking?" I stared at him.

He looked at me as if it was the most obvious thing, "I was here when she came in with it. Duh."

"And you didn't stop her?" he shrugged, "Oh yeah, you were probably so jacked up on those... things! That you probably couldn't have bothered anyways." I turned back to the grill, but his shocked expression did not escape me.

 "Try cleaning up after yourself, for once, if you want to try getting away with that crap." I flipped the sandwiches over and pressed down on them, cheese squeezed a little out the sides.

Riley reached over grabbed some regular bread and a couple ham slices, and just walked out the kitchen as he took a huge bite out of his sandwich. He never was into dad's favorite sandwich- A ham and cheese melt.

Then again, he was never really into anything that had to do with dad.