Mutations

September 10, 2002

September 10, 2002

My dad came home two days after I broke my arm, He has longer brown hair but it's not too long. It's speckled with grey hair, his eyes are blue, he's wearing a polo shirt which is tucked into his jeans. "How was the week?" Dad asked my mom. My mom hugged him then went on her rant.

"It would have been better if Matthew didn't break James's arm," she lied to him.

"What?" Dad said. He looked around the house until he found me sitting on Matthew's lap watching TV in the family room. "Matthew. Did you break James's arm?"

"Dad!" I yelled and ran over to him. Matthew had a look of confusion on his face.

"No, he fell out of a tree while I was playing hide-and-seek with him," he said, dad picked me up.

"Not what his mom said."

"She's the one who was having some 'so important' dinner that she refused to take James to the hospital," he said.

"You lying son of a bitch," my mom said from the doorway. She glared at Matthew, my mom hated him, she wanted him gone. "You pushed him out of the tree."

"No he didn't," I said. My mom walked into the family room.

"Stop trying to get rid of me," Matthew said getting up off the couch. He walked over to where my dad was standing.

"Matthew can you wait outside with James while I listen Marisa's side of the story," Matthew nodded then took me from dad and set me down on the floor, me still holding his hand. We walked out into the kitchen and Matthew closed the door behind him.

"You won't let her get rid of me would you?" He said squatting down to my level. I shook my head, I liked him a lot more than my mom. He actually cared about me. "Good, I don't know what I would do without you, buddy. You and dad are my family."

I could hear mom telling dad lies about how she was watching us climb the tree in the back yard and how we got to high in the tree and Matthew pushed me because he thought dad liked me better than him. It was about five minutes later and them mom walked out into the kitchen and Matthew and me walked back into the family room, Mathew closed the door behind us.

"Okay what do you say happened?" dad asked Matthew. Matthew told him about how we were playing hide-and-seek and I fell out of the tree and how he cleaned me up and my mom refused to take me to the hospital because of her dinner party. "Can you wait outside?" He took my hand but my dad stopped him. "I want to talk to James." Mathew walked out of the room then closed the door behind him. Dad picked me up and sat on the couch with me.

"Hey, buddy," for some reason when I was younger my dad and Matthew always called me "buddy" when they talked to me. When they talked to someone else about me they always used my real name.

"Hi, daddy," I said to him. I sat on his lap facing him.

"I want to ask you something and I want you to tell me what really happened," I nodded, "Did Mathew push you out of the tree?" I shook my head.

"I fell," he nodded. "Then mom wouldn't take me to the doctor 'til the next day. She was having a dinner party." He nodded again then picked me up and walked over to the door and told them to come back in.

"Marisa, I am sick of you trying to get rid of my son," my dad told her. She looked offended.

"You're believing this bastard over me?"

"Stop using language in front of James, and yes because he told me what happened and I know he wouldn't lie," he said.

"He pushed him I saw it with my own eyes," she tried to convince him but it wasn't working. It was obvious that he didn't believe her. She knew it too, she was getting desperate.

"Let Matthew be a person in your life or get out of mine," he told her, "You don't even care about you're own son. All you care about is yourself." She got up and walked out of the room. I heard a crash in the hallway, then I heard her scream. She slammed the front door behind her. Dad found their wedding picture smashed in the foyer.

Matthew let me stay with him that night, "Is Mommy coming back?" I asked him. I was already in his bed, he was changing on the other side of the room. He came over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"No buddy, I don't think she is," he said.

"Where did she go?" I asked.

"I don't know, buddy, now go to sleep. I'm gonna go to the bathroom then I'll be right back," I nodded, he kissed my forehead, "Good boy," he said then he turned off the light and left the room. If I hadn't fallen out of that stupid tree they would still be together.