Bite down 2

1

My entire life I was being prepared for something. I had no idea what it was. Two years ago my life changed and looking back I know that there is nothing that could have prepared me for what I am now. Not even my very prepared mother. It started on a cold day in November. November 12th to be exact.

My entire life I was being prepared for something. I had no idea what it was. Two years ago my life changed and looking back I know that there is nothing that could have prepared me for what I am now. Not even my very prepared mother. It started on a cold day in November. November 12th to be exact.

I remember it was cold because my lips were cracked when I screamed that day.

"Ma be careful!"
My mother is on the road. She's driving my brother and I to school when we see something jump out into the street. The hills in Pittsburgh do have a lot of deer but I'm not sure what I saw jump out in the middle of the street. It's kind of a foggy day. It's always foggy in Pittsburgh. I swear this is the most downcast city in the world.

Luckily we don't die though. My mother was so busy checking her lipstick in the mirror that she damn near caused us to die.

"Jesus Christ," she says, "Yas are you OK?"

She grabs me first. She does that thing where she puts her hand out as though it would make a goddam difference. The weird thing about my mother is she is so damn into herself that she doesn't even drop her mirror.

"I'm fine," I respond to her.

"Yuma...how about you?" she asks.

My brother nods silently. He's looking around in the fog. Stuff like this excites Yuma. He likes nature and what not. He wanted to be a boy scout back in the day but my mother wouldn't have any parts of that. She said that it was "too rough" and stated that he wouldn't want any scars. It's the same thing Mom says about sports or anything like that. Some parents want their boys out there doing that kind of stuff but not my mother.

"What was that?" I ask, looking around.

"It was some kind of wolf," Yuma explains, "Didn't you see it? Green eyes and white fur. It was fucking beautiful."

"Yuma watch your mouth. A gentleman doesn't speak like that," Mom tells me.

"Sorry, Ma'am," my brother responds.

"A wolf...here?" I interrupt.

My mother shuts us down at that moment, "That's ridiculous. There are no wolves in Pittsburgh..."

I don't know if it's true or not what my mom is saying but when she says it I listen. My dad was killed a long time ago. I'm sure Yuma isn't the type to lie about something like that. If he saw a wolf then that is what he saw.

"We have a manicure right after school," my mother tells me, "Don't be late."
It gets embarrassing when she says things like that. Yona Packer was always a girl's girl. I guess it wasn't a surprised she'd try to raise her sons to maybe be a little bit of metrosexuals. That wasn't the case with my mother Yona though.

Things in my house were...different. To say the least.

"I actually had a date tonight," I tell my mom, "You know that pretty girl Crystal?"

It isn't the first time that I brought Crystal up to my mother. Crystal and I have been dating for almost a year now. I attempted over and over to introduce Crystal to my mother but she wasn't having it. My little brother dated and she had similar rules with him but with me it was a little O'D. No girls. Not now. Not ever.

"Baby you know that's not your thing," my mother tells me.

She gives me this condescending smile as though she knew me better than I knew myself. It's almost as though she's trying to insinuate something at this moment. It's almost like she's trying to insinuate that I'm gay or something.