The Dark Side of Town

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The Dark Side of Town

A short story

11/10/2011

Andrea Makamba

The Dark Side of town

I wake up and am amazed not to hear the sound of cars hooting and people shouting greetings, curses and insults and wonder if the world really has ended. Well, if I’m alive then maybe I’m a good person. Mum always did say I was Santa’s favourite but she doesn’t know that I don’t believe in Santa, but anyway who would want to hurt their mother’s feelings?

‘Benjamin!!! Wake up and look at this view!’Mum screamed from the kitchen, she did tend to get a bit uh overexcited at a few stupid things. I climbed out of bed slowly. Where am I? This isn’t my room, well it is my duvet but not my room, and there were paintball stains from the time my friends were over and we played a little inside. By a little I mean we had the time of our lives in here! There are boxes strewn all over the floor, and then it hit me. We are in Springfield!

My dad had died three years ago of lung cancer. He had “quit” smoking when I was born because the doctor had told him that either my mom or I could catch second person lung cancer because of breathing in the smoke. It wasn’t until four years ago, when the infected tissue was discovered, when we found out he hadn’t stopped. He had been smoking in the car, at work and even sometimes when he was in town and we weren’t around. That was why he had all those breath mints and bubblegum packets left in his car. He had never quit he had said, it was just too addictive. We were just too late. Since then, my mom hasn’t even looked at another man. My father’s dying words were:

‘Benjamin, don’t make the same mistakes I did, you’re young and have got your whole life ahead of you. Think twice before you do something and think three times before you even think about hurting your mother in any way, because I didn’t think at all when I did.’

I had those words typed up and framed on my wall and it was probably in one of these boxes, hopefully.  

I walked towards the door, dragging my feet, and wondered what all the excitement my mom was fussing about. As soon as I opened the door, I was blinded by sunlight. I haven’t seen the sun in over a week, in Boston it is always raining. It took about a minute for my eyes to adjust to all this brightness before I ventured to what I think was my new lounge.

‘Come, come and see this Benji! Isn’t it absolutely gorgeous?’Mom asked. I was absolutely blown away. To somebody, it wouldn’t have looked like anything but to us city dwellers, it was paradise. We were staring at what would now be my backyard. For starters, it was huge and lush like a jungle. The grass was green and willow trees and purple bougainvillea bushes dominated this area. There was a bench on the porch of this house for us to watch the wildlife. Black eyed bulbuls flitted with red crested robins from tree to tree. If I didn’t know any better, I would call this place heaven. We sat for five minutes in awe before saying,

‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it mother?’

‘And it’s all ours, everyday, but we will have to take care of it’ She replied 

‘I will make it my personal responsibility to water these flowers, fill the birdbath, put birdseed in the birdhouse and whatever else it takes to keep this place looking like paradise.’ My mom chuckled and said

‘Oh Benji, you don’t have to, we could always hire a gardener after we’re settled, let’s say you go have a shower and I’ll go get breakfast ready, what do you say to pancakes and bacon?’ That was one reason why I loved my mother so much; she was always kind, gentle and sweet.