I Probably Hate You

Fourteen

I giggled as I showed mom a baby picture of Eddie. He was wearing nothing but a diaper and his face was covered in ketchup.

Mom laughed her throaty laugh at this one, staring at the picture with such fondness in her eyes. "I remember this one. Your brother had been such a ketchup fan back in the day, your daddy had to put them all the way up in the high cupboard. Little Eddie here snuck in at midnight and managed to get the bottle out"

At this point, both mom and I were laughing our heads off as we remembered all the ketchup theft my brother had loved doing in the previous years before he'd gotten sick off it-literally-and completely cut it out of his diet.

Mom continued "he poured half the big bottle into a bowl and boy did he help himself to it. By the time your daddy and I found him he'd finished most of it and what was left of it was on his face"

Mom and I were cleaning out Grandma and Grandpa's attic. It might've been because I was the oldest of my siblings, but I still felt extremely proud that mom had chosen me to come with her and help out. We'd left Ellie a crying mess back home, because 'she wanted to do big girl stuff too'.

Unfortunately, if there was something that mom and my clumsy nine-year-old self had in common, it was that we both had no sense of organization. Even back home, dad did all the tidying.

So even though we'd cleared up a sensible space, we still had the 'big pile' to work on. The pile which we'd stacked up as we went.

We got through a good portion of the pile when mom suddenly held her back and winced.

"Honey, I think I'm going to take a break for now"

She must have seen the sullen look I got because I'd been having loads of fun.

"mommy's back really hurts, sweetheart"

I puffed my chest out "it's okay mommy, I'll go on without you. You can go rest"

My mom slumped and sat against the attic wall. "Fine. You go on but I'll tell you where to put everything"

So we went on like that for a couple of hours. I was nearing the end when I came across a particularly dusty, small box. I confusedly popped the top open, throwing a glance at mom as I did so.

Mom herself was eyeing it a little funny.

I pulled out what was inside of the box, which happened to be a big glass jar. On the lid it said 'Maddie and Angie's Friendship Jar' in bright purple. Inside the jar were countless tiny green and yellow folded papers. Perhaps notes.

When I looked at mom again her eyes were shimmering "let me see that." she said almost hesitantly.

At this point I'd gotten used to having my mom cry at random for reasons I couldn't comprehend, but having her cry because of a jar was quite bizarre to me.

"what is it?" I asked tentatively.

Mom held the jar close to her chest and said to me, wiping at her tears and smiling a little "my old best friend and I made this jar back in junior high. I was green and she was yellow. We would write down everything we loved about each other whenever something came to mind and store it here."

I frowned at mom, utterly confused "Then why are you crying? Are those happy tears?"

My mom shook her head and gave me another one of her watery smiles. "We promised we'd read these out to each other when we got all old in wrinkly in the retirement home whenever we got bored"

...............

"Alright class, like I said, I want all the requirements to be achieved. This is due on the 10th, so you have about two weeks. Remember, a full analysis on the Cold War. Find yourself a partner and work in pairs"