Roses & Ruin

Chapter 71 (Anthony)

There was a knock at my front door, but I wasn't expecting any company so I found it odd. I also found myself hoping it was one person in particular. But she wouldn't come here. That's far too dangerous and she's currently ignoring me.

Instead when I looked through the peephole I saw my mother of all people. I haven't seen her in over a month. She comes and goes as she pleases.

    "Ma?" was my greeting because I was thrown off guard. My mother was a good looking woman in her day. It's not that she's ugly now, but she's got some wear and tear from years of experimenting with drugs, drinking too much, and getting herself into all kinds of trouble.

Her hair's dark as midnight. She keeps it shorter now. And the woman loves her hoop earrings. She didn't look so bad today. No smudged makeup, unexplained bruises, or wacko outfits.

"Hey baby" she grinned, throwing her arms up in a big show of stepping in to hug me. I noticed a small bag bumping me when she grabbed me. When she pulled away she looked down at it, pulling it from the crook of her elbow.

"For you" she said, holding it out for me to take. A gift? Wow, she must be having a really good day.

    "Can I smoke in here?" She asked me, already patting herself over for her pack. "No, Ma. You aren't stinking up my apartment" I stopped her right there. She huffed but let it go, waving for me to open the bag. When I pulled it out I just stared at it. Literally had no sensical reaction to it. A rubber ducky with a fireman's hat on...

"Ma, you know I'm 27 going on 28 years old, right?" I couldn't for the life of me think why she'd come all the way over here to give me this. She clutched my arm and looked all wide eyed at the toy. "No, don't you remember?! Remember, I threw your duckie away and you were furious with me. It was just like this one. See" she held the duck even higher towards my eyeline.

    I have no recollection of any ducks, fireman hat or otherwise. My mother did go on 'cleaning sprees' sometimes and throw half the shit in our house away. That was always a rollercoaster ride. My trying to run back to the trash to grab back the things I knew she absolutely should not be throwing out. So I guess the duck thing is probable.

"Thanks ma," I nodded at the duck and put him down on my counter.

"You're welcome my handsome boy" she walked past me now and started tinkering with things around the house. I don't like tinkering. I like things clean and my stuff left alone. "Wow, so spotless here...you definitely didn't get that from me" she said, peering into the dark of my bedroom and moving on.

    "Where have you been staying?" I asked her. My childhood home, the one my father got arrested in, is no longer ours. Mom was never there and I moved out as soon as I was 18, so we sold it off after a while.

She does still have a place I bought for her to live, one less mansion-like and more manageable, but I know she doesn't always live there. Which begs the question of where else she's living.

    She waved her hand, "Here and there." I hummed.

"And your husband?" I asked her. Last year she invited me to her 'wedding' one night in the middle of the night. My mother is still legally married to my father, so she can't legally be married to anyone else. Didn't stop her from marrying some guy in vegas. So she's got double husbands, which was obviously a clerical error or they would've never let it pass.

"I divorced him," she told me.

"How can you divorce him if you weren't even legally married to him? Did you ever tell him that?" I bothered asking. She plopped down on my sofa and patted the cushion for me to come beside her. "I did. He was very angry about it. So I divorced him. Took half his shit and left" she shrugged.