Tendo was up early. in the shower he stood deadpanned with cold water beating against his head then went to the kitchen to turn on the radio, clean the cupboards.
it was sunday again.
Beside him he kept a large glass of water stacked with ice since he now had a fever.
every now and then he spun around abruptly to the sounds of his mother coming in with beer bottles she found on the way, asking if he was finished cleaning.
When he glanced around, there was no one to be seen.
he still felt parched and disillusioned from the day before but he wouldn't let it ruin today.
the Sunday blues were on repeat, the cupboards were clean, the aroma of butter being warmed was in the air, and — taking a walk to peek through the door where you still laid in his bed —he wasn't alone.
despite it all, this sunday was on track to being a perfect one.
'so how is she still here in the day?' tendo thought to himself with the hairs on his arms standing on edge as he tried to avoid the hallucinated ghost of the past, watching him from the darkness of the bathroom.
it followed him to the kitchen, filling the kitchen with very distant early Sunday chatter as he started reorganizing the cupboard.
—
"this is nice, we have more space now that the tinned foods are in here." the ginger spoke then added "who could tell we even had this much sardines?"
Tendo's mother was a seasoned ghost that he hated getting visited from. not because she was more cruel than any other but because she was always a radial blur in his life.
like a vortex that spun about and disoriented anything it came in contact with.
Still, at age 11, she was all he had to rely on yet he only got four good days out of her every month.
Of the four weeks in a month, for a whole week she'd be in bed with terrible menstrual cramps.
In the other weeks:
on mondays and fridays she'd work at construction sites mixing mortar,
On tuesdays she'd sell bottles she collected throughout the course of the week
On wednesdays as a part-time janitor at a nearby all age school
On thursdays she'd help her uncle sell farm produce at the market,
On Saturdays she offered cleaning services all around the community leaving everywhere but her home speckless
Then on sundays... on Sunday's the radio would be on, the pot would be sizzling with a hint of butter for pancakes in the air and tendo would be right behind her, cleaning the cupboard. She'd always say you never know what you have until you clean the cupboard.
"we're gonna have to cut your hair again soon or you'll be kicked out of school for the red. Did Mr. Ren not say anything this time?" she brushed back some of his overgrown buzz cut, but he did not respond.
"Satori" she drew out in a sing-song tone as she turned down the radio, throwing a cube of ice in her mouth, "you're ignoring me aren't you."
"I'm not, mom"
"...it's because I said no?" she asked then when he couldn't find the courage to lie once more, she sighed.
"you know...you shouldn't cling to wakatoshi so terribly. you don't need anyone" she spoke standing up from her side of the cupboard she was cleaning then peered down at Tendo.
