Sophie's Tale

1- Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

"Sophie Desdemona Powell, get your ass down here and clean up this fucking mess!"

There's nothing better than kind words of encouragement from your mother when she stumbles in the house drunk at four a.m.

"Coming mother!" I screamed as I ran out of my room and down the stairs, knocking almost everything in the hallway in the process.

By the time I got downstairs, she was already struggling to keep herself standing. As I rushed to save her from falling on the floor, she started giggling like a child. This was normal and had been since my dad walked out on us and my brother came out as gay. I don't blame his homosexuality for why my life sucks now, just his method of coming out. He decided to tell my mom on the same day our dad left, as if it was a normal Sunday afternoon. Most people would time it right because, obviously, you can only come out once and you should make it count. However, my dad can go fûck himself with a cactus for all I care. He left when we needed him the most. He started sleeping with his secretary six months before he left us. I remember the day he packed up his black BMW with a few boxes and drove off into the sunset with his mistress. It was my eleventh birthday.

The last thing he said to me was ,"Life sure as hell ain't easy and no one's gonna make it easy for you. You might hate me now but you're gonna get over it when you realize that this was another lesson in moving on with life. Take care of yourself, kid."

As he walked out of the door, my mom ran after him, screaming "I'm not done with you yet, you sorry son of a bîtch!" She took off her shiny, red stilettos and threw them at him as he got in his car. The second we heard the engine turn over, we knew that this was it. I planted myself firmly in the grass and stood there, watching him and his mistress pull out of the driveway. My mom however, collapsed on to the asphalt of our driveway as he drove away. She was catatonic and stayed that way for about an hour. My brother watched the whole thing from his bedroom window, only allowing a single tear to fall from his eyes. I guess it was because at the time, my dad was the only one who knew that he was in love with his best friend, Jack. And that was the story of the last time I saw my father. My mom's raspy voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"After you put me in my bed, I want you to go down stairs and make sure we have enough plates for seven people and then put them in the dishwasher. I'll handle the rest in the morning," she said softly as I led her into her room and got her in the bed.

Seven people? My brother, Derrick, had moved in with Jack and they hadn't had dinner here in about eight months. I usually make myself a sandwich and eat dinner in my room. My mom eats out every other night. Who's coming over for dinner tomorrow? Going into the kitchen this late didn't bother me tonight because it was a Friday but it still irked me that I had to do this. After putting the dishes in the dishwasher, I went back upstairs and tried to go back to sleep, keyword being tried.

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"Good morning, love bug," my mom said cheerfully as she walked to the fridge to get the carton of orange juice. "Got any plans for the day?"

"I was going to hang out with Derrick and Jack, they wanted to go hiking and I wanted to take some pictures."

"Sounds fun. I need you and the boys here at six, okay? We're having a nice dinner and I invited someone over, so I need you on your best behavior."

"Who's coming to dinner?" I asked, confused and curious at the same time.

"The mayor, his wife and their son Robbie."

"How'd that happen?"

"I ran into the mayor's wife at the grocery store yesterday and I invited them over for dinner," she explained.