The Butler

Chapter 3- By Mom's Side

As I bring out my frail mom out of the hospital in a wheelchair, the urge to quadruple check her decisions overcame me.

"Are you sure, mom? There's medical equipment and actual doctors here," as I emphasize actual.

My mom laughs. You know what I said about Damon? I change my mind. My mother's laughter is the best. It is my mom after all. When she snorts, it makes me laugh as well. Everything about her laugh makes me so happy, even if her laughter sounds shaky from her lack of energy. 

I grip the handle as the tears threaten to spill. Her laughter used to be filled with so much heartiness.The beautiful glow from my mother's skin was harshly stolen by the pills making her rapidly lose weight and causing her skin to be sickly pale. She lost her lush long brown hair that I inherited from her. The men around town would stare at her from how beautiful she was, and if they knew her personally, they would desire her more because she was even more dazzling on the inside than out. Confidence exuded from her, but she stayed humble while being compassionate and amiable. However, her eyes lost the shine over the years at the hospital as she struggled with self confidence and the realization of the imminent death while I just stood there and watched a flower wilt. The most painful thing.

I stare up at the star-filled, pitch black sky as I will my eyes to stop producing tears.

Our taxi pulls up as I dry my eyes. I get so frustrated because there aren't any taxis that I've seen that are wheelchair friendly. I support her as best as possible to put her into the car, and I stow the wheelchair in the trunk. The taxi driver was an old man who had a bulging stomach and salt and pepper hair. He had a name tag on the windshield that read Dave Smith. Very original.

As I slid into the back seat with my mom, I thanked the taxi driver for letting us use the trunk. As he drove us to my home, he stayed silent while my mom and I chatted about a whole bunch of stuff like gossip about the hospital staff of who was dating who. As we giggled the night away, we quickly arrived at our home. I struggled to bring her out of the car. She was light, but that didn't mean that the process of trying to princess carry your mom onto a wheelchair is easy. I quickly paid the taxi driver and strolled her to the front door. 

Luckily, our home is a ranch style home meaning I didn't have to carry her up cumbersome steps. A small, gray home with only one room was located at the cul-de-sac. There is a short driveway to the garage, which I actually renovated into my room. I was excited to show her what I've done to decorate my room. We were definitely financially well off before, but when my mother got admitted to the hospital, her wallet took a hit. As the bills started racking up, I had to get a job to pay off the rest of the bills that her savings could not afford. As a single mother, she did amazing to save up to pay off a year's worth of hospital stay, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

As I showed her around my room, I decided to sleep in her room tonight like when I was in elementary school. There is a long curtain that was attached to the ceiling and flowed to the headboard of my bed. Damon and I installed fairy lights into this curtain. The bed was located in the center of the room against the wall. I painted the garage a grayish blue and covered the cement floor with a large cheap rug that I found from a flea market. We were able to DIY a headboard of the bed using wood and and white fabric. A small white desk and chair was fit snug into the corner. I had placed a white dresser filled with my measly amount clothes on the other side of my bed.

Damon is from a rich family. I paused in my thinking. Rich would be an understatement. Damon is from an EXTRAVAGANT family, however he was able to follow directions and help me with all the decorations and DIY furniture pieces. My mom had a close bond with Damon as well because he would visit her while I was at work. She strongly suggests me to marry Damon when I become older. My mom and I sold her car to pay off the bills as Damon suggested that he would drive me around in exchange for tutoring. He was so affluent yet so down to earth. He could have easily gotten the world's best tutor, but he created a reasonable excuse to not hurt my pride which could have easily been seen as charity work.

My mom beamed, "this is beautiful. My daughter is growing up so quickly. Did you do this on my own?"

"No, Damon did all the hard work," I chuckled. After she closely examined all the furniture, I led her to her room for her to wash up and rest. She insisted that I don't assist her because she didn't want to rely on me, and she nagged me to start on my homework. I rolled my eyes and smiled as I went to my room to start on calculus.

After finishing my homework, I snuck into her bed quietly and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. She was in deep sleep because I finished my homework at 4 AM. I observed my beautiful mom's side profile as tears rolled down my cheeks. I feel asleep as I prayed to not take her away.