Timberwood - Short Stories Edition: Vol. 20
(I know. I need to just go 'head & work on that big fiction ebook! I may have to restart everything all over again from scratch. I tell myself this every time I do a new Volume. Lol!
Also, I'm from New Orleans, so New Orleans Black folks slang will be used in this short story. Don't take it to offense or try to say that I'm illiterate & can't spell! I know what I'm doing! This short message is directed at you narcissistic, Satanic Gang Stalkers & your fake smear campaigns!)
So, here's the short story.
It's Mother's Day. I, Nola Bordelon, don't have any children. Every Mother's Day, I feel like I wish I was a mother. It's breakfast time, & I'm sitting at the table, observing the guys prep up for the dinner, while the women are prepping up for breakfast & desserts.
Cornelius asked me, "What you poutin' fah?", (What are you pouting for?")
I said, "Because every year, I feel left out, not getting to be a mother."
The older teens got in trouble for running around the house, laughing & chanting, "Nola's still a virgin! Nola's still a virgin!"
Loriano said, "Oh, great! We have a real life version of a 40-year old virgin." Everyone laughed. Roberto hi-fived him.
Deonte', Tauriana's male cousin, said, "I'm surprised you don't think that Mother's Day is a pagan, Satanic holiday! Didn't you say that Christmas, Mardi Gras, & dem other holidays is evil? What makes Mother's Day any different?"
He aggressively DEMANDED a response out of me. I felt defenseless, scared & like a dummy. Mother's Day or not, I wish I was a wife & a mother with children.
Tharen, Jr., was outside on the patio, practicing to perfect this song that he wrote for his mom, Mrs. Lavonda. You hear him crooning his heart out! You would think it's a celebrity singing a hit ballad. We heard him singing, "Say, I'm serenading to my beautiful mother!"
I went to peep outside right quick, & then I went back into the kitchen, waiting around for breakfast. Taschika's daughter, Nyoka & her friends, ShyAnne & Lil' Sherry, whom I jokingly call, "Sherry, Jr., (since she's named after her mother) all came & huddled around me, playing in my hair, fantasizing out loud, gossipping & joking about what styles they'd like to do. Taschika was cooking & taste tested this caramel sauce that she was going to put on this bananas foster that she was making, homemade from scratch.
Nyoka was like, "Ooh, momma! Why we can't put the leftover sauce on our pancakes?"
Taschika yelled at her saying, "Nooooo!", like as if she got aggravated with her. She must've asked earlier before. Taschika explained to her that she was going to use the extra leftover caramel sauce for some caramel apples for the children.
Mrs. Amelia Clarke Simmons sarcastically said, "Now you all KNOW those children don't need any sugar! Bad enough, breakfast is going to have them bouncing off the walls like yo-yos!"
Toury said, "Right on. Let them have a lil' sugar & burn up that energy."
Annalise had just turned 9, on the same day as her baby brother, Tharen the 3rd. He turned a year old. Annalise said, "Ooh, can we turn the Mother's Day dinner into a pool party?"
Zoe said, "I know, man! It's hot."
Taschika annoyingly yelled again, "Noooooooo!"
Zoe said under her breath, "Aww, man!"
Taschika & Jessica both simultaneously said, "We heard dat, yeah!"
Meanwhile, the children were playing around with retro 80's toys for the first time, in 2022. Brand new & opened for the first time. Hula hoop, cabbage patch kids & pogo ball.
Me being a big kid, I played some hula hoop & pogo ball, but not cabbage patch kids. I wanted to re-experience that fun again. Unfortunately, I was too fat for the pogo ball. The kids were asking me to help show them how to hula hoop. I was trying to help Angelique balance on the pogo ball & learn how to jump.
It was finally breakfast time, & only the mothers were allowed to sit at this special, elitist decorated table. Me always being abused & singled out, I probably would've gotten shoo'ed away, anyway, even if I did have kids. Mainly the men frowned upon me sitting at that table & forced me to get up. I didn't hear them say that it was for mothers only. All I know was that Toury invited all the feemz (his personalized short slang for "women" or "females") to sit at that table. I mistakenly thought that it was for all females to sit there, whether you're a mother or not.
I said, "Well, where am I supposed to sit?"
& then Taschika, being younger than me, thought she could punish me by forcefully ordering me to sit on the floor. & then she walked off & said, "Ol' greedy behind!" Everyone laughed. She didn't care that I have OCD, & she didn't care about me being hypersensitive to being called, "greedy".
I felt dirty after eating, & then went to discreetly go take a quick shower & wash my hair. Everyone, especially the doggone kids, kept disrupting me, saying that they had to use the bathroom.
After I was done, I stayed in the room by myself all day with my earbuds in. I couldn't get peace or solitude for NOTHING! Again, everyone, especially the doggone kids kept wanting to come in. Many former Timberwood cult members utilized the dinner as an opportunity to have a "reunion". The twins, Lisa & Lauren kept chanting, "Reunion! Reunion! Reunion! Reunion! Reunion!"
They had a special ceremony-like dinner. Since I was treated the way I was treated earlier, I uninvited myself from the dinner. I didn't want to be humiliated, uncomfortable or abused again.
I planned to wait until after everyone was gone, to go & get whatever they had leftover. "I'm" so greedy, but all that food was gone! Nothing left. Nobody cared about me. Everyone else ate.
Sherayna made me a tuna sandwich with a bunch of chopped up tomatoes. So much that there were more tomatoes than the tuna. It tasted flavorless & nasty. Dog, I hate tomatoes! I started picking them out, & Kristina said, "Here, sweetie. I'll give them to my mom. She'll eat 'em." I told her about what happened earlier that day, & she was receptive & listened. She offered me emotional support.
Trumaine, Freddie, Darryl & Scott laughed & said, "Well. Maybe Nola must not be too greedy, since she got food to throw away!" Kristina cussed them out. Teddy, Angelique, Roland, Olivia, Tristan & Kharen all came into the kitchen, begging for more food. Kristina gave each of them a small piece of cheese.
Angelique just would NOT get out of her mom Kristina's hair! She was the last one in the kitchen, & Kristina told her, "Here, get you a piece of cheese." Then, Angelique took the cheese & ran into the living room.
Everyone was gossipping & discussing, raving on about how phenomenal the food was & also raving about Tharen's song.
From that day forward, Mrs. Lavonda made it a daily routine to pray, read the Bible & then listen to her the video performance of her son's Mother's Day song every morning, crying.
THE END