Читать книгу Both Sides of the Fence 2: - M.T. Pope - Страница 20

The Curse

October 30^th, 2018, 12:09 P.M.

“Ashley is such a good girl,” I said to myself as I prepared to go down to the basement and get the last little load of clothes out of the dryer. My job as a wife and a mother never paid well and had absolutely no sick days. Some days, I just wanted to walk away from it all, but the love of my family kept me onboard this ship that sometimes seemed to be headed to nowhere.

I had to walk through Alex’s room to get to the laundry room. When it came to neatness and organization, he was just like his father. Everything had its place, and his bed never went unmade. I marveled at the décor and color scheme that he put together so well. Even as a woman, I couldn’t get the rest of the house coordinated as well as he had his little habitat in the basement.

I proceeded on to the back of the basement and removed the clothes from the dryer so I could fold them and put them away. “Let me hurry up and get this done,” I said to myself. “I need to get dinner started.”

Since I was already down in Alex’s room, I decided to put his clothes away for him. I went to his dresser, which was labeled for shirts, underwear, pants, etc., and began placing the items in the appropriate drawers. As I got to the last drawer to place his underwear away, I got the shock of my life.

I placed my hands over my mouth to muffle my whimpers of shock. “What in the hell!” I mouthed as tears flooded my eyes and ran down my face. I picked up the thick, veined dildo and slowly sat down on his bed. Thoughts of Shawn’s demons and his past that involved him sleeping with men flooded my mind.

I balled up on Alex’s bed and sobbed. “Not my baby, Lord! No! Not Alex!” I cried uncontrollably as I clutched the plastic toy. I couldn’t take the thought of my only son being gay. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t.

I heard the noise of footsteps above me and assumed it was Alex coming home from football practice. I scrambled to get myself together and quickly placed the dildo back where I’d found it. Then I removed the clothes I had previously placed in his drawers and made my way back to the laundry room to pretend like I was there the whole time.

As he came down the basement steps, I dried my tears and made my way through his room. I don’t know what most parents would’ve done in this situation, but I didn’t plan on forcing him to come out to me. If I’d done that, he might have rejected me and even run away. I couldn’t have my baby running the streets, so I decided to just keep this to myself. I wasn’t even going to tell Shawn. That would’ve definitely sent him back to counseling.

“Hey, Ma.” Alex greeted me with a kiss on the cheek as he walked into the laundry room.

I fumbled with the clothes a little longer, just to distract him and myself from my nervousness. “Your clothes are over there.” I pointed away from myself, trying not to make eye contact with him. “I didn’t want to invade your privacy, so I just folded them. All you have to do is put them away.” I brushed past him and made my way toward the steps in a faster pace than normal.

“Hey, Ma,” he slightly yelled.

“Yeah, baby?” I turned around to see what he wanted.

“You thought I wouldn’t notice, didn’t you?” He had a serious look on his face.

“Ah. Notice what?” I said, afraid that he’d noticed that someone had been through his things. My palms began to sweat as he walked toward me. I wanted to run and leave him standing there.

My eyes quickly darted around the room, making sure I had placed everything back as I’d found it. In my haste, I could have left a drawer open or something. To my relief, I left no evidence of my previous invasion. Whew! I sighed mentally.

“You thought I was just going to let you walk away from me without giving me a hug?”

“Oh. Ha-ha.” I laughed nervously and placed the laundry basket on the floor, preparing to be hugged.

He hugged and squeezed me really hard, like he normally did. I had forgotten that Alex was a very affectionate person. Even as a child he hugged everyone that he greeted like they were family.

“Alex, baby, you know you can talk to me and your dad about anything, right?”

“Yeah, Ma. Why you getting all mushy?” he said, a smile on his face.

“Alex, I just want you to know that, okay,” I said in a serious tone.

“I know, Ma, I know.”

I turned around, picked up the laundry, and headed upstairs with a load in my hand, and on my mind.