A Cuckoo In The Nest (A Mothers' Day Contemplation)
14 Mar 2021JB Threepwood
I stood there listening to the band as they played in the background.... the song ran through my mind, lighting up old memories as it passed through old, forgotten synapses.It reminded me of Babs. These were the old songs she used to play from her old cleaning trolley as she cleaned her way through several levels of my mom's old apartment building.
Babs was great. As a kid, she'd often take me in for dinner once she'd finished her rounds. She had two sons of her own... both a lot older than me and I don't think either of them liked me. But Babs must've felt bad for me and the shit-show that my mom's life had become.
Babs wasn't the greatest cook but sometimes I'd go days at a time without being fed at home so she could've served me anything and I'd have wolfed it down. It seemed to make her happy though, I was a gobby little shit but I remember how I used to make her laugh. A big, raspy laugh until she'd start a coughing fit.
I think her sons took her for granted. They were used to food on the table but, even on an agricultural and tourist planet, there was real hunger down in the slums. Babs was hired by The City, she could pay for education for her sons, give them opportunities she never had for herself. They used to moan and whine about shit, things I'd've sold my soul to have as a problem instead of what I knew I'd be going home to.
I appreciated Babs though. Hell, I loved the woman. She was rough around the edges. She had bad tattoos, swore like a docker and smoked like a chimney... but when she'd hug me goodbye I just wanted to hang onto that tobacco-stained tabard and not let go.
After I left Rapa Bao I could never head back... if I went back now, if my old gang realised I'd survived the hit they put on me, I'd be a dead man. I still don't know what happened to Babs... if she's still working, if she's even still alive.
I took my hipflask out of my inside pocket and took a swig, a silent toast to the closest person I ever had to a loving mother.