Flash Entries

Black Friday (ID#1727915)

Black Friday

         “I just quit! I’m buried and I can’t get out! I’m trapped and I can’t watch TV!” Boom! The bedroom door slammed shut. The whole bedroom shook from the force of the irate slammer.          
I bolted straight up in bed. “What the… ?”          
Tim reached for the lamp. “Your mother, again.”          
I checked the time 3:00 AM, well I didn’t need the alarm clock after all. I threw off the covers, reached for my robe at the foot of the bed and headed out for her bedroom at the other end of the house, mumbling to myself the whole way.          
“Mom!?” She made it through the house in the total dark both ways without incident, and crawled back into her bed. The screams and tears hadn’t stopped, she was still going strong.          
“NO! No! I wanted to be good. I tried really hard to be good, but I wasn’t. I’m buried. I’m buried and I can’t get out.” Tears streamed down her cheeks onto her pillowcase. She covered her face with her hands. “I’m trapped! I’m trapped!” She rocked fearfully back and forth under her covers.          
“Shhhh, it’s ok, Mom,” I gently rubbed her back, “it’s just a nightmare. Nobody is here but me. You can watch TV. Where is the remote? I’ll turn it on for you.”          
“NOOOOOOO! NO! I can’t get up! They said I can’t get up!” she screamed and continued to cry uncontrollably.          
“Mom, who said you couldn’t watch TV? There isn’t anybody here.”          
“They said it on TV. They said I had to lay here, I couldn’t get up. I’m not supposed to move, but I did and now I’m in trouble. OH, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to be bad! I don’t want to be here. I just want to quit!”          
“Shhh, Mom, it’s alright. I’ll take care of it. It’s going to be fine.”          
Tim showed up at the door, “What’s the story this time?” loud enough for her to hear and the tirade started all over again.          
I sat beside my Mom on her bed rubbing her back, I looked up and just shook my head with that ‘How would I know’ look on my face. “Just go on, I’ll take care of this.”          
Tim turned around and headed back to our bedroom. His alarm clock would go off soon, not that he needed his either.          
I sat on the edge of my mother’s bed, and rubbed her back. Memories of nights that I’d rubbed Mike and Jim’s backs when they had had nightmares seemed like a lifetime ago. Now I rubbed my mother’s back trying to calm her down. Her muscles slowly relaxed, her breathing slowed, finally she quieted down.          
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I really wanted to be good. I just couldn’t, “she sniffled.          
“It’s ok, Mom. I’m going to go get you some breakfast. You need to get up and take your sugar.”          
“NO! No, I can’t get out of bed.”          
“Alright, Mom, then stay in bed for a bit longer,” I walked silently to the kitchen.          
Tim stood at the countertop preparing his lunch. “What are you going to do?”          
“Fix her breakfast; then make her get up and take her sugar.” I gave Tim a kiss and sent him on to work.
In autopilot, I fixed her oatmeal, turkey bacon and half of a banana. I walked back into her bedroom to find her feigning sleep. “Mom,” I whispered.          
“What?”          
“Your breakfast is ready. Come on; take your sugar before you oatmeal gets cold. There isn’t anything nastier than cold left over oatmeal.”          
She sat up on the edge of the bed. Rubbed her face, blew her nose. She looked so sad, so defeated. It killed me to see her like this.          
“Come on, let’s get going.”          
She stood up, held on to the edge of the bed for support. She went to the bathroom, took her sugar and wrote down her results in her record book. I walked back to the kitchen. 7:00AM, well forget about getting to Kohl’s, I thought.          


At least the rest of the day was quiet. She sat in silence, in her own prison, trapped in time in her own mind. I sat in mine, watching over her. Making sure she ate as she should, took her medicine, making sure she was safe. Black Friday used to be our special day, we’d shop until we dropped, hitting all of the sales, not today… probably never again. 749