Lunch With My Mom

LUNCHTIME ABDUCTION

The little girl sat in her classroom watching the clock. This day was going to be different than the other days and as far as she was concerned different was good. Today at noon her brother was going to come to her classroom and get her. Then they were going to lunch with their mom. She wasn't really that excited about seeing her mom but getting to leave school in the middle of the day was cool.

She had to wait ten more minutes. She decided to put her things away and get her jacket from her cubby in the back. After that she still had to wait eight minutes. She wondered where they would go. She hoped it was country kitchen. She loved their French toast and they would make it all day, not just in the morning.

This was her second first grade classroom and she liked it better. Her first one was in a different school and no one else went there. Her older brother went to this school. He was in sixth grade but she did see him around and they were both on the bus together after her oldest brother and her sister got off at the high school.

Finally he came to get her. He had taken the note from their dad to the office in the morning and he had the pass for both of them to leave. She was so happy she didn't have to go to the office. She just had to follow her brother to the car.

Her brother appeared in the door. He had on his blue plaid shirt and his jeans. She asked him why he didn't have his coat on. He didn't really like it when she asked him questions. “Because I'm not cold” he said.

When they stepped out of the school she was a little cold. She was glad she had her coat on. It was springtime and the sun was shining bright in the noonday sky. But there was still snow on the ground from the last storm. It had been melting all day but it wasn't gone yet.

Their mom was waiting in the brown four door oldsmobile. Her brother opened the front door and she slid into the middle. She always had to sit in the middle because she was the littlest one. No one ever let her sit by the door.

Her mom left the parking lot and the little girl started asking questions. Her brother didn't say anything. He hadn't really talked to their mom since she moved out. He was not happy about having to go with her to lunch. Neither was the little girl but she kept talking so her brother wouldn't have to. She never paid much attention to where they were going. She didn't know how to get anyplace any way.

Suddenly her brother asked a question. It surprised her that he was talking directly to their mom. “Where are we going to lunch?”. There was something in his voice that made her stop talking.

Her mom didn't even look over at him when she said “Montana”. It was right about then that all hell broke loose in that car. The little girl wasn't sure what was going on. But her brother and her mom were arguing and she was on her brother's side.

Slowly it came to her that her mother intended to move to Montana and she was going to bring them both with her. Her brother thought that was a terrible idea and so did she. They argued back and forth for a while each one yelling just a little bit louder each time.

The little girl was getting kinda nervous. She didn't like it when people yelled. Her mom and her sister yelled at each other all the time before her mom moved out. Sometimes it scared her but she was always on her sister's side. And now she was on her brother's side.

The next thing she knew her brother was yelling at their mom to bring him home. She said no. “Then I will walk. LET ME OUT!”

Their mother did not stop the car and told him no again.

The little girl knew them both. Neither one was going to give in anytime soon. Then her brother opened the door. He was going to get out no matter that they were going 70 on the freeway.

The little girl held on tight to her brother. She could see the road racing by just on the other side of his blue shirt. Their mother held on tight to the little girl. All she knew was if he was getting out so was she. The cold wind was hitting her face. Both her mother and her brother were yelling and she was crying.

Her brother said he didn't want to live with their mother. She told him she didn't really want him either but the little girl would never be good if he wasn't there. He told her he would never stay with her.

Then her mother gave in. “Fine I’ll bring you home. Just shut the door”.

She did not expect that.

By now they were almost to the Montana border. Her brother didn't really relax until she turned the car around. They didn't stop arguing.

Now they were arguing about where the little girl would go. Their mother insisted that she was taking her to Montana. Her brother said that was too far and they would never be able to see each other.

By the time they got almost to the turnoff to their house he had convinced her to only move to Rapid City so they could visit the little girl. The little girl was glad she didn't have to go to Montana but she wanted to go home with her brother.

Their house was two and a half miles from where their mother stopped the car. It was the bus stop. Their older sister would sometimes drive them all to the bus stop or their dad would drop them off on his way to work. This day he had dropped them off.

The little girl's mother left her brother there alone. He was ten. Her mother would not bring him back to school because he would tell someone what she had done. And she wouldn't drive him home because there was a telephone there and she was afraid he would call someone and tell them what she had done. So she left him there. Two and a half miles from home, hours before his siblings got off the bus with no coat.

As the car drove away the little girl looked back at him standing there in his jeans and his blue plaid shirt.