crazy

She was crazy. Not insane or mad, but absolutely crazy. When I woke up in the morning and clambered down the stairs into the breakfast room, I'd find my mother stark naked, except for a pair of high heels, frying eggs and bacon while buttering toast. She'd say, "Hello, darling, so glad you could make it to breakfast. Eggs are nearly done, love. Pour the coffee would you?" as though nothing about her lack of apparel deserved an explanation or even a comment. We would eat that way, she sitting across from me, her naked breasts hovering just above her breakfast plate, me staring at my eggs wondering how long this would go on. Some mornings she would wear a scarf along with her heels, other times a diamond necklace. Each morning I arose wondering what I would find next. Then one morning, she simply wasn't there.

I entered the breakfast room prepared for her naked flesh and patent leather heels to say hello and give me food, but silence greeted me instead. I never heard a quiet that pervasive, or felt a room so still. The air felt cool without the greasy heat from a frying pan permeating through the air. "Mother," I called out to an empty house. "Mother, are you here?"

Uncertain what to do, I wandered through the house searching for her. When I didn't find her, I went into the backyard and searched for her in the garden. Then the shed. Then the garage. That was when I noticed the car was gone. I ran inside and looked in her closet, dresser, and jewelry stand. Everything that belonged to my mother had disappeared with her.

Beginning to feel the loneliness of abandonment, I picked up the phone and dialed Harry's number. After the fourth ring, he picked up. "Hello?" answered a sleepy voice belonging to my father.

"She's gone," I said.
"What?"
"Mother. She's gone."
"Trey, is that you?"
"I don't know where she went."
"Don't worry, I'll be right over."
"She took all her clothes. She never wears clothes."
"I'm coming over there, Trey. Hold tight."
Then he hung up. Even though Harry and I never got along, I felt hopeful at the fact he would be there soon.

(to be cont.)