| Show Charlies Charlie's Mother Where Are You When I Need You by Myrna Borg My teen-aged teen daughter Chris came home from school one day and announced ed that tha t Charlie Baileys Bailey's mother had run away from home home again I laughed Well that's a switch What on earth prompted her to do that Again you say Do you mean to tell me that this is a frequent occurrence Chris explained that every time Mrs Baileys Bailey's three sons gave her a bad time or something some- some tiling thing was broken or her husband husband husband hus hus- band was very late for a well-prepared well dinner she climbed into her car and drove off leaving them to fend for themselves for one two or even three days I marveled at her courage although still amused and sur sur- My thoughts were interrupted interrupted int in in- t by a loud verbal battle between Chris and her herL L younger brother about who polished off the orange juice and put the empty bottle back in the fridge s I mumbled something about peace but then those thoughts were interrupted by bya a dog fight in the back yard over my garbage We dont don't own a dog but those were my ruined Petunias While I watched the yelping dogs run runoff runoff runoff off the coffee boiled over and I missed hearing the dryer buzz The no-iron no shirts would need a little touch My husband came home and wondered out loud why the coffee was bitter getting dinner off to a bad start John the youngest offered that he had lost one of his new red ski mittens Young Daves Dave's dinner went back into the oven never to be re re- re claimed It was still there in inthe inthe inthe the morning I crawled into bed late that night thinking of Charlies Charlie's mother Where did she stay at times like these I decided to give her a call the next day or whenever I could catch her at home |
