No Bed

From the time I was nine-years-old through my teens, I spent every summer at my father’s house. Since I didn’t see him all year, as he lived 500 miles away, I spent the summers with him. I always enjoyed this time with my dad, my step-mom, and my two sisters, as well as my grandmother and aunt who lived in the same area. I was excited to get to live this alternate life for a couple of months…although I always felt guilty as well.

Would Mom survive without me? Would she be okay? What kind of trouble would she get into while I was gone?

These thoughts plagued me every year. It didn’t matter if I was nine or fifteen, I worried about her and if she would make it without me around.

One summer I left my room with its white canopy bed filled with stuffed animals and matching gleaming white dresser to go for my annual visit to Dad’s house.

When I returned two months later, I walked into an empty room with a mattress on the floor.. I stared at my empty room in shock as I put down my suitcase. Where was my bed? My dresser?

Mom said that she had sold my bedroom furniture because I was getting too old for that style. She said she was planning to buy me new furniture that was more “grown-up”.

My aunt and grandmother bought me that furniture. They drove 500 miles to purchase it especially for me, and now it was gone.

I spent two years on that mattress on the floor.. I don’t even remember what I put my clothes in. Imagine my surprise to see my furniture in May’s daughter’s bedroom on a visit. You see Mom didn’t sell my furniture due to my age, but to feed her habit.

Please read my next story: A Friend in Good Times and Bad