Chapter 4 Mother dearest

• Jamarcus' POV
• Light filters into my eyes as I open them to greet the world. I raise my hands high above my head and stretch as hard I as I could in a bid to relieve the throbbing pain I felt in the base of my neck but that does not do anything to help…if anything it only makes it worse and I shut my eyes again just so that I can make peace with the slight ringing in my ears.
• Guess I must have not slept properly….
• Once finally awake I reach over to my bedside table to get my cellphone that I had left plugged in. I open it to see a few messages some of which are from work and some from my mother with a couple of missed calls from her as well.
• I grimace at the sight of them, my mother might be one of the sweetest women to have ever graced the Earth's surface but the one thing that she hates is waiting and heaven help you if you decide to keep her waiting.
• Judging by her last call it was a few minutes ago so I am sure that I can still get a hold of her.
• Getting out of bed, I stiffle a yawn as I attempt to dial back her number. She does not answer on the first ring and I am already tempted to give up and resign to my fate.
• I mean what is the worst thing that my mother could do… reassign me to sit with my brother's three year old? When I see her name flash on my phone screen. I brace myself for the bashing that is about to come next as I slide the answer button.
• "Jamarcus T Robinson! Just where in the world have you been?" My mother's voice belows through the phone.
• "Hi Mom….uhm how are you?"
• "Don't you dare…How are you me young man! I have been calling you for the past one hour without being able to get a hold of you. You basically sent me straight to voicemail! Not to mention the fact that you did not come home for the weekend nor did you leave a message to let me me know. Do you even know how worried I was?" She says screaming so loud that I have to take the phone away from my hear in order to prevent temporal hearing loss or at least not compound in one that already have.
• "Oh come on Mom stop being so paranoid. Nothing was going to happen to me, I am perfectly okay besides I did not ignore you on purpose mum. Yesterday had been a really hectic one for me so I was not able to come around. I did not even get a chance to eat and basically as I got to my house. I'm really sorry mum."
• My mother pauses for a moment voice and for a second I contemplate the idea that she has hung the phone up on me when I hear her sigh and I know that I have managed to get through to her.
• "Oh really?"
• "Yes, how can I make it up to you pwincessa?"
• My mother casts her previous grievances aside and laughs heartily at the nickname. When I was younger for some reason I could never quite say the word princess. It was always some variation be it pinkcess or pwincessa. Pwincessa had been the one that had stuck though and even though I had far outgrow it, my family still used it to tease me here and there. Now I use it to address my mother on an occasional basis.
• "Pwincessa, it's been a while you called me that." My mother says, each word punctuated with an animated giggle. I can hear a rattle of a cup against a saucer and I vividly picture my mother in bed with a cup of coffee in one hand and the other trying to adjust the cord of the house landline to a position that was barely kept the telephone from tipping over but was comfortable enough for her. Just thinking about it brings a smile to my face and I can not help but want to go over and hug her even though she was on the other side of town.
• When her giggles subside I ask her about home. "So…what is new? Any new family gossip I should be made aware of? "
• "Family gossip?" My mom says with another small laugh "Is that what we have been reduced to?"
• "Hmmm…Well that is one way of seeing it." I say making her laugh again "Now spill woman, give me all the juicy details or as my employees say deets."
• "First of all I am well over the age of fifty five and even I know not to make use of the word deets, jesus christ Jamarcus it is like you have been living under a rock this entire time."
• "Well excuse me that I don't spend my life on fashion news letters and is addicted to channel E."
• "They are educational!" My mother retorts.
• "Yeah sure and global warming is not a pressing issue that needs pressing attention." I say sarcastically and ask her to continue our previous conversation before she can make a good enough comeback
• "Well as you know this past week had been Conrad's birthday." All happy thoughts disappear at the mention of my brother's name.
• "Hmmm…"I say in response as I try my hardest to feign interest but end up failing because my mother notices and calls me out on it.
• "Enough of that young man. Your brother is still your brother at the end of the day no matter how much your father's name neurotic tendencies may try to separate you guys." My mother says with a huff.
• "Oh so you are aware but you didn't exactly say anything."
• "Jamarcus…" My mother says calling my name in warning.
• "Fine. I'll drop it…for now" I say finally concedeing. "So what did the great Conrad do on his oh so memorable womb escape day?" I say sarcastically.
• My sarcasm falls on deaf ears because my mother pretty much ignores me and continues on
• "Oh nothing much really he just brought Eleanor over with the kids. You know she's about eight months pregnant and she's going to pop any minute now. You should see her now she could double for a baby elephant in weight. She even asked of you. I-"
• "You don't say…" I say to my mother
• "Oh yes and your father had gone all for it. He had ordered cakes, gotten catering even baloons! Like what would a grown adult man over the age of thirty need baloons for? The only thing that he had not done was get a venue and that was because Conrad had strongly advised him against it."
• On my birthday, all I had ever received from my father was a two worded text saying "Happy birthday", no calls, no texts nothing but I think that sharing that tid bit of information would not dwell kindly with my mother so I do not divulge it.
• I do not need another family warfare on my hands…
• "It was honestly a lot of fun and the only thing that would have made it even better was if you had equally showed up." My mother said the disdain as clear as day in her voice.
• "Oh come on Mom please don't start. You promised. I thought that we were already far past this."
• "I don't remember making any sort of promises."
• "Mom please."_
• "Hmmmph… fine but it would have still been amazing if you had come though. Who knew you could have brought over that foxy redhead that you had shown me her picture some time last month."
• I grimace at the thought of recent exrelationship prospect Sandy. I had met her online on a friend's recommendation. I had at first been hesitant on going out with someone I had no physical contact with but on the date she and I had instantly clicked. We were so close and basically did everything together when all of a sudden on the night that I had proposed to her to be my girlfriend she had instead broken up a relationship with me for reasons that she claimed were best know to her and disappeared shortly after. I had tried to keep in contact with her in hopes of reviving what we had once had but all to no avail. It was as though she had become a ghost..like she had never existed. I realize now that in the height of my feelings I must have shown my mother some of her pictures and I'm pretty sure that by now she had probably browsed up on everything there was to know about Sandy and was just waiting for a formal introduction on my part.
• "Yeah mom about that…. we uhm didn't exactly work out."
• "Oh my good sweetie I am so sorry to hear about that. What happened?"
• "Uhm she and I apparently wanted different things. So we split up."
• "Oh…did she say what the problem was? Maybe you guys could fix it?" My mom asks the concern now palpable in her voice.
• "Just the usual ''it's not you it's me' spiel that people tend to use. She did not even give me a chance to fix things."
• "I'm really sorry son. Don't worry you'll find someone that will acknowledge your importance and that is truly worth worthy of you and not some escape skete that doesn't exactly know what to do with her life."
• "Mom…" I drawl out. "She had made her choice and it's her loss, there is no need for insults."
• "Oh but there is a need how dare she hurt my baby boy?" She said angrily
• "Baby?" I say to her laughing at the laced venom in her words. "Mom I am in my early thirties. I am not a baby anymore."
• "Hmmmph nonsense! You always remain my baby no matter how old you are. I remember the day I had brought you back from the hospital. You had the sweetest smile that made all the nurses swoon. Not to mention you had gotten-"
• I let out an audible groan "Mom please I beg you not this story again."
• My mother pays me no heed and ventures forwards "-Your dad in serious trouble because he had ran over stop lights just so that he could get us to the hospital in one piece. I had almost thought that we were not going to make it but by some miracle you-"
• "Oh why…uhm would you look at that mom." I say interrupting her. "There is another person on the line. I guess I will have to hang up now."
• "Jamarcus don't you dare hang up on m-"
• "Bye mom. Please always remember to take your meds and remember, I love you." I tell her and hang up the phone.
• ****
• I step out of my shower feeling youth and rejuvenated than I have ever been in this past few weeks. My previous tiredness is no where to be found as I bend over my bed to raise a towel I had placed there earlier to my hair to dry it.
• I am going to take advantage of the weekend and sit back and rewind.
• I quickly get myself dressed and head into the kitchen in search of something to eat. I open the cupboard to get some cereal but I am shocked to see that there was nothing present. I guess that i must have run out this past week but I had not noticed as I had been too preoccupied with work.
• Heaving a sigh I turn around to face my table top stove in the corner of the room with slight annoyance. Not that it was broken or anything but because I had little to no cooking experience hence it had no use for me.
• Now I will have to go eat out and get some groceries while I'm at it. This totally hinders the sleep in day that I had originally planned for myself but I guess I have no one other than myself for this.
• I leave the kitchen and walk into the living room to get my jacket that I had left on the coat rack before exiting my apartment.