Mom

My feelings of victory and empowerment lasted long enough to read the Caller ID.

M O M

It wasn't so much that I was surprised she was calling--though I was. I was surprised she hadn't lost my number between Christmas and now. I was surprised she was calling me at a halfway decent hour, and not 3 in the morning. I was surprised she wasn't lost in a bottle somewhere. Whatever she was calling about, it had to be important.

"Hello?"

"Tom?" Ah, so at least one of my expectations was true. She did sound sauced. "What took you so long? I've been calling for most of an hour!"

"I thought it was..." I sighed. "Never mind. I was teaching."

"Teaching? What time is it?" After a pause, she said, "Shit. Sorry to call in the middle of class, hon, but this is important."

"Is Leila in trouble again, or something?" I asked, half-joking.

"How did you know?"

I chuckled bitterly. "Lucky guess. What's she done now?"

After a long moment, my mom answered. "She's in jail."

"Again?"

"No, it's not her fault."

Our teenage years flashed before my eyes. "It never is."

"You remember that piece of shit, Andy?"

"Is he the piece of shit that came high to Thanksgiving or the piece of shit that had her blow him in the car on your birthday?"

"Don't be gross."

"Sorry. So?"

"The first one."

"Ah. I fucking hate Andy." I didn't mind the other one, blowjob notwithstanding.

"You'll be happy, then. She's been trying to get away from him lately."

"What does this have to do with her being in jail?"

"Yesterday, she went to the store with him, and he got caught shoplifting. Or she did. Sonofabitch shoved the stuff into her arms so she was the one who took the fall for it. Now she's through with him."

"Like she's always through with guys when they mistreat her, right?"

"Well, he offered to put up her bail, and she told him not to bother and hung up on him."

"Oh. She might actually be through with him." Not smart, maybe, under the circumstances, but admirable. "I see where this is going, and I don't have the money."

"You don't even know what her bail is."

"How much is it?"

"A thousand dollars."

Shit. I almost had that. In savings, anyway. But technically... "I don't have it."

"I can cover three hundred."

Fuck. By the clock on the wall, I only had a couple of minutes before my next class.

"Let's talk about it after 5, all right? I'll see what I can scrounge up."

"Thank you, sweetie. I love you."

"Love you too." As I went to hang up, I heard something swish in a bottle next to the phone. "And mom?"

"Yes?"

The power uncurled like tendrils of fog along my skin. "Don't drink any more **** until I tell you to."

What I guessed was the bottle clicked as she set it down. "Of course."

"Good," I said, finding a smile. "Talk to you soon."

I hung up the phone not long before my next class started pouring in.