My mom was not a Martha Stewart, but I can’t really complain. She had given up everything for me, even her own birthday. She had given birth in the back seat of an old beat up hot rod, running from a controlling family back in Louisiana and headed west racing the sun. If she hadn’t stopped to eat and rest her aching back in the parking lot of a small town cafe outside of Austin Texas perhaps things would have turned out differently for both of us.
Adopted by grandma and papa Cooper, and finding herself among the welcoming community, she finished high school and earned a business degree which she used to start her career as a real estate agent. Grandma passed away shortly after, her greatest wish fulfilled. I was five years old then and it has been me and mom against the world since, living in a 3 bedroom two story red brick home 2 blocks from where she had given birth.
Every time my birthday came, mom would keep me out of school and we would spend an entire 24 hours doing anything that I wanted. It didn’t matter if it was street hockey or rolling around in the mud she would do it and we would both laugh and play. But it was always about ME and what I wanted.
I started realizing that mom no longer had a birthday of her own. So after everything she had done for me I wanted to make this, her 34th birthday, about her. I had to be sneaky of course or we never would have made it past breakfast. Thankfully grandma had left me a bit of money for situations just like this.
The day started at 8:00am as I woke her with a breakfast in bed. I had woken early to prepare a delicious tray of creamy strawberry crêpes, a bowl of blueberries and whip cream, coffee, and a large glass of orange juice. I had spent days practicing and according to Mary Jane, my cooking coach, they were perfect.
My hands trembled and the tray shook in my arms. I watched ripples form in the coffee and prayed softly that it didn’t spill. Mom would never get out of bed this early without a stiff cup of coffee to wake her up. I found her door unlocked and gently pushed it open.
This was my first look at Sarah Le Blanc,. Not mom or Sarah Cooper the real estate agent but the real Sarah Le Blanc, the lost and abandoned girl who had become a woman at 16. She was beautiful with her long blonde hair held by a scrap of yarn, just a few strays clinging to her white satin pillow case. Her pearl colored skin seemed to glow in the morning light.
She had kicked the blankets off and was lying half on her side and half on her stomach, her firm round cheeks laid bare. A long T shirt was bunched up around her back. She had one hand clutching a pillow and the other appeared to be trapped between her legs.
Unsure what else to do I sat the tray down on the nightstand before leaning over and kissing her softly on the cheek. She groaned softly and stretched into a yawn as she quickly lifted the sheet to cover her legs. Turning towards me she looked at the tray and a sparkling smile stretched across her lips.
“For me? Oh how sweet.” She cooed.
“I want to do this right.” My hands trembled as I looked at her.
Seeing that I was already nervous she made it easier by propping herself up with pillows and patting her lap. Slowly I moved the tray, she reached for the coffee but stopped her hand as she noticed the scrap of paper underneath.
A hundred different thoughts flashed in her eyes as she pulled the note free. One line had said it all. “I want a day with Sarah Le blanc.” After a long silent moment she patted the bed beside her. Taking her invitation, I began the day by feeding her in bed.
She moaned in pleasure as I slid the first powdery bite onto her tongue. “You really don’t have to…” I fed her another bite, drawing another little moan from her lips. “Feed me” she moaned.
“You fed me every day for two entire years. I think I can handle one breakfast.” I chuckled taking a blueberry from the bowl and dipping it in whipped cream before offering it to her opened lips.
“Mmmm, you’re going to spoil me.” She moaned.
“You deserve to be spoiled, and if not by me…then who?” I looked into her eyes and offered another bite. “After all, you wound up pregnant with me when you were fifteen, and you could have aborted me, but you didn’t. Not even when my father disappeared… You’ve sacrificed a hell of a lot, to have me and raise an ‘oops’, all on your own, and that deserves more than just a little spoiling!”
Mom turned to look directly at me, and a dark furrow creased her brow as a brief glint of anger flashed in her emerald green eyes.
“Jonathan Michael Cooper, I’m pretty sure I’ve told you before,” she spoke the words slowly, and with emphasis, “but – in case I didn’t – you were NOT an ‘oops’! You were the BEST birthday gift I’ve ever received! And, there’s that old phrase, ‘the gift that keeps on giving’? Well, you’ve kept on giving me joy and happiness, and amusement and amazement, for the last 18 years. Nothing anyone could buy me, from a store, could ever top that!”
“Well, then be amazed and amused with this magical breakfast,” I smiled at her, my heart warming at her comment.
“I should, but I can’t help thinking about all the calories,” she chuckled.
“We’ll burn most of them off of you, today, Mom,” I assured her. “As soon as you finish eating and get yourself washed and dressed, we’re off to the mall,”
“Isn’t this enough?” she asked, waving her hand at the tray on her lap.
“No,” I shook my head. “You are always buying ME stuff but nothing for yourself. We’re going to spend the better part of the day fixing that! You’re a beautiful woman, and you deserve beautiful things,” Mom tried to protest, but I kept shoving sweet delicious fruity goodness into her mouth. Finally, she surrendered.
After I had stuffed her stomach with all it could hold she reached over me for the pack of Marlboro 100 cigarettes on her end table, I beat her to it. At first the look she flashed me was stern as if she was about to tell me that I was not old enough, then she seemed to remember what day it was and she leaned back giving me a grin. “Go ahead, if you want.”
I was around 14 and she had driven us out to the lake so we could watch the lunar eclipse over the water. We’d been laying on our backs, the water lapping at our feet, when she pulled a pack from her pocket and took out a cigarette. Placing the filter between her lips she flicked a 75 cent purple lighter purchased as we filled the gas tank. Her breasts rose and fell with each drag. I’m pretty sure that had been the moment of my first erection, watching her smoke in the moonlight… Since that day I have been bugging her to let me try one but the answer was always the same, wait until you’re 18. Well today, I’m 18.
I pulled one out and held it in my lips as I’ve always watched her do and struck the lighter with my thumb. Touching flame to tip I inhaled….I doubled over the edge of the bed, holding the cigarette far away until mom snatched it from my hand. I swear I heard her giggling as I coughed and hacked away.
“How do you do it?” I asked holding a hand to my burning chest.
“I’d been seeing this really hot-looking guy, around the halls. I really wanted to meet him, but it seemed like he was always with this mixed group of guys and girls, and I didn’t want to barge in, just to introduce myself. I mean, what if he was with one of the girls, in the group? I’d have been so freaking embarrassed!”
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