Father and Son Reunited 4

Los Angeles Rush Hour Traffic

 I was enjoying my visit to Los Angeles so much that I was beginning to agonize about how I was going to ask my mother for permission to stay in LA and to continue high school while living in my father’s house.  By the first week in August I was starting to hit my stride.  I knew my way around LA, because my job consisted of 4 different collection routes that took me all over the place including Hollywood and China Town.  I even started a conversation with my father about how difficult it might be for me to have my own car.  He offered to buy the car but he didn’t want to be the one that faced my mother about my stay in LA.  All during the time that I was working, my father was still giving me a weekly allowance.  I explained that it wasn’t necessary, because I was earning my own money, but he insisted.  He also didn’t allow me to contribute to the grocery shopping or other house related costs.

My father was trying to get my social life going, but I didn’t really want to meet anyone because I knew there was a good chance that I would be heading home by the end of August.  By the second week of August things were going perfect for me, but I still had not gathered the courage to talk to my mother about my plans to stay in LA.  While I was calling my mother twice weekly, she was now insisting on talking to my father as well.  My father would share that my mother was pushing him to buy my return ticket, and to encourage me about the return home so I could continue my life back in the Northwest.  I know that I was causing anxiety to my mother, my father, and myself.  On or about the middle of August, my mother reminded me, that I had given my word of honor to her that I would return in time for the start of school.  She asked me when I was buying the bus ticket, and I could only answer that I didn’t know.

A mother’s instinct is to see beyond the obvious, and she knew that I was holding back.  She ended the telephone conversation by saying that she would leave it up to me, and that she would pray that I would arrive at the right decision.  I started the work week with so much on my mind that I was not able to concentrate.  On Wednesday of the third week in August, I ran late on my route and got caught in rush hour traffic, and was late getting to the shop by the expected time which was no later than 3:30 pm.  The dispatch started contacting me to make sure that I was not robbed, or otherwise injured.  I apologized for getting caught in rush hour traffic, and they waited for me to come in and file my report for the day’s route.

I arrived at the house just in time for dinner, and the phone was ringing for me.  My mother was on the line.  I was shocked to hear that they had just arrived in LA and wanted directions on how to get to my father’s house.  I looked at my father, and while covering the mouthpiece I whispered that my mother was in town.  He took over the telephone and gave them directions on how to get to his house.  They arrived and joined us for dinner, lots of pleasantries exchanged, and finally we reached the why we are here part.  My mother thought it would be nice to visit LA, and give me a ride back at the same time.  I didn’t know what to expect since my mother and father had not seen each other in over 7 years, and she had returned all his letters unopened since we moved to Texas.

To my surprise it was like they were best friends.  Both their spouses were equally friendly and civil to each other.  This was, in my mind a world first meeting of opposing sides, but there again to elevate my level of self-importance, I was the trophy that someone would end up taking home.  I can jest now but that evening, I was happy and fearful of how everyone might behave.  I knew that my stepfather was jealous of my father, plus other factors that I won’t divulge to protect the plot of my book in the works.  One other factor that was obvious is that my father’s wife was quite a bit younger than my mother; the two ladies had never met previously.

My mother felt that I had matured quite a bit, she even felt that I appeared older than my age, unfortunately she didn’t think of it as being a positive.  She wanted her country innocent boy back.  Father and Son Reunited 5 of this post will have to follow next.  The best is yet to come…