“She’s not your mother, I am!”
The parking lot was nearly empty, and the nutty woman had driven up next to us, so it was pretty obvious that it had been by design. I wanted to run, honestly, that’s how scary she seemed. These days you hear about people being shot in parking lots for absolutely no reason at all, and this woman was clearly on a mission.
I wanted to get back into the car, get away.
But, my mom stepped between us and held me back with an outstretched arm and a look on her face that said ‘this is serious’. Wow! talk about a defining moment, this was definitely one of those.
“Mom?” She shook her head at me, silently begging me to be quiet.
“This is neither the place nor the time for this, Julie.”
Whooo, my mom knew the wild-eyed woman’s name. Stranger and weirder, I felt my jaw drop and simply stared at the two of them.
“Maxine, you’ve broken your promises, stolen my son and destroyed my life. It’s about time that someone told the boy the truth, isn’t it?”
“Whose truth?” My mother looked pale but determined in the face of this accusation.
“You promised me…” The air seemed to drain, her puffed up stance dissipated. Fat tears squeezed down her cheeks, and she crumbled into a ball of sorrow before our eyes.
“Heavens!” My mom was with her in an instant. Holding her, soothing her. Combing her hair off her face with gentle fingers.
My incredulity multiplied.
Seeing the two of them there like that, together, I couldn’t help but see their resemblance.
Lord, although their hair and eye color was different, they looked like peas in a pod.
While my thoughts ran rampant, my mother, somehow, managed to get Julie into the passenger seat of our car. Then she was on the phone, chatting in a low tone.
I stood, waiting. My mind, a whorl of confusion.
Lights flashed and an ambulance drew up. Weirdly, Julie didn't say another word. She allowed two burly men to load her up and scurry her away.
The supermarket parking was a bustle of activity by this time and I was standing in the one spot questions radiating at my mom. Eventually, she came over and took my hand in hers.
“She’s not your mother, I am. She’s my twin sister. She’s been in a home since you were born. Apparently, she staged an escape and stole a visitor's car. She must’ve followed us from the house. Oh, Shaun, it’s a long, long story, she’s mentally unstable, I'm sure you’ve worked that much out by now. She tried to kidnap you as a baby. I’m sorry…”
But her words were like stones, heavy and crushing, I knew that my trust ratio would be forever damaged. Surely she should have warned me of the danger lurking like a black malice in our lives, surely..
I felt rudderless, as if I had been shed by my life-guide.