Tara Road

Leaves rustled and fluttered across the grass that waas a sickly color of yellow. The skies were sharp blue streaked with white here and there, brightened by the glow of the sun. Raising her hand to block the sun, Laura looked up to see if the car pulling into the school parking lot was her mom. It was only someone turning around and returning back to the street. it was half past four; Laura had been standing on the corner since 3:30. She had soccer practice at the YMCA right after school. Going back inside the building, the janitor was still sweeping up the dirt and grime from the day.

“The office is gonna close at five. You gotta ride?” said the janitor, never stopping his continuous motion of left to right.

“Yeah, she’s just running behind.” Laura dialed the number for the tenth time from the phone inside the office, hoping that her mom would answer. The answering machine picked up with a bright “Hi, I’m out right now…”

“Great! What am I supposed to do now?” She mumbled under her breath. Picking up the phone once more she called her father, who wouldn’t be happy at all about having to take off work to come pick her up.

“Hello,” said her father, Daniel, as he picked up the phone.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be at soccer practice?”

“Yeah, that’s why I am calling,” replied Laura, knowing her father was going to ask if her mother had picked her up. Preparing an answer already, she continued, “Mom didn’t pick me up.”

“How long have you been waiting?” her father responded in a tone she knew well.

“Only about thirty minutes.” she answered him, fibbing for fear of what he would say if he knew she had been waiting an hour alone at the school, “It’s kind of cold outside.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes. Go back outside.” Laura could hear the annoyance in his voice as he mumbled something about how if her mother was more responsible he wouldn’t have to do this time after time.

Her father’s SUV pulled into the parking lot, making a quick turn, stopping in front of Laura. As Laura got into the vehicle,, she thought about all the times that her mother said she was going to be there but hadn’t shown up. The last time it happened Laura had a soccer game; she was starting at forward for the first time. Her mom promised that she would be there but when the game started she was nowhere to be found. Laura made the winning shot of the game, looking up into the crowd she searched for her mother but she wasn’t there. Everything that day had turned out how it always turned out with her mother making some excuse about where she was at.

“So how many times did you try your mother before you called me?” asked Laura’s father. They passed the local grocery store full at this time of day with people picking up a few items after work. Laura’s hands were clasped together in her lap. She was looking out the window with a blank stare at the rows of houses with neatly trimmed lawns.

Laura didn’t respond for a couple of seconds, thinking of how to phrase her answer so as not to fuel her father’s anger toward her mother. She knew that any answer provided would inevitably get her in trouble.

“No, she didn’t answer her cell phone. I tried to call her a couple of times but I just got the machine.” Laura continually stared out the window at the people walking there dogs along the sidewalks on the brisk fall day. She was thinking of what excuse her mother would have this time when she came home late tonight.

“That isn’t surprising.”

Laura remained silent the rest of the ride home. When they got to the house, she went into the kitchen and poured herself some orange juice. She noticed the kitchen hadn’t been cleaned since yesterday. There was a pot sitting on the stove with sauce stuck on the sides. she put the pan in the sink, filling it with soapy water. Her father came into kitchen, grabbing some meat out of the freezer. He set it on the cabinet to thaw out for dinner with some packaged vegetables. Laura started some water on the stove for the vegetables to boil in. She started setting the table when the front door opened. Laura’s mom, Emily, walked in with her briefcase overflowing with papers.

“What’s for dinner?” she asked.

Laura didn’t answer her mother but continued to set the table for two, putting the napkins next to the plates. Her father came out of the kitchen into the dining room with a bowl filled with salad at the sound of Emily’s voice. “Nice of you to join us for once. Did you fail to realize that you were supposed to pick up your daughter for soccer practice? Or does that not fit into your schedule?” asked Laura’s father sarcastically.

“Well I had a meeting that lasted longer than I thought it would. By the time it was over I thought you would have already have picked her up, which you did.”

“So every damn time you have something to do, you think you can just blow off your responsibilities?”

Laura went into the kitchen to check on the boiling water, putting the vegetables in the hot water. She sat down against the refrigerator, listening to her father yell at her mother. She thought about escaping to her room and just skipping dinner but she could still hear them from her room upstairs.. She got up fro her position on the ground and put the meat in the pan. She got the dressing for the salad along with the Heinz 57 for the meat. In the dining room, her father and mother were yelling at each other. She set the condiments down on the table.

“Why am I supposed to be the one that’s supposed to give up my career to raise her?”

“Well, any parent picks up their child when she is supposed to! That’s not giving up you career that’s being responsible.”

“When do you take off work to pick her up? When do you make sacrifices?” screamed Laura’s mother as she sat down at the table. She started to rub her temples with her fingertips. “I try to be there when I can but this situation works both ways.”

“I make sacrifices. I picked her up from school today when you weren’t there. I’m always there when she needs something. You aren’t.”

The smell of meat permeated the air. Laura went back into the kitchen, taking the vegetables out of the pot. Putting them in the meat, she watched the meat sizzle and start to juice in the pan. She wished she was somewhere else with a normal family that cared about her. Upon hearing her mother go into her room and slam the door, she put the meat and vegetables on a plate. She sat down at the dining room table and served herself dinner. Her father sat down across from Laura.

“For now I’m going to be picking you up from school. I want you to wait outside in front of the building. I’ll be there at exactly 3:30. From there I’ll drop you off at soccer practice and pick you up at 4:45. If your mother offers to pick you up, tell her I’m doing it.”