Andy hated moving!!! This was his 4th new home in 3 years and he was getting tired of the constant change of environment. His mother's job required her to move a lot, so every time she got posted to a new place he has to uproot his entire life once again and start afresh.
“Your new room is so big Andy!!! You can put up your wallpapers and we can get you a bigger Tv and we can decorate it any way you’d like.” His mother said to him hoping that some of her cheer and optimism would rub off on him.
“That’s great mom” Andy responded struggling to provide a fake smile to make her feel better.
“And we can get you a PS5 so that you and your new friends from school can play with it together, wouldn’t you like that?” his mom said in another desperate attempt to make him feel better.
“You’d like that wouldn’t you?”
“Mom what I’d like is a normal life, I'd like to not have to move every time things start going good for me. I’d like a father like other children, I’d like a mom that spends time with me instead of hoping toys will make up for it.”
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“That’s unfair and you know it!!! I do the very best I can to make sure you’re happy and comfortable”. His mother spat out walking away from him.
“I’m not comfortable!!! I have no life, no friends, and even worse no dad!!! And we keep moving!!!” Andy screamed at his mother following her around the house as if determined to touch her last nerve.
She was trying to avoid the situation escalating, this was easier three years ago when this had all started, the toys seemed to distract him from the absurdity of their nomads like lifestyle and the absence of his father, but he was almost sixteen now, was it time to tell him the truth and save herself?
“Baby I don’t like this any more than you do, all I’m doing is trying to provide and protect you”.
“No mom, you’re doing this for you,” Andy responded. “And I don’t want to be a part of it…you’re so selfish.”
His mom stopped in her tracks and turned around, “You think I’m selfish Andrew?” Her voice shook from anger.
Andy realized that he had crossed a line but if this was what it took to end the constant moving he was ready for it.
“Do you even know why we move so often?”
His mother asked, walking towards him with a dangerous look in her eyes.
“We move for you and your dumb job,” Andy said backing away from her and the conversation.
“Do you remember those scars you used to ask me about as a child?” She asked when she had finally pinned him to the wall. “Do you remember when you asked why there was blood inside my eyes and I told you I overslept Andrew? Do you remember all the nights I’d wake you up in the middle of the night and take you to grandma's?”
Andrew knew what she was talking about, she had always given him a dumb excuse for her many injuries because she thought he was a child and wouldn't know better, but he knew better.
“Andrew, do you remember when I told you I was going to give you a baby sister? So you wouldn't be alone?… Your father...!!!” She couldn't bring herself to complete the sentence.
Andy knew this, he hadn’t been sleeping like his parents thought, he had seen his mother get up and drag herself to the bathroom sobbing and somehow he had known there would be no new baby, they had left his father a few nights after that.
“I know mom, but why are we still running? We’re not even in the same country anymore.”
Andy spoke in a voice that was softer and kinder than the one he had been using a few moments ago.
His mother considered the question, he was right. They had successfully moved as far away from his father as possible and there was no reason to keep fleeing, maybe she was just being paranoid, she hadn’t heard from him since he had almost caught up with them over two years ago, maybe it was time to settle down and live again.
She pulled her son to her and hugged him, she had been trying to shield him from knowing the kind of man his father was, she had told him they were divorced and her job was transferring her, he was just a baby…her baby…his father wanted to take him from her just to spite her but she would die before she let that happen.
“Okay baby, if we like it here we can stay. No more running.” She said kissing him on his big head.
“I’ll protect you mom…you don’t have to worry about that man ever again. I’ve got your back…just stop lying to me.”
As she took another look at him she understood why the toys no longer worked, her little boy had become a man.
