Mom removed her hand bag and dropped it on the table.
  She opened it and rummaged through it as if she was looking for something.

She then pulled out a wad of money and counted it.

"Thirty dollars," she muttered.

I didn't say anything but decided to keep a bored look on my face.

She smiled at me and carried her hand bag from the table.

"We're going shopping," she said.

"What?" I gaped. "Oh come on mom..."

"Let's go," she says and walks to the door.

"Let me go change," I say and dash to my room.

I heard her say; "If you're not back in two minutes then forget about your dinner,"

I sighed wearily.

I thought about the book, I guess I'll have to wait a little longer.

My closet was messed up, although I had planned to arrange it today.

I pulled out some neat clothes and put them on.

I wiped the lenses of my glasses clean.

I sighed again. "I hate shopping,"

The supermarket for some unexplainable reason was located at the outskirts of town which is odd to say the least.

I sighed and groaned.

Mom was sitting on the dinner table writing something.

"Uh..what's that?" I asked.

She looks at me. "The grocery list"

"Ohhhh,"

She scribbled some more and then threw it into her hand bag.

She looks at me funny. "Good gracious, you can't go in the supermarket looking like that,"

"What?" I ask. "The shirt's pretty good,"

"No silly, your face."

"Yeah," I say. "Why don't I stay at home?"

She gives me one of her looks.

"Oh come on!" I threw my hands in the air. "Why can't Natalie or Patricia come with you...why me?"

Mom took a deep breath. "Because I love you, Chad."

I sigh and run my hand through my black hair. "Fine. I guess a little time with you couldn't hurt at all."

She laughs a little. "Come on, let's go fix you up."

"I'm not a car," I laugh. "By the way where is Derek?"

"Work."

"Right," I say. "He's probably in a strip club."

"Chad?"

"Sorry."

After a few minutes, mom had cleaned up my bruises and I made her swear that Seth wouldn't tell Principal Roy about the bullies.

"Maybe I would," she said. "Or maybe I wouldn't."

I laugh. Mom really did something. My face looked good as new.

Except for my eyes.

There was a little red underneath them.

But they were to faint for someone to notice.

"Let's go," mom says like we were going on a road trip.

I put my hand in my pockets and followed mom to the garage where her sienna was parked.

It was really old.

Mom told me that a few months after she married dad, he bought her the sienna.

It was expensive at the time, but now I feel embarrassed that min goes around driving in a 2001 sienna model.

I've seen the 2020 model.

And it is the bomb.

After the divorce, mom wanted to sell the sienna because she wanted to erase all memories of Dad.

But for some reason she didn't.

I guess deep down she was still in love with the man that proposed to her almost eighteen years ago.

Mom opened the doors with the key.

"Passenger seat" she told me.

I opened the other door and sat beside the driver's seat.

She sighs and turns the ignition revving the car's engine to life.

She pulls out the driveway and drives along the road.

We pass kids playing with skateboards on the road and some guys in hoodies smoking.

I see sheriff Brent's car parked in front of someone's house.

"So mom," I say. "When was the last time you heard from Dad?"

We stopped at a red light. "Four years ago, he was still begging for forgiveness. I'm not even sure he's still alive."

I wiped the front of my nose.

"Wear your seatbelt," mom orders.

"Yeah" I always felt trapped wearing a seatbelt.

I strapped in and groaned.

Mom didn't notice.

"Hi," mom waved at a young woman who was walking on the sidewalk.

"She's a new teacher," she told me. "Her name's. . ."

"Hey mom," I interrupted. "What would you do if dad like. . .sent me something?"

She looked at the traffic light, it was still red.

"He didn't send you something, did he?" She asked sternly.

"Er. . .no,"

The light turned green and mom continued driving on the road.

"It's just I had a weird dream that Dad sent me a package and you happened to. . ."

"Chad," mom cried. "Look, forget that man ever existed okay,"

I stared at her grim face, she was focusing her attention on the road.

"B-but he's my father," I say.

"Was,"

I sigh and stare out the window, thinking of opening the door even though mom was still driving and jumping out the sienna.

"Your father," mom was saying. "Is part of a cult,okay. He told me that they were sorcerers and. . ."

"And what?"

She shakes her head. "Forget it okay?"

"Mom."

"He's working with Satan!" Mom shouted. "And I don't want you to look up to someone that works with the devil himself."

I didn't say anything again.

So did mom.

The town wasn't that busy since it was a little bit after six.

I stared out the window and looked at little shops we drove past.

I saw Jason's mom's saloon, The local barbershop, the cinema.

At one point we drove past the police station.

The silence in the car was making me nervous.

"Did you know that sienna was named after a city in Italy?" I ask mom.

She smiled at me and ruffled my hair.

She always does that when she's proud of me. "No...I didn't know."

I let out a small laugh.

She laughs also.

"Well," she said. "Here we are!"

She pulls into the supermarket's parking lot which was near empty.

I sighed and removed my seatbelt, happy that it was no longer on my body.

"Let's go," mum said. She had already gotten out of the car and she headed into the supermarket.

I shove my hand in my pockets and follow her.

As mum passed the glass doors, I spotted a man in a dark hoodie, leaning against a sedan.

I stopped and stared closer, squinting.

Dad!

The figure standing there was my dad!