The Suffering of a Mother (standard:drama, 731 words)
Author: Jason Donegan	Added: Jan 01 2002	Views/Reads: 3478/1	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
As a family struggles to cope with a traumatic announcement, Mother feels horrific pangs of Deja Vu.

In their respective seats of the family car on that perfect early
summer's morning, they sat waiting for school to start. As High School 
kids filed past, each one peered into the car at them. Eyes watching, 
mouths whispering, gossip had spread around the schoolyard and not a 
lot of it was wrong. 

Sally fought back her tears of disappointment and embarrassment as she
stared at her daughter sitting on the back seat. Unsuccessfully she 
tried to avoid the gaze of the hoards that seemed to surround the car. 
All she heard was whispers, whispers of obscenities and insults that 
she picked out from faceless mouths. 

In just 24 hours her little girl had been transformed from a vision of
innocence and purity to an expectant mother, and a fourteen year old 
one at that. An eating disorder was first blamed for her continued 
increase in weight despite her apparent refusal to eat. In ignorance 
she felt that bulimia could be the worse thing she could hear from her 
Doctor, she was wrong. As the doctor took a deep breath she told them 
that she was 4 months pregnant. The high walls around Sally's safe 
little world began to crumble.  Memories of her own childhood came 
flooding back as she realised she had failed in her promise that her 
daughter wouldn't make the same mistakes she had. 

At sixteen Sally had found herself pregnant and alone, her parents
refused to accept her apologies or explanations, they had refused to 
face the embarrassment or the shame of the scandal and so she was sent 
away to an aunts as her life resembled a Victorian melodrama. Her 
daughter would not feel the same pain and suffering she experienced, 
she would not let her go through what she had to, she'd told herself as 
she held her in her arms for the first time 14 years previously. Now 
she realised there was nothing she could do. 

The previous night's arguments had raged in the household as answers
were sought. Had she been abused, molested or raped? Silence was the 
repeated response as Lucy refused to name the prospective father. For 
hours the interrogation stretched but nothing could be dragged from 
Lucy. Her secrecy and stubbornness more and more resolute the longer 
and later things went. Finally the parents conceded defeat and the 
young expectant Mother was sent to her room with tears staining the 
flawless complexion of her face. As she climbed the stairs both parents 
thought the same thought as they pictured their child's puppy fat 
replaced by maternal excess. 

Sally had lay awake that night trying to create an image of the monster
that had taken away her daughters innocence. Was he a school friend, 
somebody local, a friend of the family or even a member of the family, 
Lucy's silence had created demons and faceless they were too. 

Now they sat in the school car park, those previous night's discussions
had led to parental decisions and they agreed that the Head had to 
know. Confidence would not be compromised they thought but they hadn't 
accounted for school friends who had been had confided in, fickle 
teenage girls that didn't understand the impact of vicious gossip.  
Silently they had drove to the school, no words were spoken and no more 
questions asked. Lucy considered what lay ahead and naively believed 
her secret would remain so. She discovered those illusions along with 
her reputation had been shattered by her friends as they arrived. 

Whilst they sat in the car park watching the tongues sidle past Sally
caught glimpse of a young boy's face she recognised, searching her mind 
she remembered him as Lucy's boyfriend of up to a few weeks ago. 
Turning around to her daughter the questions she wanted to ask where 
answered by the tears that welled up in her daughter's eyes and Sally 
knew. Turning back she looked at the boy and felt the anger inside her 
be replaced by sympathy for both children, both innocent to the world 
yet dealt a cruel and difficult fate. Turning to her husband she 
ordered him to take them all home, in confusion he agreed without any 
question. 

Driving home she placed a warm hand on her daughters knee and as eye
contact was made she gave the kind of re-assurance only a mother could 
give. 

'We'll sort things out Lucy, don't worry.' 


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