SIXTY EIGHT-- MAMA, I MADE IT INTO THE NEWS

Three days after I returned home, three things happened. First, Cameron was discharged in a wheelchair, secondly, My name came out in the news as a 'saviour' of six kids who had gone missing for four years, and two who had gone missing for some days- of which Miranda was one. It was the event that happened whereby i saved these girls from that evil man who was their abductor. The news said he had been arrested. Apparently, Robin had had a hand in making the police find him out. Mom and I were listeningto the news that morning and when she heard my name on the TV, she shrieked with surprise and excitement. If my personality hadn't been expressed clearly, she would have thought it was only my namesake. "Ariana May Gonzalez (Peyton), a nine year old young girl , who attended Enchanting Promises High School had reportedly saved eight girls from the clutches of a serial killer and rapist on this day 15th Nov 2002 around 6pm in an unknown hideout somewhere in Scotland. Reports have it that this daughter of a business mogul and billionaire model must have had several classes in Judo and taekwondo judging by the injuries and marks on the rapist's body, the rapist identified as Marcus Ferguson, a notorious criminal who has been wanted by the police since 1994... Mom stared at me in disbelief as soon as she saw my picture on Tv. Even me was very shocked and excited. She was too excited to ask how I did it or what moved me to do something like that first. She embraced me and said "I'm proud of you. I'm proud of the adult things you do". The newscaster mentioned a place where I was to come to, to claim my prize for doing something valiant and heroic. Mom jotted it as soon as she described the address. It was a very beautiful thing for me, especially as I didn't have to make it into the news through Cameron Peyton, but all by myself. I had made a name for myself and for some reason, I wanted to tell Mom to let us stay back in Scotland. Third thing that happened was, Mom invited Mike Tony, Jack, Nora, and I plus a young lady that Mom identified as my sisters' 'babysitter' ,to a dinner because she said she didn't want to stay home with Cameron. It was weird but she insisted she couldn't look him in the face, so she wanted to be anywhere but home. I didn't know if it was a celebration for my achievement or she really didn't want to be home with 'her husband'. It was an impromptu dinner but everyone, except the babysitter who claimed she had an urgent family issue to attend to, was able to grace the occasion. They had probably heard the news too. Cameron stayed at home alone, moving himself around in his wheelchair. Well, maybe he just laid on the bed, staring at the clock ticking, hoping his wife would come back to him. Actually mom laid him in his bed before we left the house. He didn't argue or ask her not to leave him. He just stayed there morosely and I was tempted to ask mom if she had been lying when she said he could talk. Even though I felt bad for him, I felt that mom did the right thing by letting him be. Afterall they were going to be separated soon. Mom wore a jumpsuit that revealed some part of her cleavage. I once heard Cameron call that attire, "Pathway to heaven" because it was a little indecent and tight on her curvy body. I put on my own jumpsuit too and Mon laughed because she thought I was copying her, but it was because It was the only cloth I appreciated how it looked on me. That night, we partied like never before. Mom placed me in a room full of kids at the dinner and went off with Nora and Jack. Mike watched over me. He was very pleased to be invited to the dinner. I was celebrated at the party and it felt really good. Mom put my fast growing twin sisters in a room upstairs where I went to check on them with Mike. I don't know, I'm not sure but it seemed mom took some alcohol because I could smell it on her. Besides, she staggered a little bit. I wanted to punch Jack because how could he let her drink alcohol? So much for being a cooperative boyfriend. "Euthanasia" I heard Nora over the table. Their table was far from me but I listened attentively as if they were talking to me. "What are you talking about, Nora?" I heard mom whisper back to her. She wasn't having it. "It's just a suggestion. If you can't do that, fly him out of the country for advanced treatment" she said. "instead of leaving him all alone in your large apartment. What if he falls, hits his head and die? Then you'll go to jail for neglecting your paralyzed husband" she laughed in derision. She was awfully sarcastic and it was very annoying, or maybe it was the booze taking its toll on her. "You're the reason I'm drinking, Nora" mom said sighing, and stretching her cup for another drink. Nora poured more into her cup, with a sarcastic smile playing on her lips. "That's what I did to my abusive boyfriend. It didn't work though. I almost got into trouble. Attempted murder, they said, but I was only practising mercy killing." "That's okay, Nora and Ruby" Jack said over the table, grabbing the whiskey bottle from their hands. "Nora is drunk" he said and lifted her up carefully. "I'll take her upstairs" he said, helping her away carefully. That's when Mike and i went to mom's seat and stopped her from getting drunk because she was grabbing the bottle again. "Ma'am, this is not good for you" he discouraged her. "Please stop drinking" but mom insisted she needed two glasses more. After a while that she dropped drinking, she told Mike she'd like to throw up. So, Mike helped her, by supporting her shoulders and took her upstairs to the bathroom. I waited downstairs at the party. Three minutes. Four. Five. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty, twenty five, still, none of them came downstairs to me. I started to worry. Did mom fall on the staircase? So, I went upstairs on my own. There were not very many people there. The house actually belonged to Nora's parents and they were the hosts of the party. It was their thirtieth wedding anniversary. Mom had invited them all to dinner that night, without realizing that it coincided with Nora's parents' anniversary. So, it was a party galore, but now both of them had turned it into drinking galore, wasting themselves over bottles of whiskey and cocktail. I knew why. Both women were needy. They both no longer had the men they once trusted and loved. They both were betrayed by the men they put their all in, and now they were alone, physically, emotionally, psychologically and sexually drained. They thought drinking would make them forget their worries. The fact that my own mom drank too, was a pointer to how exhausted she felt in her mind. Mom was not a drunk, she never did those things. She was a devoted , simple woman who didn't even go to parties, but all that changed when her marriage turned upside down. Drinking and leaving the house was an escape from her mind. What was I to do? Try to stop her so she'd stay back at home and mope and grope around or stay indoors, crying and mourning her situation? No, that was way worse. Maybe she'd have done worse if there weren't supportive friends around, like Nora, and Jack, and maybe Mike Tony. Plus me, yes.