Mama Rogers

Eyes drawn immediately to his present as his mother set it on the table in front of him, Steve reached out to begin opening it, knowing that whatever it was, his mom had obviously been saving a while to get it for him. Things weren’t always so good for them, and he kept wanting to drop out of school so he could get a job and help out, but she was insistent that he do something with his love of drawing.

Steve had most of the paper off of the box when he heard his mother mention that she had the day off. He glanced up at her quickly, realizing she had taken it off to spend it with him. Immediately, guilt swept through him that he hadn’t bothered asking what she might want to do for the day. 

Sarah smiled softly, as she sat down next to her son at the table, not at all surprised that he would offer to have her come with. He was such a sweet and generous boy, and she just didn’t understand how she had gotten so lucky to have such a perfect son. Then again she was sure almost every mother thought that of their own kids. 

“Oh no sweetie, I couldn’t possibly impose.” she smiled softly and reached up to run a hand through his hair. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had gone to see a ball game, though she did enjoy them. She didn’t know much about the sport, but it was always fun to watch them play. “Besides you are all grown up, the last thing you want to do is drag your mother around.” 

“Thanks, momma.” 

Steve glanced up at his mother with a bright, appreciative smile. She always made him his favorite cake on his birthday, without fail. Years ago, he’d been sick, slept right through his birthday. But when he woke up okay, there was his cake, waiting for him. He reached out to swipe his finger along the bottom, gathering some of the frosting onto the tip and licking it off.

Sarah smiled as she listened to her son tell her about the day he had planned. She had always loved that the two of them spent so much time together. She was honestly grateful to James for helping keep an eye out on her son, who often pushed himself a little too hard. The two had been inseparable for so long that she treats James as if he was her own son despite him having a family of his own. 

“Oh? That sounds like fun.” She said with a smile as she placed his present in front of him. She had scrapped together and saved for half the year in order to get him a gift. It wasn’t much, just a few art supplies she knew he had been eyeing, all wrapped up in blue wrapping paper. 

Wanting to do something nice for his ma, Steve enlisted the help of the upstairs neighbor to make a casserole for them, grabbing a loaf of bread on the way back from the newspaper. They offered Steve a small job working on a comic strip and it helped a lot but not nearly enough in Steve’s eyes. Getting everything set, he eagerly waited for his ma to get home and see everything.

Sarah was beyond exhausted, it had been a long  double shift, and she wanted nothing more than to lay on her bed. However, she knew she had to make dinner. Though when she got to the apartment she  shared with her son she found herself staring at a  nice surprise. 

“What’s all this?” 

She blinked a few times, tugging off her coat. She  made her way across the small room to the nicely set table that had dinner already made. She looked over at her son. 

She stayed quiet for a long moment, she wanted to believe him. She was so unsure of herself, she had only had ever had the one relationship and that had been far from anything real. She wanted to trust that he knew what he wanted, and that if he really wanted her, then she should just accept it, and be grateful. “James..do you really mean all of it?” It seemed so silly to ask, but she couldn’t help herself.