Gen 1.12 An Important Phone Call

Lupe rang in the new year with Floyd resting his head on her lap As she watched the ball drop, her phone began to ring. Thinking it was one of her friends, she picked it up without looking at the ID.

“Hey, Lupe, it's me.” said the voice at the other end of the line.

“Who?”

“It's Mikey... Mom and I are moving to Meadow Glen.”

“No. You can't ruin what I've got here! I've got a life and I've got kids. I'm not going to take care of you and if Mom thinks that I'm going to join her in whatever pyramid scheme she's got going on now...”

“Lupe!” Mike yelled, interupting her, “It's not like that! Mom's getting older and Anna left me with Maya. I can't do it by myself!”

“I can't stop you Mikey, but just because you're closer isn't going to make us more involved. Mom is your problem, not mine." Lupe took a deep breath, "Wait, let me rephrase: Mom is her own problem. She is a grown woman who can take care of herself. Maybe she can get a fresh start in Meadow Glen.” Lupe said without much hope. Florita Estes was who she was.

The next morning, Hazel and Juniper sat at the top of the stairs in their pajamas eavesdropping on their mom raving to Aunt Leah on the phone,

“Have I told you about my mother and brother?”

There was a pause as Leah responded, “Well they're moving here. I wish I could be excited about that...” a short pause, “Mom and Dad always favored Mikey! He got to play sports. He got the car when he turned sixteen (it was an ancient hatchback, but still). He got everything they could handed to him! I had to work. I had a paper route starting when I was 10 to help support the family. Mom was working part time at a convenience store while also selling Sadie Fay and Dad was a handy man...” There was a longer pause while Lupe caught her breath and Leah talked. On the stairs, Juniper and Hazel exchanged looks and eyebrow messages.

“I think Mom lost more money on Sadie Fay than she made. Then it was Cutting Edge knives and Wellness vitamins...” Lupe laughed without humor. “If there was a pyramid scheme, mom has tried it. My wages sometimes went to food and sometimes they went to Mikey's sports and sometimes directly to Mom's 'business.' That's why I moved here after I graduated high school. I scrimped and saved and by the time I graduated, I had enough money to buy the land I built my house on.” Juniper raised her brows hearing that, she knew how hard it was to do anything and do well in school.

There was another pause, “I know people thought I was strange when I first moved here and was camping, but I was so happy! I was free and only responsible for myself.” Hazel thought it would be cool to be camping all the time.

There was a longer pause and then Lupe began talking again, unaware of her audience, “Shane always reminded me a little of Mikey... Mikey kind of floundered a bit after I left. Suddenly our parents weren't so supportive of him and he had to go work for the first time in his life. He would leave me angry voicemails every once in a while. He got to go to college on a soccer scholarship and he met Anna. They got married right after college and got jobs then had Maya.”

There was a short pause, “She's a little younger than Hazel. They've decided to move here and I don't know why. What are they expecting? Do they think they can just move here and it'll be like old times? It won't be just like old times! I won't let it.” At this point Juniper got up and started walking down the stairs in an exagerrated way, Lupe said in a hurried way, “Leah, the kids are up, I gotta go... Talk to you later... Bye.”