Seven
"School's Out Forever"
Had a bad day again
--from "Bad Day" by Fuel
**********
It took three days before we discovered that the check was missing. By that time, Mom was long gone. This turn of events definitely didn't help my dad's recovery process, but I was the inconsolable one.
"Honey, we'll get the money back. Don't worry about it; everything will be fine," Dad insisted in an attempt to soothe me. It wasn't working. Neither one of us really believed what he was saying.
"Sure, dad," I replied. What else was there to say? The truth?
"We will," he reiterated with as much certainty as he could.
"Why can't she be a parent? Why does she always prove every bad thought about her right? She stole my college money. How could she? She's supposed to be my mother! How could she?" I raged, even though I knew that Dad didn't have any more idea than I did about why my mom felt the need to act the emotional equivalent of a teenager.
"This is not your fault, so don't start blaming yourself. Even if we don't get the money back, we will make it work. Everything will be fine," he said a little more forcefully this time.
"Of course it will be."
We'd made it for this long, and we'd continue to make it. There wasn't even a question about that.