Lynn Sear slipped on her headphones and turned up her favorite 'getting housework done' tunes. Even though there were only two people in the house, it seemed like there was always one more mess to clean up in those rare hours when she wasn't working. Cole was a great kid, but neatness was never one of his virtues, she noted wryly. As she bent down to pick up yet another casually discarded piece of clothing, an outburst from her son's room startled her.
"No, I DON'T want to see where your dad keeps his gun! I'm trying to do my homework here, for fuck's sake—"
"Cole, language!" Lynn shouted back, turning down her music to hear better.
"Sorry Mom, this ghost is just pissing me off. This moron shows up at least once a week, and always when I'm busy doing other sh—stuff. You'd think he has a gaping head wound or something. Oh wait, he DOES!" There was a long silence, eventually broken by Cole's frustrated sigh. "Fine, fine! If I promise to talk to your dad, will you leave me alone? Yes, I'll tell him you just wanted him to think you were grown up. What's his name?" Lynn could hear the scratching of a pencil through the door. "Geez, did he have to have the most common goddamn name in the world? Yeah, your house being in North Philly doesn't narrow it down a hell of a lot. I wouldn't expect much, man, it looks like you died way back in the 70s. Can I get back to my history paper now?" Another pause, followed by another exasperated sigh. "FINE, I'll Google him now. No, I'm not going to explain the Internet to someone who never had a PC!"
Lynn smiled and turned her music back up to give the two of them some privacy. It must be hard, she thought, having to deal with being a teenager and school on top of having an on-call, unpaid job. She'd have to make him his favorite triangle pancakes for dessert, and maybe help him with his homework. After she finished this load of laundry.