It's been a long summer day. You've had a lot of yard work to do. Mow grass, edge the lawn, pull weeds.
Looks like you got done in time. The clouds are rolling in. You're tired. But still, you feel satisfied.
"Amazing what a fat guy can do when he can push past his laziness.", You say to yourself. You go inside and
sit in your easy chair it seems to envelop you and cradle you after your hard days work. Mom is in the kitchen
and she gives you a loving smile and says, "Thank you honey for working so hard. The yard looks wonderful.",
"Dinner will be ready soon." She's retired from a well paying environmental job. Just then your sister walks in
from work and says to you, "The yard looks great." Yep It's just you three. Moms Social Security and your
sisters paycheck combined to give your little family a fairly good income to live on and even get a few small
splurges, a computer game here and there. Your weight keeps you from a job and from health
insurance...still...You do your best to keep the yard looking nice and to protect your mother and sister and
do the "man things", bug killing, mouse trapping...
You smile while sitting there, thinking of that day so very long ago. Mom was crying. Her husband left her for
her best friend. Her two eldest sons had grown up and left. Her daughter had grown up and left. For a long
time it was just you and her. That's when you began to show your quality. You took her hand looked into her
eyes very seriously and said, "Momma, dad left you my two brothers left you, my sister left you, I promise,
I will not leave you." So here you are 45 years old still fulfilling your promise. you sit up from your chair and
stretch, your back is hurting, permanently damaged from moving mom alone so many times. Lost in thought
while eating dinner wondering what it would have been like to have your own life, instead of giving it up for
mom. But then when you look at her you remember how strongly connected you are with her. She's your
friend and now your sister is back living with you two again. You have two people to protect. After dinner
you say your goodnight and go to your bedroom. You sit down on your bed and hear rain hitting your window.
You remove your clothing and lay down. You've learned to sleep nude because you toss and turn in your
sleep and your p-js end up getting uncomfortably twisted. You remove them at some point in your sleep
anyway so why put them on when your going to remove them. As you drift off to sleep the storm intensifies
waking you up a few times until pure exhaustion keeps you asleep.