She waited outside for a quite a while and threw the empty soda cup in to the trash can. At that moment her mother exiting the gas station with two plastic bags full of stuff.
"Sil. Time to go." Mary said while looking like that she needed a shower.
The car looked very unsafe and not even road legal. The car that Sylvia remembered had turned into a more of a tinkerer's first handywork type of deal. All the parts it used to have were swapped with replacement parts and even the tires were different.
Sylvia was a bit happy that her mother was more in the better mood than moment ago. He got to the backseat with the two plastic bags while her mother took a seat in the driver's seat. Inside the car looked like a mess and it smelled musty. Plastic bottles, used filters, empty trash bags and lots of stains were hugging Sylvia as Mary finally got the car running.
The clutch made a loud metallic screech as Mary flicked the stick on reverse. It sounded like that the car could break at any minute.
During the car ride Mary asked for Sylvia to give her a pack of newly bought cigs. She didn't even stop the car as she grabbed it out of Sylvia's hand, opened the plastic wrapping with her teeth, and took one of them with her lips. Sylvia was bit amazed how she did all this with only an one hand while staring at the road.
"Huuaahhhh... That's the sweet stuff..." Mary moaned as she flicked the small zippo's lid close with the thumb.
"Sorry kid that I got so heated back there." Mary said while taking two second long inhales from the cig. "That guy I met only paid me half what I offered to him and I ran out of my mental smokes. Well glad that the cashier was willing to part with his money. He was quite loaded, in both ways."
"That's... great to hear mom. I hope everything's all better now" Sylvia replied back as she tried her best to be nice to her mother.
"Yeah, yeah. They are now." Mary grinned to herself as she threw the used cigarette to the floor and took another one from the pack.
After a lenghty drive they were back at their home which looked a bit different to Sylvia. It was the same house but as they got in it had only one room and there was no restroom in sight. It was a small shack with one big queen sized bed, mattress next to it and very cozy looking armchair in which Mary slumped herself over.
Mary took her phone out of her pocket and continued her favorite past time. Scrolling and watching videos from the internet while the little speakers blasted all the sounds at full volume.
Sylvia hoped that since her mother was now calming down that tomorrow would return back to normal. The whole day had been so eventful that Sylvia fell asleep on top of the mattress.