10. Purple is the Evilest Color

Once I entered the house, mom walked out the kitchen and asked me what I wanted to have for dinner. I told her that I had skipped lunch, so whatever is easiest to make would be okay with me. I opened the fridge to dig for a snack, and at the same time my phone chimed, I had a text.

I glanced over at my phone, as I bit into a cold slice of Hawaiian pizza from several nights before. I almost spit it all back out.

The message read, "I'm back".

Excited, I quickly chewed a bit more and swallowed. Putting down the drink and pizza in my hands before grabbing the phone to text. "Where are you?"

Almost instantly, "At the airport, just landed"

"Come to my house and stay a few days", I text back

Just as I had pressed send, another DING! "Sure, I was counting on that anyways" 😁

I call to mom, "Hey Mom, we will have a guest staying with us for about a week. Could you make more of whatever you are cooking tonight? Sally will here soon".

Mom calls back, "Yeah! I haven't seen that girl in more than a year. What the heck has she been up to?"

"You know! Filming the drama Sisterly Love. I think she said that she was in Thailand the last two months." Then I yell down the hall, "Mom! Where is the inflatable bed?"

Mom yell back," It is underneath my bed, but the air pump is in the garage."

"Thanks, mom!"

I ran downstairs to the garage to find the air pump. The line of shelves on the wall was so neat. Each thing had its' own container, with a label of what it contained. Every container was the same size and organized by alpha order. "Ah, so neat" I thought. "Why isn't neatness hereditary?"

I found the air-pump exactly where it should be, between the boxes for extra air ducts filter screens and extra aluminum foil.

Typically you would think that filter and foil will be filed under F but no my mom doesn't think so. After 20 years of asking, "Mom, where is ....?" You tend to learn to adjust your way of thinking to fit the situation. Cause there was no way mom was going to change.

I went back upstairs to grab the air bed to inflate it. When I got there mom was sitting on the bed, flipping through her book.

"Mom, I have great news, my boss at work just asked me to work full time during the summer and with my savings, I'll have tuition for next year all set. So no more worrying, okay!"

"Also mom, with the start of next year I will also have a paid internship and be working full time since there aren't many courses to take this last year. So I'll be able to help out a bit as well."

I smiled at mom, who still looked a bit sad. So I walked over to her and with a one arm hug, sat right beside her. "Mom, what is wrong" I ask, "everything is taken care of and you still seem unhappy"?

"Sweetie, we are suppose to take care of you. Now though it seems you now have to worry about us!" Mom says.

"Nonsense, we are family and we get through things together. What did you think, I will sit around and just ignore that you are struggling?" I retorted a bit annoyed.

"Well, okay then" mom put on a reluctant smile.

I give her one more big hug and say, "Okay, you go cook now. Sally will be here soon. I still need to pump up the bed."

An hour later, the doorbell rings. I open the door and even before I get to see her face, I am greeted with a hug. "Hi! I've missed you."

Holding her just as tightly, I said, "It really has been too long. You have been gone for months."

Sally finally lets go and I am able to really look at her. Except for being a bit thin, she is looking really good. She had on a purple colored blouse with black wide leg crop pants, hold in her hands a sun hat that matched the outfit perfectly. With her porcelain white smooth skin, smokey black-brown eyes, perfectly shaped lips, cute button nose, she really was born to be a movie star.

I drag her into the house and help her place all her luggage in my room before plopping on the bed.

She opens one of the suitcases and takes out a bunch of bags and boxes. When her arms were completely full, she led me back out to the living room. Letting go of everything and allowing it all to fall on the couch, she dug through it and found a box of candy, coconut treats. While holding it ask, "Where is Auntie?" Then answering her own question, she walks towards the kitchen and yells back, "The rest of the yummy goodies are for you!"

I picked up a few items and looked at the names and contents, most of it was in Thai. But something caught me eyes, Dried Durian Chips. Oh I love durian! My mom can't stand it. I thought I would save that one and eat it in front of her.

Sally came back out and saw that I was looking at that bag of chips. She says, "We'll eat that one and the Durian cakes when we sit down together with auntie after dinner tonight."

We laugh and talk and laugh some more, it was just like the old times, when life was carefree. Mom peeks out to see what was so funny and we hid the bags of durian items, cause mom would definitely dispose of it immediately if she saw it.

"What?" we both say innocently at the same time.

Mom gives us a knowing look and walks back to the kitchen.

I took those bags back to my room for now. When I walked back out Sally was sitting quietly, munching on chips. I plop down next to her and helps myself to some too. We chat some more and reminisce about school life until mom calls us for dinner.

After dinner, we all sat on the couch to watch the news. I had secretly taken out the durian snacks and had hide it behind the couch. Winking at Sally, she knew to reach back for a bag. I mouth, 1,2,3 behind my mom's back. We both rip open our bags and the smell of Durian immediately filled the room.

"Ahhh. What is that smell!" Mom yells in disgust and immediately covered her nose and mouth with one hand. Her head swivels from left to right glaring at what Sally and I had in our hands. She tilts one of our bags to get a better look and see the contents of the bag. Even though, from the smell she already knew what it was.

With her hand still over her mouth and nose, she ran away, screaming back, "You evil girls!" "You did that on purpose!"

We heard her complaining to dad about us.

We both smiled happily and took a bite of our snacks. The smiles immediately became looks of disgust. We both ran to the garbage can and spat it out. "Wow, that was disgusting!" We both exclaim.

Mom yells, "Serves you right"!

Sally and I looked at each other and I thought, Karma really is a bitch!

We walk off to prepare for bed. As we lie there in my room, we talk a bit more about our lives and personal relationships.

She asks me if I was interested in anyone and I say, "Kind of."