Maternal Absence

by Jamie Ott

  “Where are you parked?”

  “We don’t have a car,” said Linda. “Can you just walk us to the train station?”

  “No,” said Piper. “She can’t be out and about, like this. If a cop sees her, or security, they might arrest her or worse. Let’s just go to the café and sit a while, until she feels better.”

  She was glad when they agreed. The last thing Piper needed was to have a run in with authorities.

  As they walked down the street, Molly’s head lolled down onto her collarbone.

  Linda opened the café door for them. They found a table at the back while Piper ordered a round of coffees for everyone.

  When she returned to the table it was to find Linda badgering Molly.

  “Did you smoke, Molly? Is that why you’re so messed up?”

  When she said nothing, Linda turned to the boy.

  “Don’t look at me. I didn’t give her anything. Besides, she was plenty willing to get messed up on her own.”

  “What’s your name?” asked Piper.

  “Mike.”

  “And is this how you guys get girls, Mike?” asked Linda meanly.

  “Please, look at this face. Do I look like I need a vice to ploy women?”

  “Tuh,” Linda said, and sipped her coffee.

  “Look, nobody forced her to do anything! In fact they didn’t even offer. Your friend wanted to be the center of attention. Unfortunately, she got too high and it was a real turn off. I’m sorry but I like a girl with…”

  “With what?” asked Molly, suddenly coming out of her coma.

  “Nothing, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude to you. It’s just your friend was making me mad. All I was trying to do was help.”

  After about five minutes of silence, Molly seemed to fall asleep with her chin on her collar bone again.

  “What school do you go to?” asked Piper.

  “New England, you?”

  “West Side.”

  “My cousin goes there. She’s in the choir; she’s a really good singer. When we were kids, we used to go caroling together and sing at Mass.”

  Piper pretended to take more of an interest than she really did.

  “Oh that’s nice. I’m in one of the choir classes. What’s your cousin’s name?”

  “Mary Maloy.”

  “Oh, I think I know of her. She’s about this high with long blonde hair.”

  “Yep, that’s my cousin. If you see her, tell her I said ‘Hi.’ We haven’t spoken since school started.” He looked at his watch and said, “Well, it’s almost nine and I have to be home by ten or my dad will kill me.”

  He stood up.

  “Oh, we should go, too. My mom will kill all of us,” said Linda. “Molly, get up!”

  Molly was able to walk on her own, now, but she was still kind of wobbly.

  As they made their way to the train station, it started to rain. The sky slowly turned from dark blue to black, and lights from the street lamps glared off the street water and into her eyes. Through the moist sky, the stars glittered.

  Cars splashed water up as they drove loud and fast. Sleet fell down amidst the rain, turning into flurries and reminding Piper that the holidays season was about to begin.

  Suddenly, it occurred to her that she would be spending the holidays alone. Some would think it pitiable. This didn’t bother her. Naturally, her mother never cared about Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas, either. Often, she’d stay in her room, drinking and smoking twice as much as usual. Piper would sit on the couch and pray that she went to sleep early. However, this year would be different, she promised herself. She would buy herself real presents, and not the crap she usually got from her mother’s welfare charities. She was going to spoil herself rotten and have as much fun as humanly possible.

  The train finally arrived. Neither of them said much. Molly seemed to come, even more, out of her funk when they got on. They rode in silence.

  Right before Mike got off at his stop, he said, “So I’ll probably see you soon, if you’re going to be in the holiday choir show.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’ll be there. See you, then.”

  “Bye.”

  Mike hurried to get off the train and onto the platform before the doors shut.

  Piper watched Mike walk off for as long as she could. When the train picked up again, she realized Linda was watching her as she watched Mike.

  “What?” Piper asked, pretending she wasn’t staring.

  Thanksgiving

  Chapter 13

  A few weeks later, not much had changed in Piper’s life. Day and night she studied. Fortunately, it was starting to pay off. Slowly, and to her academic advisor’s surprise, Piper managed to write half a dozen A grade essays, saving her GPA for the semester and officially keeping her enrollment eligible at West Side. Math was still a struggle, but she no longer got zeroes on her work. In fact, she’d gotten straight C’s on everything she’d done. The principal said that as long as she kept trying, and showing leaps of improvement, he’d let her stay, no matter what.

  Linda was really proud of Piper when she learned she was no longer on academic probation. Molly, who’d been in a bad mood, lately, just sat rolling her eyes. Then again, Molly was often annoyed with Piper because they spent increasingly more time together, leaving her out. For Linda, it was a relief to have someone to hang out with who was more down to earth and actually wanted to do homework. Molly always wanted to goof off, to party and break the rules.

  The week of Thanksgiving, temperatures dropped dramatically. Everyone practically buried their bodies in sweaters and jackets. Students hurried to turn in their last minute assignments so they didn’t have to worry over the holiday.

  Molly would be going to Connecticut for the weekend while Linda would be going to the Hamptons. Piper was invited to join, both, Molly’s and Linda’s families, but she turned them down. She told them she was going to spend the holiday with her family on the other side of town. They accepted her explanation without question, and told her to call if she needed anything.

  However, Piper never called because she was busy from the time school let out until the day it let back in. It was beginning to get tiresome, evading all the questions, like “Where are your parents?” and “Why didn’t they sign your slip?” She’d already been confronted multiple times about the Parent Teacher evenings. It was getting harder to come up with lies, and worse, keep track of them all. When a teacher became aggressively interested and persisted about Piper’s parents, she knew it was time to get emancipated.

  She did all her research in the library, one afternoon. It didn’t look too hard to do. All she needed was a lawyer and financial backing. So that following afternoon, Piper went to see a lawyer. The only problem, he told her, was parental consent must be given, but there were ways to side step that, and with her parents never showing up, she could plead neglect.

  Seeing as that left proof of income, Piper opened up several bank accounts all across the city of Manhattan. She picked out banks with names that could easily be memorized in the order of the alphabet, in case she was picked up for her crime; that way she’d have several places to return for money. Then, each week, she wrote herself a check from one account into the other under the fictitious nickname of Bunny Collins, her supposed grandmother. After a few weeks of these transactions, Piper was able to present proof of income to the courts.

  Overall, it was a scary and delicate process. One mistake and she could have been caught, but it all worked out fine, it seemed. Now, all she needed to do was wait for the courts to approve her application for emancipation. The bonus of going to all that trouble was she felt safer knowing that the money was in the banks, rather than the hotel safe. As it was, one day she found that a bracelet she’d recently purchased had gone missing from her room.

  In the meantime, aside from pursuing emancipation, she’d gotten her first progress report from school, and though there was still room for improvement, she was stoked to see three A�
�s, two B’s, and three C’s. She was in with the West Side, and she didn’t need to worry anymore. The only thing she needed to work on was being as smart as Linda.

  The weeks after Thanksgiving came and went just as quickly. Teachers were anxious to get as much work done as possible, and prepare them for mid finals. Piper spent many hours joined at Linda’s hip. Molly was meaner to Piper than ever. But she just shook it off. Piper didn’t want to fight with her, and besides, she had more important things on her mind.

  By the time exams rolled around, Piper was a neurotic mess, as was everyone in the school. But there was one thing that happened that lifted her spirits. After a city social worker surprised her by stopping by and performing an inspection, she received in the mail, the next day, an approval and temporary emancipation permit, which she took the DMV to get her official identification card.

  The card came two weeks later, on the day of her exams, which she officially and proudly carried on her at all times.

  After exams, which Piper knew she’d at least passed, they had a couple days of leisure time. During which, she practiced, constantly, with the choir for the Christmas Show; it was on the last day before their two week vacation.

  On that day as Piper was practicing in one of the choir rooms, there was a knock on the door. Seeing a girl with a baby face, blue eyes and long white blonde hair, Piper said “Yeah?”

  The girl opened the door.

  “Are you Piper?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thought so. My cousin said that he met a girl who is new in choir. Anyway, I just wanted to say hello. See you tonight!”

  Then she closed the door and walked off.

  That was the first time she’d thought of Mike in weeks. Was he going to be there? She felt queasy, thinking about singing in front of him, not that she had a solo. She just hoped she didn’t make a fool of herself. Easily, a picture of herself falling, fainting or tripping off the stage played itself in her mind.

  Then, just as she was about to go back to her singing, the door swung open again. The blonde girl was back.

  “Oh and I think my cousin likes you! Bye!”

  The door closed again.

  Great.

  She tried to practice again but she was too nervous. News that Mike liked her made her throat tight.

  Finally, she gave up, grabbed her music and left.

  She walked out of the choir room and down the quiet hall. Garland was taped to every square inch of the walls. Glittery balls hung from the ceiling, as did Christmas lights. Nearly everyone had cleared off for the evening. The show wasn’t due to start until eight ‘o’ clock, and she was starving, so she went home for dinner.

  Concert

  Chapter 14

  That evening she returned to school for the concert. When she walked through the door and the vice principal asked, “Piper, where are your parents?” There was no better feeling than, at that moment, honestly telling her that they weren’t coming, without fear of consequence. When she opened her mouth to further inquire, she whipped out her New York state identification card and showed it to her.

  “See?” She pointed to the red words on the top of the card. “I’m emancipated, so I can be here without them and without questions.”

  She smirked to herself all the way to the performance hall, where the show was to take place.

  A group of girls were in the corner of the backstage, applying sparkling makeup and trying, hard, to look like winter queens. Piper, who’d done as much as she wished, sat at a table and waited for the show to begin.

  The room continued to fill with people who were in the show, and with their friends and family who wanted to greet them before it started. Finally, the clock showed five minutes until eight ‘o’ clock. The first class that was to go out on stage got into position, and then filed out in a lifne. A few minutes later, the sound of the teacher’s voice could be heard muffled through the wall. When the choir started to sing, it sounded like one long, loud hum.

  Two more groups went ahead of Piper’s and then finally, she and her class filed into the hall and onto the side of the stage.

  They walked out onto the stage. Piper continued onto the fourth bleacher. In the back, someone waved to her. She thought it was Mike but then she realized it was Molly.

  The lights dimmed a couple of times which was everyone’s cue to get ready. The choir teacher walked back onto stage and introduced the class. She turned around and raised her arms. As she brought them down, they started to sing “Carol of the Bells.”

  After a few more songs, they filed off the stage. Next, Mike’s cousin, Mary, walked out and sang a solo. She was quite good. The audience stood and applauded.

  When she’d done, everyone filed out of the back and into the audience. People greeted each other and hugged, and told them how well they did. Piper, not having anyone really, just hung back and snacked from the table.

  Eventually, a guy approached from the corner of her eye.

  “Mike!”

  “Hey, Piper. Good show, tonight.”

  “Yeah.”

  Piper tried to think of something interesting to say, but nothing came to mind.

  “Are you going to Linda’s for the Christmas party?” she asked.

  “Yes, are you?”

  “Yep.”

  “well, I’ll see you there.”

  Awkwardly, he walked away. She felt silly but relieved. She wasn’t sure she was ready for a boyfriend right now. Over at the other end of the table, Molly stood beside her parents, who were talking to her sister. She had a scathing look in her eyes. Piper looked away, uncomfortably.

  “Piper!” someone called.

  Linda was screaming at her from the across the room.

  “Do you want a ride to my house?”

  Linda’s home was gorgeous. They stood around an oblong table in a cream themed party room. A sparkling chandelier glittered above their heads. Piper, Linda, Molly and a fourth girl by the name of Leah ate sweets while doing a poor job of hiding the champagne they secretly poured into their punch cups. Across the room, Piper noticed several adults doing just as poorly at pretending not to notice. When Leah choked on her bubbly and gave a loud hiccough, several of them sniggered.

  They talked about school and the things they hoped to get for Christmas. The girls were enjoying themselves, and even Mary came over and hung out for a while. Molly, on the other hand, was the only one who seemed out of sorts. She stood with a glum look on her face, hardly saying anything to anyone.

  Piper heard a guy laugh, loudly. She turned and saw that it was Mike. He looked at her and nodded his head with a wide smile. Piper smiled back. It was then that Molly walked off and wasn’t seen for the rest of the evening.

  After a while, the champagne started to get to her. Piper had never drunk before. She excused herself because she thought she was going to be sick.

  She tried to walk as gracefully as possible to the bathroom.

  The halls were decorated with pictures in gold frames. At the bathroom, she found someone was already in it. A small sofa rested across from it. She sat and waited.

  Piper thought she heard crying. Although she knew she might get caught, she couldn’t help herself. She stood up, quietly, and glided across the hall toward the bathroom and put her ear up to the door.

  Inside, someone was talking rapidly. She could barely make out a word. There was a minute of sniffling and then the voice said, “Fine, bye!”

  Next, the sound of a phone being snapped shut.

  Piper stepped back and waited for the door to open. When it did, she was surprised: it was Anna. Her eyes were puffy and red. She looked tired.

  She looked at Piper for a moment and then went off, down the hallway. Piper was glad Anna didn’t dare start anything in her friend’s home.

  She watched her briefly, and then stepped inside the bathroom.

  Vacation

  Chapter 15

  It was the best holiday vacation she’d e
ver had. Although she spent many of the following days alone, Piper was never bored, not for a moment. When it ended, she wasn’t ready to go back to school. Instead, she wished every day could be as indulgent and fun.

  She didn’t spend every day and hour alone, however. On Christmas Eve she stayed in her room with a dozen movies and all the goodies she could possibly want, but on Christmas morning, Linda called her and told her to come over. Her family didn’t celebrate Christmas, but on the ledge of their fire place was a small Hanukkah bush. Her mom made a delicious meal and tons of their family dropped by.

  Although it wasn’t a traditional Christmas, it was still a great feeling to be surrounded by kind people on the holidays. How different Linda’s experiences had been when compared to hers. Her family enjoyed being together and tried to be cheerful, although a few of them bickered considerably. Still, it was a real family and it had a real feeling that Piper hoped to have again, in the future.

  The next day, Leah came over and they went shopping. New York didn’t slow down for Christmas, it seemed. Nearly every store was open. As they walked through the mall, it was then Piper spotted Anna. She looked nearly as glum as she did at the Christmas party.

  “I’ll be right back,” Piper said to Leah.

  She followed Anna. After a minute or so, she stopped in front of a clothing store, Eternity Maternity, and looked, unhappily, at the window. Piper thought it was weird for a moment and wondered if someone were pregnant, when it dawned on her that it was probably Anna. She connected the dots, the tears, the unhappiness, the party and everything.

  “Hi Anna,” she said, walking up to her. “How are you?”

  She merely looked at her a few seconds, and then said, “Fine.”

  Her eyes looked empty and lost.

  “Want to go shop around?”

  “Not today, but thanks.”

  Piper watched her walk off, wondering who the father might be.

  While she saw Linda and Leah a few times over vacation, Molly was nowhere to be found. When Piper asked after her, Linda was vague.

  “She doesn’t like me very much, does she?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  On Piper’s first day back at school, it was as busy as ever. Not only was she given enough homework to cover her for the rest of the year but her activities classes had a few competitions coming up that would require extra hours of practice almost every day for the next few months. While she enjoyed choir and drama, she realized that she was about to be worked very hard, as every evening for the next few weeks would be spent studying or working on productions after school hours. Sometimes, these rehearsals were rumored to run as late as midnight, which meant there would be no time for fun.