George walks over towards the table where his mother is sitting waiting for him. It’s the same table at the same restaurant at the same time as every other Thursday for the past 12 years. The Burtons love their rituals.
“Georgie, Georgie I’m over here”, his mother calls, as if there is some look of doubt on George’s face.
“Hello Mother,” George says in greeting as he bends down and places a kiss on her forehead. “What’s looking good on the menu today?”
“Oh it all looks good dear. But I think I’ll stick with the chicken pot pie. It’s mild and tasty and agrees with my digestion. You remember what happened that time I tried the Thai beef salad that you recommended. I was off my food until the following Monday.”
“Yes, stick with the tried and true Mother. Hmmm. Let me see what’s on the specials board.”
“Georgie it’s too bad you didn’t bring a girl friend today. We have an extra chair.”
“Wow Mother. 43 seconds before you got around to talking about my girl friends or lack there of. I think that could be a record.”
“Oh Georgie you’re such a kidder. You know I’m only thinking in your best interests. You’re not getting any younger and besides, a handsome man like you should be settling down and starting a family. The way George and I did.”
“And 10 seconds later I’m reminded that you have no grand children yet. That is quite the one-two punch. Usually you wait until after I’ve ordered before we get into giving me advice on my love and lack-of-family life. Why so ahead of schedule?”
“If you must know, I was talking to Gilda Worthington this morning and she was so excited because her Billy had just phoned and announced that their 3rd child, another grandson, had just been born. And I was happy for her but so sad thinking about how much you’re missing in life. Am I wrong for wanting you to be happy?”
“No Mother, of course not. But we keep having these conversations over and over and getting nowhere. I am happy. I like being single and I like how my life is going. I don’t see why having an heir is going to make me be a better man or a happier one. Why can’t you just accept that?”
“Because having children is one of the greatest things a person can do. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn’t had you. You are the best thing that I ever did and all I want is for you to have a bit of that same joy in your life. Why can’t you see that? I can’t understand why you’re so stubborn.”
“Because I’m gay Mother.”
Suddenly there is a hush at the Burton table and a long, long pause as Martha sits there.
“Oh, you’re not gay Georgie. Stop teasing me.”
“It’s true Mother. So forget the grandchildren.”
Martha sits there again without talking. And as she sits there, George is puzzled because she looks quite calm and perhaps even looks a bit relieved.
“Mother you don’t seem to be very upset about this. I thought maybe you would react a bit stronger.”
“You’re right Georgie, I’m not upset. Startled a bit but that’s all. I’m pleasantly surprised to find that I don’t really care about all that. Your life is your own and as long as you’re happy, then I’m happy. I love you no matter what. So we’ll talk about something else besides my missing grandchildren in the future. Goodness what a luncheon this is turning out to be.”
“Mother I’m a bit confused. I can really get that you’re not upset. You’re so relaxed and it’s like suddenly a weight has gone off your shoulders. I get that you accept me, but I don’t get why if you can accept an announcement like this with such calm, why you couldn’t have accepted me all these years for not wanting to have children.”
“Georgie to be honest, a weight has gone off my shoulders and I never saw that until just now. I’m so tired off having these same conversations year after year and going nowhere. And I just realized that I’ve been helpless to stop. It really has been like beating my head against a brick wall and now I don’t have to. Maybe I never had to. Maybe all I needed was this splash of cold water in my face to shake me up a little.”
“Now let’s get on with ordering our meals. And maybe we can talk about why you’ve taken 38 years to tell me this.”
6 comments:
Eve says:
(I'm not sure whose story I'm commenting on, which makes this feedback a little more mysterious....)
I liked the scenario: gay guy outs himself mainly because he wants to shut up his (maybe Jewish?) mother's incessant nagging about girlfriends and future progeny.
The mother is fleshed out well as maybe someone who is generally not easy to satisfy, and at the same time totally unyielding. Poor George! Or is he really? They both have been hitting their heads for years, by the sound of it.
I had a hard time believing, though, that Mother would over so quickly.
Kerry says:
OK own up Rick. It's you isn't it?
This is a fun story about the merry-go-round relationship between a mother and son who are stuck with the same behaviour, same conversations, same meals for 12 years.
I loved how the structure of this story created its own rhythm. He says, she says, he says, she says until suddenly it stops when George outs himself. We all hold our breath as we wait to see how Mother is going to react.
I found Mother's quick acceptance of the truth about George a bit sudden but there you go.. who knows how your parents will react to news such as this?
Yike. This was from Rick
From Gordon:
The triangular shape to this story was great. It reached a conversation stopping peak in the middle. Also, the back and forth conversation and the picture of the mother was great as was George's reaction to her persistence and his unawareness of his resistance to be straight about his situation.
Nice work Rick (after I figured who wrote the story).
A great and i can imagine typical story about a conversation between mum and son, about settling down and having a family. It turns our Georgie is gay which is such a relief for Mum.
I found this an easy to read, funny story. I was in the restaurant with them it was such a real situation. I particular enjoyed the smiled about the conversation about what was suitable for mum to eat, something that wouldn't impact her digestion.
I got mildly confused about Georgie the son and Georgie the dad, maybe a different name would have helped. I also would have liked to get more of the experience that Mum would have gone through when Georgie told her she was gay. Her descritpion of how she reacted seemed a little lame.
I particularly loved how real this story was. A good read.
Rick, the mystery writer!
After 38 years George has come out to his mother at their weekly luncheon. I thought she was way to calm and accepting of this revelation. She jumped too quickkly from the nagging mum wanted a grandchild to ok then lets move on. I got confused for a moment as to who Martha was, thinking there was a third person with them. Also his dad being George made me stop for a moment.
Having said that I enjoyed the easy flow and pace of the story. And for the most part it seemed a very natural conversation, no doubt because they had rehearsed it so many times before over the years.
Nice work.
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