Mother And Son

[Baby_Girl89]

I wrote this short story for my ENG 270 cl[arse] it's a fiction writing cl[arse]. So anyway I just wanted to share it with you guys to see what you think about it.

<div align="center">"Mother and Son"</div>

“Don’t touch that,” she said through gritted teeth swiping his hand away. I could barely see him with his little head just barely peeking over the top of the counter. I could just picture his little grin as his eyes curled up a little, looking so precious and devilish at the same time. I could tell he was on his tip-toes, even though I couldn’t see, since his little hands were pressed hard down on the edge of the counter trying to hold himself up long enough to see what was up there. I watched as his little hand began to slowly slide toward the ring pop again. My mouth began to curl into a little smirk as I thought of how my own son was the same way.

She caught him just before he reached the ring pop, “Jason, I said no. You’ve had too much sugar today already.”

“Aw, but Mommy, I want one.”

“No, I can barely find the money to buy these things.” She had stopped in to buy milk and a carton of ice cream. “Now if you’re a good boy, I’ll let you have some ice cream after dinner.” What I was trying to figure out was why she hadn’t gone to an actual grocery store for these items, but I guess that was none of my business. I stood there waiting for her to find her money, luckily there was no one behind her and she was usually a good customer.

“Mommy, please,” he begged her. I could no longer see his little blue eyes, but I saw her shirt getting tugged at. The boy knew how to pull heart strings too. I leaned over the counter and watched this act, more amused by the second.

The woman looked up at me and said, “I’m so sorry Selena.”

[Baby_Girl89]

“No it’s all right, I understand.”

She continued rifling through her purse ignoring the little one, which I knew was a hard thing to do. She finally produced a wallet and took out some money. “I’m so sorry about that,” she said again.

“No, no it’s all right. It’s not like we’re really busy in here,” I said pointing out the fact that there was one other person in my Circle K who was standing in the back staring at the beer.

“Well thank you for being so patient with me. I just haven’t had much time to do anything these days since I’m always working so late to keep up with the bills. And the only time I get to spend with him is when I go out.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said.

“Thank you again,” she said finally handing me the money.

“No problem,” I said giving her her change. She grabbed her bag and headed toward the door with Jason in tow.

Then the man from the back came up and whispered to me, “Hand me all of your money.”

Well I thought for sure he was just joking and said, “What are you kidding me, no.”

That was when the gun came out. The first thing my eyes did was dart to the mother and son who were so close to having left the store. The guy turned around having followed my eyes and said, “Stay where you are.”

They froze, terror in their eyes. “Please let them go, you don’t want them, you only want my money.”

[Baby_Girl89]

“Yeah that’s right, but they aren’t going anywhere but to the back of the store.” I looked over at her, she didn’t move. “Didn’t you hear me [nice person]?” She just kept staring at him, “Hello what do you have a hearing problem or something, MOVE,” he barked. I could see spittle coming out as he yelled at her.

She seemed startled out of her trance by this last piece of his command. “Jas,” she said, “Come on honey, let’s go.” She put her bag down and they started to slowly move toward the back of the room. He clung to her left leg as they walked, looking as if he was afraid to leave her side. I didn’t blame him.

“Now give me all of your money and I’ll get out of your hair. It’s as easy as that,” he said throwing a burlap sack at me.

“Okay, but I have to warn you I can’t get the money out of the safe right away. It’s going to take about fifteen minutes for it to open.” I bent down, looking like I was about to open the safe when I pressed the silent alarm.

“Dammit I don’t have fifteen minutes. Just give me what you have in the cash register.”

I slowly stood up and said, “Okay.” I opened up the cash register and started to put the money in the bag. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the man looking away, staring off into space almost. I noticed his scraggly, unshaven growing five o’clock shadow. He was wearing a Diamondbacks baseball cap and since he was looking up I could see the fluorescent light glowing against his emerald green eyes. I actually started to feel bad for him trying to think about what it would take for this man to feel as if he had to rob a Circle K.

In the back I could hear Jason saying, “Mommy, I’m scared.”

I heard her whisper back, “Shh, it’s okay baby. Selena will take care of it.”

[Baby_Girl89]

I watched as his head turned to look in their direction, little Jason’s voice having broken his trance. “Shut up back there,” he bellowed making it echo throughout the store, which was a hard thing to do considering the acoustics in there was horrible. Then I saw him turn his head back to look at me again and I fixated my eyes on the money, hoping the cops would soon show up.

“What the hell is taking you so long? I already told you I didn’t have fifteen minutes.” Then he just reached over and grabbed the bag. He was about to leave the store when a cop pulled up. “What’s this? Did you contact the cops?”

I acted as dumbfounded by this news as he was, “No it must be a coincidence. They come here all the time for the donuts and coffee.”

“Oh [crap],” he said trying to figure out what to do. He ran to the back and grabbed at Jason.

“Mommy,” the little boy let out.

“Let him go,” his mother shouted. “Take me instead,” she said struggling with him.

“No,” he said pulling the little boy away and dragging him to the front of the store with the gun to his head. “Now you tell the Copper to stay outside or I’m gonna shoot this little boy’s head off.” Then he turned to the moving mother who was coming up to rescue her son. “Hey you, don’t move or I’ll blow his head off, I swear.” She froze in her tracks.

“Please don’t do anything rash,” I said.

Then Jason said something that seemed to rattle the robber, “Hey Mommy, don’t worry. He’s only playing cops and robbers with us. This is like my water gun.”

[Baby_Girl89]

The robber seemed completely stunned by this comment, almost as if what Jason said was a fact, “Uh, no it’s not little boy,” he said in gruff voice, attempting to mask his confusion, but it was written all over his face. And then I knew what his look meant, he wasn’t going to hurt the little boy; he was hoping that by taking the little boy, his little secret would never be known.

Officer Jones then entered the store with his head looking at the ground. He really had shown up for coffee and donuts I knew this because it was a ritual of his. But as soon as he entered the store he noticed the robber holding the boy with the gun to his head. He whipped out his gun and pointed it at the robber. The robber saw this and a look of fright washed over his face.

“Put the gun down or I’ll shoot,” Officer Jones said. I could only [arse]ume at that point that little Jason had been correct or that the robber wasn’t as tough as he presented himself to be because he let the boy go and he dropped the gun. I watched Jason run into his mother’s arms and she clung to him so tightly. Officer Jones put his gun away and walked over to the robber and cuffed him. Then he bent down and picked up the gun. He stared at the robber, “A water gun?” He just shook his head. Then as he was walking out he handed me the sack and said, “I’ll be back later.”

“I’m sure you will,” I said nodding at him. As he walked out a few more cop cars showed up, I knew they were actually responding to the silent alarm, it took them long enough. For once I was grateful for the coffee and donut addiction of the cops in my town. Jason and his mother then walked back up to the front of the store. “Are you two okay?”

“I am now,” she said. “I can’t believe Jason was right.”

[Baby_Girl89]

“I told you Mommy. Can I have a ring pop now Mommy?”

I couldn’t believe this kid, even after all that, he kept his eye on the prize. I could see relief fill her eyes, knowing that Jason wasn’t as affected as he could’ve been, as she said, “Yeah baby, you can have the ring pop.” She picked him up and let him pick one out. Then she put him down and paid for it. She walked over to her milk and ice cream that were still lying on the floor from where she had dropped them when the robber first told them to move to the back. “You know what, leave those, I’ll put them in the back. Go get some new ones.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. She went to the back with Jason and then left as quickly as possible.

After my shift was over I went to him. I walked over to his headstone and cried. I read it over and over again. “Jason Marcus Wellby, Beloved son of Selena and Arnold Wellby, July 24, 1998-January 18, 2006.” My baby was gone; I would never have anymore moments with him. And every time she comes into the store with her Jason I’m sure I will always be reminded of all the moments that were robbed of me with him, but at least she would be able to watch her son grow older. And I hope that she cherishes every moment she has with him, because she will never know if that moment will be her last.

[Kristen07]

This is a sad story, :( but i like it a lot! I just noticed on the dates that the first one on the headstone is my birthday exactly.... years and eveything!

[Baby_Girl89]

well i hope not in years 'cause then that would make you only seven years old lol. i think you saw 1988 when the date on the headstone said 1998.

and thank you for the comment. i hope my cl[arse]mates feel the same, but i also know they're required to pick the thing apart to look for things that can be improved, joy lol.

[Kristen07]

Yeah... I misread it.... oops. *blushes* My date is 1988. I think they'll like it, there is no reason why not. You have lots of talent, Jenn :)

[Baby_Girl89]

thanks. i wanted to write a comedy, but i just couldn't seem to come up with anything lol. maybe i'll aim for that for my next story unless i can manage to chop out a piece of two hearts.

[Forever_Lost]

:( This is sad, but cute (well, the little boy part was cute). I like it!