We Talk Like Lions, But Sacrifice Like Lambs

I cried all the way home from court. Moments before I turned left into our apartments I hung a right and headed for Nonnie’s house. My mother-in-law and best friend, she’d know just how to make me feel better.

I told her all about the kangaroo court I’d been in and a cried as I told her they wanted to put me in jail. 

"Well if jail is all you’re worried about you can stop worrying," she assured me. "They’ll have to put me in jail first because I’ll kill any cop who tries to take you. Hey, then we can be cell mates!"

I stared in the face of that vibrant 78 year old pistol and sternly said "Not funny..." but it was a little funny. The idea of that frail woman taking on the Metropolis Police Department make me smile.

When I picked up Excitement from work and told him the same story the first words out of his mouth were much the same as his mother’s. "You won't spend an hour in jail. They’ll have to take me first."

But when I called my own mother her sentiments were quite different.

"Sounds like you’ll be working during the hollidays."

I couldn’t believe it. The woman who should have been the most eager to help me was the most unwilling. She should have known I wasn’t working because I was unable to work but she made me feel like I was just being lazy.

When I told Excitement what she had said his response was instant. "She will never see my son again. If she’s so willing to let that punk Perfect ruin my family she doesn’t need to be a part of it. Give me time. I’ll figure this out. No one is going to put my baby girl in jail."

That night he had a solution, but not the one I wanted to hear. "We’re going to make sacrifices. I’ll take a second job and we’re going to have to cut back on expenses. We’ll go back to washing clothes in the bathtub and giving up all luxuries. And we need to stop spending the $100 to pick Bubba up every other week."