Unfortunately, my mom has always been like this. Coralie always leaves pizza boxes, beer cans, and remnants of marijuana joints littered around the house. She says she needs the MJ for her asthma, but I don’t believe her one bit. Coralie just loves getting stoned, and she’ll do anything for a hit.
Suddenly, a loud moan rises up from the couch and I freeze in place. I can’t see what’s happening because the couch’s back is to the door, but I can guess. A leg is hooked over the back of the sofa, and I see the top of Humphrey Lyon’s greasy brown head moving up and down in a rhythmic manner as he grunts.
Oh gross! My mom is making out with Humphrey Lyons at this very moment, and they didn’t even bother to go into her room. Why why why? I should have seen this coming. It was only a matter of time because Coralie has no shame. Humphrey moved into the trailer two doors down from ours a couple of months ago, and my mom’s been throwing herself at him since that first day.
The poor guy probably thinks he’s special, but that’s so far from the truth as to be laughable. Honestly, there probably isn’t a man in the trailer park that Coralie hasn’t slept with yet. And that includes the married ones.
“Mmmmmh, Coralie,” Humphrey moans again, his face a rictus of ecstasy as he does whatever he’s doing. I see a gold tooth flash, and then Humphrey dives in again.
I nearly throw up. Couldn’t my mom have put a sock on the doorknob? This isn’t the first time I’ve walked in on her with someone on the couch, and I have a feeling they’re only getting started. Sure enough, I spy lube and condoms on the coffee table, although neither have been touched yet, thank god.
I cringe again, and turn back to the door, trying to be quiet. I have nowhere else to go, but I can’t stay here. That’s out of the question. I would rather die than stay here a moment longer.
Suddenly, Humphrey’s head pokes up and he looks straight at me.
“Kaylee?” he chirps. “Is that you?”
Crap. I was hoping they wouldn’t hear me. I freeze and then turn, with a frozen smile on my face.
“Hey!” I exclaim. “I see I came at a bad time. I’ll come back later.”
But neither Humphrey nor my mom are embarrassed at all. They sit up, pushing dirty, stringy hair back from their faces. Coralie shoots me an evil look.
“I thought you were working. You better not have gotten fired.”
I smile tightly.
“I didn’t. I’m just done for the day, that’s all.”
“Oh great,” Humphrey chortles. “More money for the piggy bank. You’ve got a good one here, Coralie,” he says to my mom. The little man waves for me to come further into the trailer, as if he lives here. But the truth is, I pay for pretty much everything in this household. If I wanted to, I could kick Humphrey out right now, but it’s not worth the fight I’d have with my mom afterward.
“Um, no, I’m okay. I just came by to grab … um, this umbrella,” I say wildly, snatching an umbrella from the hook by the door. “I’m going to the library,” I say, turning on my heel to leave.
“An umbrella?” Humphrey asks with real confusion. “But it’s not raining outside. Why would you need an umbrella? Stay, Kaylee. We haven’t had a chance to talk in a while.”
I shoot him a look. We have never had a conversation before. Our interactions have been limited to “Hi, welcome to the neighborhood!” and “How’s the weather?” I don’t know why he’s acting like we’re best friends now.
I almost feel bad for the guy, to be honest, because my mom uses men. She’s a serial dater, and no one lasts longer than a month or two. Once she’s bored, she moves on. She’s just using these guys for money and weed hook-ups.
Plus, these so-called “boyfriends” generally get sick of her when they realize she never pays for anything. Then, the screaming fights start, as well as the physical violence. Coralie beats her boyfriends, not the other way around. Usually, it ends with some kind of police report, and then we’re back to square one. The guy is gone, and she asks me for money. Unfortunately, I almost always end up giving it to her.
I know I’m enabling my mom, but what else am I supposed to do? I’m eighteen, but I still have a couple months of school left. I can take off once I get my diploma, but I don’t know what’s going to happen to Coralie then. I doubt she’d be able to survive without me.
“Kaylee, you’re being rude,” my mom interrupts my thoughts.
I blink at her. “What?”