Armed with a bucket of cleaning supplies and a plunger, I made my way to the men’s room. No job too small, as my ma always said.
“Why are you here?” asked the devil herself, taking me by surprise the moment I pushed the bathroom door open.
“I work here, Ma. The real question is what are you doin’ here?”
“The toilet’s clogged,” my mother answered, as if that explained everything. “You should be home restin’.”
“Docs cleared me to come back to work, as I’ve already told ya. Now why are you here… and in the men’s room?”
She wiped the back of her arm over her forehead to push back stray strands of dark brown hair. “I always check in on your gym. That lovely boy at the front desk told me the toilet needed fixin’, so here I am, fixin’ it.”
Thanks for the heads up, Ri.
“Woah!” someone exclaimed as the door opened behind me.
“Oh, don’t be precious, you haven’t got anythin’ I haven’t seen before.”
“You can’t be in here, Ma,” I groaned, grabbing her gently by the arm to usher her out.
“Watch your shoulder, Benny!” she chastised as she let me pull her along with me.
The door opened again, another guy entering as we were about to leave. “Hey, Ginny,” he greeted casually.
“Hi, Lucas!” she responded, turning to no doubt have some form of conversation with the guy.
“No. Out!”
“So bossy! Your toilet is fixed, by the way. You’re welcome.”
“You don’t need to be droppin’ by here fixin’ toilets, or for any other reason. I got it under control.” Well, Georgio and Riley had everything under control.
“Alright, alright, I gotta go take the kids to school anyway. I’ll come by tomorrow.”
“Don’tcome by tomorrow.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Bear Bear.” Ma went up to the tops of her toes to plant a firm kiss on my cheek. “I’ll put these away on my way out. Have fun at work, dear, and if you injure that shoulder doin’ somethin’ ya shouldn’t, I’ll know. I got eyes everywhere, Benjamin.”
“Yeah, yeah, get outta here.”
“Love you, baby.”
“Love you too.” I sighed, letting her take the bucket from my hand as she turned away to leave. That woman had more problems staying idle than I did.
With the toilet fixed, that left me with a grand total of one phone call to make for the day and pointing the HVAC guy toward the air-conditioning unit at ten.
I was surrounded by equipment, the sound of weights clinking and gloves hitting pads or punching bags. It should have felt like home, but instead it was like I was a guest in my own damn gym.
They didn’t need me here.
“I swear my mother has more purpose in that place than I do,” I vented as Rikky handed me another beer.
“How is Ginny? I miss her.”
“She misses you too. Keeps askin’ when you’re comin’ for dinner next.”
Rikky and I had been friends since I moved here in middle school, after we’d lost my dad and my family had needed a fresh start.
Ma had needed to work more to cover the expenses on her own, and my sister Rachel was always busy hanging out with her new high school friends, so I’d started helping at the YMCA after school with their sport programs. It gave me something to do and a way to meet new people.
