Untamed

by Steven Harris

A tapping on my door wakes me up to a brand new day.

  "Come in," I say in a drowsy voice.

  My mom walks in, looking graceful as always, and sits on the foot of my bed. Although she’s still in her nightgown, she looks absolutely ravishing.

  "How did you sleep?" she asks with a warm smile.

  "I’ve never slept better," I reply.

  That’s an understatement. Without arthritis, I don’t have to worry about tossing and turning every so often in order to get comfortable. It’s been a long time since I slept so peacefully.

  "You have a month until school. We have to get ready.”

  I groan and turn onto my side, unwilling to depart from my bed.

  “But I’m still sleepy,” I speak to her while I stretch my muscles.

  “I want to be out by eleven. We have to get everything done today. I start my new job tomorrow.”

  She stands and pulls the blankets off my body.

  “I’ll be up in a little bit,” I reply in a moaning tone.

  “You have to get up now, little lady.”

  “Five more minutes,” I plead to her.

  “Nope,” she says while walking over to the window where the curtains are still closed.

  “Mom, you better not open those curtains.”

  She looks over her shoulder at me and smiles.

  “Or what?” she asks boldly.

  “Or else,” I reply.

  She slowly eases her hands up to the curtains, looking over her shoulder at me.

  “You’ve been warned,” I say.

  She whips the curtains open. The bright morning rays pour into my bedroom, causing me to squint.

  “Sorry, I slipped,” she says with sad face.

  Her smart remark entices me to launch my pillow at her. She catches the pillow in midair with one hand. Now, I have made matters worse. The enemy now has my weapon.

  “War it is then. It’s on girlfriend,” she tells me assertively.

  I can’t keep a straight face any longer. I break out into an uproar of laughter.

  “Okay! Okay! I quit!” I try to surrender.

  “No mercy! No prisoners!” she says while charging at me like a crazy person.

  I curl into a ball on my bed and use another pillow as a shield. My laughter increases as she begins her onslaught of deadly blows. I retaliate by rolling off the side of my bed, dodging one of her swings, and hitting her on the head. This causes my weapon to burst, sending small white feathers dispersing into the air.

  She shocked by my counter-attack.

  “You’ve just signed your death slip,” she threatens me while tightening the grip on her pillow.

  “I’m pretty sure you meant death warrant,” I chuckle after correcting her.

  The laughter starts pouring out of her mouth uncontrollably. Then a second later, she gets into character again.

  “Whatever you call the damn thing, you’re signing it, dead or alive.”

  She charges at me while shouting like a lunatic. I run defenseless from the room screaming like a little child.

  Fifteen minutes and three busted pillows later, I find myself exhausted and resting against my mom on the sofa. I pick the last feather off my shirt and watch it slowly join the others on the floor.

  “We haven’t had fun like that in a while,” she speaks into my ear.

  “You're right, we haven’t,” I reply modestly.

  “Well, we really got to get a move on it. School is right around the corner,”

  "School…" I think out loud and begin to ponder. “Wow, everything is …” I finish the sentence with a sigh.

  “You don’t want to go?” she sounds surprised by my remark.

  “What I'm trying to say is...I like it there but…what if everything goes back to the way things were?”

  “Don’t question it. Remember what your Uncle told me? Just keep moving and don’t look back, ever.”

  “Okay, I won’t look back.”

  She pulls me closer and kisses me on the top of my head. This is more like it. This is certainly one of those moments worth remembering…