A Mother's Help

Posted at 10:02 PM, 11/5/2006 in Short Stories

‘You can’t make me! You’re not my mum!’ Luke stormed off down the hallway and slammed his bedroom door.

Karen sat down at the kitchen table and put her head in her hands. This step-mothering was the hardest work she had ever done. After six months you’d think it would get a little easier, but Luke refused to adjust to the new living arrangements.

If only Derek hadn’t taken that fly-in fly-out job with the mines. Having his dad around more often would take some of the pressure off Karen.

‘It’s only for a few months, just til we get back on our feet. All the extra bills, what with the ceremony costing so much.’ Derek’s words trailed off into silence.

He still loved Sarah in some strange sort of ‘ex-wife’ way. They had been divorced well before Karen came along, although Luke tried to imply otherwise at every opportunity. Karen was pretty accepting of most things and had always thought she was thick skinned too, until last August.

Everything was going just fine until then. Until Luke had come to live with them permanently. And in the most difficult of circumstances too. When Derek was home, things just bubbled away under the surface. When he was away, the whole Luke volcano blew up on an almost daily basis.

It was nearly dark and the house was quiet. Like most nights after a yelling match, Luke hadn’t come out of his room. Karen covered his uneaten dinner with wrap with a practised hand and put it in the fridge. It would disappear eventually, either in Luke’s stomach or in the bin. She put the kettle on and sat on the back porch waiting for it to boil.

‘It will get better, you know. Teenage boys always rebel.’

The soft voice startled Karen out of her wits. The last person she expected to see on her back porch was Sarah! Sarah looked exactly the same as the last time Karen had seen her, right down to the same shade of pink lipstick. They hadn’t even had a conversation on that occasion.

Recovering quickly from the initial shock, Karen contemplated Sarah’s words and could detect no hit of malice. Just as well as she was looking after Sarah’s son and his father. She might as well get something useful out of this unexpected visit.

‘Do you think so? I’m at my wits’ end and Derek isn’t much help up in Newman.’ Karen ran her fingers through her hair and gestured politely to the other cane chair.

‘Luke just needs more time to adjust to what’s happened.’ Sarah slid into the chair and sighed. ‘You know his favourite dinner is tuna casserole. He’d never let that get plastic wrapped and put in the fridge. I remember having to make it for a whole month because he would eat nothing else.’

‘How did you know about the..oh never mind.’ Karen shook her head. ‘I don’t suppose you would tell me the tuna casserole recipe?’

Their conversation went on well into the night. Sarah had wanted to look in on Luke before she left and Karen had let her. After all, the boy was asleep and what could it hurt? It wasn’t like Luke would see her.

The next afternoon Karen put their plan into action. The tuna casserole was cooking away in the oven and she resisted the urge to question her stepson about his day the moment he entered the kitchen.

‘What’s that you’re cooking?’ Luke dropped his school bag in the middle of the floor and began to raid the pantry.

‘It’s tuna casserole.’ Karen didn’t turn from the sink but she held her breath waiting for a reply.

‘It won’t be as good as my mum’s.’ Stomp, stomp, stomp went size nine runners down the hallway.

‘Well at least the door didn’t get slammed today.’ Karen thought aloud. ‘I wonder what Sarah will make of that.’

That night, Sarah met Karen on the porch. After rehashing the day’s improvements, and imparting some more words of advice, she took another silent look in on her son and left.

When Derek came home for his week with them, Karen didn’t tell him about Sarah’s visits. She didn’t really know why she didn’t, and as Sarah didn’t visit while he was home, it seemed the right thing to do. Besides, Karen didn’t want Derek to think she couldn’t look after his son without Sarah’s help.

It took another few months before Luke stopped comparing everything she did to how his mum had done things. They were still a long way from being close but at least he was talking civilly most of the time.

Sarah continued to visit and Karen had come to expect her presence on the back porch most evenings. The two women spent most of their time trying to come up with ways to help Luke come to terms with his current situation. They could never go for coffee and cake, but mother and stepmother were becoming friendlier.

‘Can you get that phone please, Luke? My hands are covered in breadcrumbs.’ Karen called from the kitchen where she was making rissoles; another recipe gleaned from Sarah’s memory.

‘Yeah, yeah! I’m getting it.’ Luke wasn’t exactly in a good mood. He had been plugged into the stereo trying to study at the same time, against his stepmother’s instructions.

He came into the kitchen, his face pale and silently handed the cordless phone to Karen. She took the phone and after a short hushed conversation, hung it up.

‘Can I go see him?’ Luke asked quietly.

‘The company are sending him down with the Flying Doctor.’ Karen tried to keep her voice steady and failed. ‘We can meet the helicopter at the hospital.’

It had been a freak accident, the company man had said. Two other miners had been killed but it seemed Derek had left just before the explosion rocked the shaft. That was strange in itself, as he was only partway through his shift.

Karen and Luke arrived at the hospital as the helicopter landed on the roof. They waited together outside the theatre as Derek was operated on, and saw him settled in intensive care before the nursing staff insisted they go home to sleep.

Sarah didn’t come to the hospital but she met Karen on the porch as she arrived home. Luke, upset and half-asleep, stumbled into the house without lifting his head and went straight to his room.

‘No need for a long talks tonight, I know what’s happened.’ Sarah reached out and Karen felt a chill run down her spine. ‘Luke needs you. They both do. Luke will accept you have a place in his life, especially now his dad needs you more than ever.’

Derek’s rehabilitation took more time than Karen could ever imagine. Luke helped out around the house and the three of them started to be a real family.

Late at night, Karen would sit on the back porch unwinding and waiting for Sarah. Karen had started to feel that Derek and Luke were finally her’s alone and she didn’t really need Sarah’s advice any more.

Sarah must have come to the same conclusion, as her visits were becoming fewer. Karen suspected she was looking in more often but Derek and Luke never mentioned her visiting. It wasn’t long after Derek’s discharge from hospital that she came to see Karen for the last time.

‘I don’t think you need me to come visiting any more, Karen. I know that Derek and my son are in good hands. Love them like I do and you can’t go wrong.’

Karen watched as Sarah slipped through the wall and glided silently down the hall to have one last close look at Luke before she passed on for good.