Mom on a Mission

"I will need your help on this one." Mom said as she threw a folder on top of Susan's lap.

I just sat there motionlessly with my hands on clasped together, acting as if I'm reenacting a prayer. Meanwhile, Susan took a few documents out of the folder that mom had given her as a frown started to form upon her stupid wrinkled face.

"The fuck is this?" Susan said while glancing at mom after looking at the document in her hands for just a few seconds.

"New mission. I might need someone to work as my eyes." Mom then slowly sat on the sofa right in front of us before taking a sip of a steaming hot tea on the coffee table. "I hope you're not forgetting that mom is getting older and her eyes are not as sharp as it once was when you were still running a snot on your—"

"Jesus fucking Christ, mom, I get it!" Susan replied with a shout as he dropped the document on the coffee table sloppily, making the paper on it fall onto the ground.

"Do not take the Lord's name in vain, Susan," I whispered with a solemn tone as I slowly took the document that fell onto the floor.

"Oh, shut the fuck up with your god bullshit!" Susan said while scratching her hair slowly, making her pixie cut hair a bit ruffled, messy—messier than earlier, which I thought was something impossible. "You saw the other side. You know there ain't no fucking god there."

"... there is no God there." I whispered as a reply while lazily reading the document that was supposed to be evaluated by Susan.

"What?" Susan replied with her head placed on her palms.

"You used double negatives, Susan," I said as I peered at her annoyed face for about two seconds before looking at the document again. "You should say, 'there is no God' instead of 'there ain't no God.'" I spoke with a raised eyebrow while looking at a picture of a stranger, a man, on the upper right side of the document.

"Get a load of this son of a bitch trying to tell me what's right or wrong when he's out here still calling himself a priest after what he did to that poor sucker outside." Susan scoffed with a condescending grin while gazing at the emptiness that lay outside of the window.

Mom, who was quietly listening to our bickering the entire time, suddenly opened her lips with a nasty anger-filled expression plastered all over her ashen face. "Did you just call me a bitch?"

"I..." Seemingly realizing what she had just said, Susan stuttered, while looking at me as if she was asking for my help in vain. "Of course not, mom! Come on!" She chuckled with a nervous tone as her voice wavered in fear of mom's continually contorting eyebrows and tightening jaw. "It's just an expression to—"

"Calling your mom a bitch is just an expression to you, child!?"

"I—no, that's not what I'm trying to say, I—" Susan's loud voice turned into a weakening whisper until we could vaguely hear her voice. Her body then trembled as she sank into the sofa that she's sitting in the same way she would always do when we were still kids.

Fed up with this preposterous disrespect that Susan kept on babbling away, mom immediately threw the scalding tea on her teacup straight into Susan's bosom. Susan, who didn't see this development coming, immediately screeched with all the force that she could muster out of her throat. It is still a mystery to me as to how she still manages to speak clearly these days when she's screaming and yelling almost every waking moment of her life since we were both kids.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Susan screamed with her hands outstretched, shaking around her head. She then swiftly took her dress off, revealing an undershirt below it that's not wet with hot tea that's still visibly fuming smoke. "WHAT IF THAT SHIT BURNED MY BOOBS!?"

"Small price for your unforgivable disrespect." Mom then handed her teacup to Christopher, who's quietly standing beside her. "Get me a new one."

Christopher quietly did what he was told with a slight nod and his signature devilish smile.

"THAT'S IT!?" Susan then threw her wet dress onto mom's lap while she growled with some of her spit drooping out of her mouth. "YOU ALMOST BURNED YOUR DAUGHTER, AND YOU JUST THINK THAT'S OKAY!?"

I sighed while looking at them, doing the same charade all over again as if I was not there to witness it myself. My gaze then moved towards the old family portrait on the lounge once again with an indolent gaze as I tried to find ways to be a significant part of the usual mission shenanigans. That was when I noticed a few grime and brown varnish plastered at random patches all over the painting.

Hmm... Maybe we need some restoration efforts to clean this piece up now. After all, it had been sitting there for 20 years now.

As I observed it clearly while the two ladies bicker without an end in sight, I saw that a massive patch of brown varnish was starting to form around Susan's lips in the painting.

"ALL OF MY LIFE I ALWAYS WISH THAT YOU WOULD KILL ME INSTEAD OF LETTING ME GET INTO ONE OF THIS STUPID FUCKING MISSIONS AGAIN!" Susan screamed with all forms of anger and agony, mixing to form what sounded like an audio representation of Beksiński's paintings. "CAN'T YOU SEE!? YOU'RE THE REASON WHY MY SON STILL THINKS LIKE A THREE-YEAR-OLD WHEN HE'S ALREADY SEVEN! YOU'RE MAKING HIM RETARDED JUST LIKE YOUR STUPID PRIEST SON!"

I shook my head after hearing the last few sentences of Susan's statement as I decided to take my attention back to the painting again. This time, once again, I noticed a few more brown varnishes all over our faces, particularly around mom's ears.

"I don't care what you think of me, but you have no right, ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT, to talk to your mother like that WHEN I ALMOST DIED TRYING TO TAKE YOU OUT OF MY BELLY! I have NEVER asked you to be grateful to me, but this? HAVE I NO RIGHT TO EXPECT BETTER FROM YOU!?" Mom tried to scream every now and then, but her weakened state and her failing old voice don't permit her to raise her voice continuously. 

While looking at my face on the painting, I realized that there's a few of that same browning varnish accumulating around my eyes. I laughed while looking at it as I slowly looked at the document in my hand.

Mother then crossed her legs with her fingers clasped together as it laid lazily on her lap. She then looked at Susan with a blank expression on her wrinkled face as if waiting for her daughter to apologize the way she always wanted her to do. However, as their patience starts to dwindle, they both decide not to say any further words to each other.

Since both of them decided to let their feelings of pride take the better of them, I decided to end the unbearable silence permeating the lounge by clearing my throat. Mom looked at me immediately with a relaxed smile on her face while Susan kept on fanning her undershirt to ease the heat around her bosom.

"What is it, my son?" Mom said with the purest of all joy brimming in her gleeful smile.

"What will be my role in this mission, mom?" I said with my usual solemn while still tightly holding the document in my hands.

"Well, you will be staffing the house with Christopher and Alejandro while we're away, of course!" Mom said with a chuckle as if she wasn't even anticipating for this question to come. "I could not possibly ask my son, who had just gotten home moments ago to go on this mission with me."

I knew it.

It has always been like this, but this time, at least she has a better excuse.

"What if I..." I said, hesitating to speak while looking at mom's confused smile. "I want to take Susan's place."

After hearing this, Susan finally looked at me with an obviously happy look on her face. The only thing she had to do now is to nod uncontrollably with an excited giggle to mimic what she would always do when I brought this up when we were still kids.

"I'm sure my dear sister won't oppose such a proposal since it would technically give her a day off," I said with a chuckle without looking at Susan's grateful gaze.

Mom's smile quickly faded out of her face after hearing what I had said. "No. You will stay here and wait for our arrival. We will be having a party tonight, and then you will stay here for as long as you like." She then stood up with her eyes closed as a sigh came out of her lips. "That is final."

She was about to leave the lounge when I stood up as well and said, "Then I will leave now."

"What?" Mom said as she turned her head towards me.

"I will be leaving now. There is no reason for me to be here. My luggage is still in my room, and you said I could stay as long as I like. Then, I say, I'll just be here for less than a day." I looked at Susan, then to my mom, with a smile before excusing myself.

"WAIT!" Mom yelled before gasping, realizing that her voice must have sounded harsher than she had thought. "Wait, my son. She said with a sigh as she slowly approached me. "Would you be staying longer if I take you on this mission with me?"

"Sure."

"It would take longer than a week." She said as if it would be enough to make me falter. Classic mom, always the worst when it comes to bargaining and trading.

"I don't care," I said as if telling her that it could take an eternity if she so desires, and I would still agree to do it.

Silence prevailed all over us once again. Susan just remained seated there as if anticipating that she would finally stop being mom's lackey for one of her missions for once in her miserable scream-filled life.

"Okay." Mom said with a sigh as she nodded weakly with her eyes closed. "You can come. Susan, you will be standby here in the house with the boys. I will be taking the twins with me too. Alejandro, why don't you fix up our friend on the cross for me and tell him that his reason for being here had finally arrived."

Susan then slowly stood up and tapped me on my shoulder with a nod. A smile then crept upon her face, which made me wince and lean my body away from her, crushing her hands off my shoulders. She saw this, but instead of screaming the way she usually does, she just chuckled at me and went out of the lounge while shouting the name of her son loudly.

Alejandro then quietly came back to the lounge with a trembling man beside him. He was wearing a green polo shirt and a blue pair of pants. Mother then calmly assessed his body by grabbing his face, tapping his body, and looking at him from top to bottom.

"I'm not sure I've met this man before," I said with a confused smile while mom walked in circles around the stranger before me.

"Oh, I'm sure you do. Haven't you played whips with the twins outside?" My mom said while pinching the man's waist.

"You mean, this guy is the man on the cross?" I said with a delightfully surprised expression.

"Indeed, he is." She said while looking at the man's eyes. "Has this man been crying lately? Give him some glasses to hide his swollen eyes. We don't want our target to be suspicious." Mom said to Alejandro in rapid succession while examining the man's eyes. The stranger didn't look like he minded these, though. He looked as if it was something that was usually done to him on a typical Tuesday afternoon.

"My goodness, where's his bruises then?" I asked with a frown as I looked at the perfectly healthy-looking stranger in front of me.

"I've ordered one of those ointments that the Ringmaster was selling recently in the Organization. I managed to nab a lot of them because of my status, so I just used it to this boy as a test run." Mom replied while pointing at some areas of the stranger's body to both of his bodyguards. "I asked these two boys to take care of our friend right here while we're talking about the mission earlier. Knowing Susan, I knew that the talk would take a while, so Christopher had enough time to take care of this guy." Mom then looked at me with a mocking smile. "As you can see, Susan stalled enough time because of her endless whining for these two to do their jobs well."

"I'm afraid I haven't managed to heal all of her wounds, though, Madame Ila," Christopher whispered with a disappointed expression.

"Oh? I'm not seeing anything wrong with him, though." Mom said while looking all over the man's body again to check for bruises.

"It's because..." Christopher hesitated before continuing with a smile. "... it's in his testicles, Madame."

"Oh." Mom then gently tapped on the stranger's crotch, making him wince with a gasp. "Well, as long as it won't be seen. It's not like this guy uses that part of him anyway."

I cleared my throat after seeing this exchange with an awkward smile. "Looks like the Organization is doing well with their medicinal products." I then quickly thought of something different as a way to end this topic once and for all. "So... Who exactly is the client this time?" I intervened mom's work with a question, which she didn't seem to mind much.

Mom then looked at the man from three feet away with a nod. "Veronica." She simply replied.

"Veronica?" I said with a raised eyebrow, confused upon hearing that unfamiliar name. "Is she a part of the family?"

"No. She owns the mall." Mom said while taking the pair of thick glasses that Christopher gave her. My, I didn't even realize that he had already appeared. It's like they have no presence at all, almost like they're invisible unless needed.

"The mall?" Going on topic, I finally asked again with a confused chuckle. "I'm afraid I am not aware of what this mall you speak of is, mom."

"Oh, never heard of Veronica before, son?" Mom said, but this time she's looking at me with eyes filled with doubt.

"Not at all, nope," I said with a blank face while looking at mom's dubious expression.

"Long hair, wears pompous clothes, spoiled brat—does that weird mind thing?" She started to enumerate many characteristics that this Veronica person might have had while putting the glasses on the stranger's eyes. "No?" She said after seeing my still confused expression.

"Doesn't ring a bell."

"Calls her V sometimes too, still no? Her official title is Field Commander." She said, this time, her focus is all on me.

"Ohh! You mean, the girl who did the train!" I said, finally remembering that I indeed knew of a woman named Veronica before from a long time ago.

"That's right. She's the one who does the recruiting these days. Veronica very graciously asked for our support in this new person that she's eyeing because of something in their blood or whatnot." Mom then looked at the stranger in the lounge again, who had bruises that miraculously healed in just a matter of a few minutes even after all the lashing he received from Susan. "That's why we will need this guy according to the data she sent us." 

"And this guy is?" I said while also looking at the man standing before us.

"Well, it doesn't really matter, but..." Mom chuckled while looking at the document on the coffee table. "Says here that his name is Mike. Just Mike."