Free PullMyHair by Kimberly Kaye Terry Page A

money, give her the address where to wire
it and that was it. No “how are you honey, what’s going on in your life?” No, “I
miss you and what’s going on with your life” . Nothing. Liza would try and
engage her in conversation. Try her damnedest to get her mother to talk about
her life, nudge her into asking Liza about her own.
    But Edna never did. The only thing Edna wanted was the
money. Once, Liza had said no. It was the last time that she did. Her mother
had then gone on a long diatribe about what a selfish bitch she was.
     
    “Oh, I get it. You think your shit don’t stink…is that it,
Liza?” Liza could all but smell the taint of gin on her mother’s breath long
distance and steeled herself for her verbal attack.
    “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see now. I raise you when nobody else
would. Definitely not that worthless father of yours who took one look at you
and put his damn size eleven feet to the concrete and got to steppin’! No,
definitely not him,” she said in a slightly slurred voice. With barely a pause
in breath she continued her tirade. “I sacrifice, carry your narrow ass in my
stomach for nine long months. Try my best to raise you right,
feed and clothe you…and this…this is the thanks I get?” When she paused to take
a breath, Liza quickly sought to end the diatribe before she really got
into it.
    “Mom…”
    “No…oh hell , no. Let me finish! I send you to that
Catholic School so you can get a good education. Better than what I had growing
up and this is the thanks I get? Married to that white man and now you
think you’re all that! Well, let me clear it up for you Liza. Unless you have ‘my
shit don’t stink’ perfume emitting out of your ass, you’re no better than
anybody else!”
    “You know what, Mom?” Liza didn’t know if she should laugh
or cry at the utter ridiculousness of what was a classic Edna speech. Perfume “ emitting
out of her ass” . Classic, crazy Edna-isms. “I have no problem giving you
money,” she began.
    “I don’t need you to give me shit, Liza!” If possible
her voice had risen in octaves beyond anything she’d ever achieved. It had to
be a record.
    “I’m sorry. I know that you don’t need me, Mom. I
don’t have a problem lending you money.”
    “Oh just forget it! I don’t need anything from you! You’re
just like that selfish bastard of a father of yours. Don’t give a damn about
anyone but yourself!” She ended, once again, in classic Edna style. Talking
about a father Liza never met, much less someone she could compare herself with
and find lacking.
    And once again the tables had turned. Liza found
herself practically begging her mother to take her money. “Please, Mom. Give me
the address and I’ll wire the money,” she asked on a stifled sigh.
    Her mother had feigned reluctance before she eventually gave
her the address. Liza had then asked her where she was living and if her mother
ever thought she’d come back to Stanton to visit. Edna had vaguely informed her
that she’d have to check it out, see what was on her schedule before she’d
commit to anything.
    Liza had no idea what could be so pressing on her mother’s
schedule that she couldn’t take the time out to come and visit her. Although
her mother was always out of money, she did work. She was a registered nurse
and never found difficulties finding a job as nursing was one of those
professions that there seemed to always have shortages.
    She also made decent money as a nurse, whenever she worked.
The lack of a job or education wasn’t Edna’s problem. Her problem was her
addiction to alcohol and anti-depressants. It was a rare day that her mother
wasn’t either drunk or depressed. And usually, she was both.
    But, she was a functioning drunk for the most part, as it
had become a normal part of who she was. She was able to work some of the time,
attend functions that were job related. But because work wasn’t steady, she and
Liza had been on public assistance