TUESDAY TALES - WORD PROMPT "HARDLY"

Welcome! The word prompt this week is "hardly." My urban fantasy continues this week. Scroll down to return to Tuesday Tales. Thanks for stopping by. 

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After school I headed for Mr. Johnson’s. when I got home, I found the list of errands Mr. Johnson had slipped under my door. I took off, heading for the newsstand first. Then the dry cleaner and the deli. I finished up about six and collected ten bucks. Time to pick up dinner. I checked the sales at Gristedes Supermarket and picked a rotisserie chicken and a pound of cole slaw. I just had enough money.

Smelling that chicken as I walked home, my mouth watered. I set the table and tore into the bird. Damn, I could have eaten the whole thing, but I saved some for Ma. Then it was homework time. I flipped on the TV.  

I’d hardly finished writing the last sentence of my essay when I heard the key in the lock.

“Jamie, honey. How are you?” Ma teetered by the door. “Here you go.” She fished in her purse, then pulled out a twenty. “Why don’t you go to the movies tonight?” She put the bill down in front of me.

“Movies?”

She nodded.

“Have dinner, Ma. The chicken’s good.”

“Nah. Thanks. I’m not hungry.”

She was so skinny, none of her clothes fit.

“You gotta eat.”

“Later. I need you to go out.”

“Why?” I’d had enough of this cat-and-mouse shit with that asshole, Spider, she worked for.

“Because Spider and Murray are coming.”

“So? It’s my house.”

“You don’t like them.”

“And neither do you.”

“Yeah. But I need them.”

I grabbed her arm, ignored the needle marks and whirled her around to face me. “No, you don’t. You can give it up. I know it. You can get clean, Ma. If you want to. We’ll find a program somewhere.”

“With what for money?”

“We’ll, we’ll. We’ll figure it out or something. There must be a place you can go for free.”

“Nothing is free in this life. Jamie, if you learn anything, learn that. Now go.” She stuffed the bill in my hand and gave me a shove.

Disgusted, I stuffed the twenty in my pocket and went out. Of course, I ended up in the park. Frank was there, so I paid him for a hot dog. He smiled and threw in ice cream. The orange sky meant it was getting late. The more I thought about Ma with Spider and that ape friend of his, the madder I got.

I ended up at Jag’s statue. I stared at him for a long time. His swords, his angry face stirred my blood. What the Hell was I doing, hiding out in the park? My mother was with those tools and I was cowering behind trees like a little baby.

I marched over to the subway. I asked a guy waiting for the uptown train for the time. It was ten. I hoped the assholes would be gone when I got there. But if they weren’t, then I would throw them out. Call the cops, if I had to.

Anger pulsed through me, making my knees tremble. I slammed into the building and stabbed the button for the elevator. I banged open the door to my apartment. The goons were still there. Ma was on the floor. The men kneeled over her. Murray was trying CPR.

“What the Hell? Ma!” I ran over to her. “What have you done to her?”

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