Because
/Why? Why are you wearing your snowsuit to the beach? Her frustration with the boy, as only a mother’s frustration could, bounced through the room, off the walls and smack back at her.
The boy remained cool and distant as only a fifteen year old boy could. “Why do you ask?”
“Because! We’re going to the beach on the hottest day so far this
summer!”
‘Right! So?” He shrugged, pulled on his snow boots and clomped out of the room. “You coming?”
Riding the tide of exasperation propelled by resignation, she grabbed her beach towel and blanket and followed her beachbound, snow-ready son to the car.
This was, by no means, the first time he’d managed to unseat her
fragile mama equilibrium and, most certainly would not be the last. Reaching for the car door, she shuddered at the memory of the time her baby boy had greeted her and his dad upon their return home from a parent-survival movie night. They’d been met
at the door by the babysitter who nearly ran them over as she
burst through the door and into the night shouting back to them
that they didn’t have to pay her and to lose her phone number.
Stumbling on, the alarmed parents entered the house where they were greeted by their grotesquely magnified, snorkeling geared, son floating and grinning at them from within the 6x8-foot salt-water fish tank - an uber-expensive decorator item displayed in the entryway. The tank was, ‘til that night, a zen-like piece de resistance - now it presented as the main feature in a horror scene. They later learned that the lad had simply been creating and starring in his own movie: Snorkel Son Greets the Parents!
Back to the challenge du jour - Mama’s mind surged forward… Heaven help me, she moaned, dreading what her precious only child had in mind for today’s assault on her sanity.
Once nestled in the warm, soothing sand, gently rocking her spirit
in rhythm with the whispering surf, Mama watched as her brilliant, imaginative to the point of apparent absurdity offspring sloshed out into the ocean. She held her gaze until she saw him dive into a wave, then finally, releasing a great sigh, allowed her eyes to blink shut and wafted off into brief, most welcome oblivion.
When next she opened her eyes to reality , the sun had dimmed its afternoon intensity into a soft glow. Noticing now a crowd gathered to her left, Mamma stood and looked to see what the commotion was all about. She immediately beheld and gasped at the sight of her boy standing nearby, drenched, laden in seaweed, sand-covered, and still in full snow-suit regalia.
He held up a sign: Huge blood-red letters shouted its
ominous warning:
Victim of Global Warming!
His young, strong voice spoke out loud and clear, his every word pulling the crowd in closer and closer:
I started out in Iceland. Then the ice and snow melted and I was washed away to here where soon I will succumb to hypothermia.
Heed my final words: Global Warming Is Real! The solution for
stopping it before it destroys our planet is your responsibility to
figure out and make work.
The crowd, hushed by his message, turned as one and began to
pick up debris on its way to trash receptacles where each individual took great care to separate their loads into the bins provided for recyclables and non-recyclables. They could be heard vowing individually to make global sustainability their sole responsibility.
On the way to the car Mama stopped, turned, and, with all her motherly might, hugged her wet, sandy son.
He endured the hug for a moment, then
wriggled out of her embrace asking with feigned annoyance…
Why did you do that?
Her response was choked with love and pride:- …
Because. Just because.
By Fran Pearce
From: United States