ELEVEN YEARS AGO
Glennon
A soft vibrationtickled her butt cheek, and it took a moment for it to register that it was her phone. A quick glance at her watch showed she was barely fifteen minutes into her psychology class. She resisted the impulse to groan. Who wanted what now?
By the end of class, her phone had vibrated six more times. She barely avoided chucking it down the lecture hall stairs. While the sounds of smashing plastic and metal would have given her great satisfaction, it would have been disrespectful to the other students and the professor to do so, not to mention childish.
As soon as the professor finished the lecture and excused the class, she checked her phone. Seven missed calls, all from her mother. This time, she did allow herself a soft groan. “Shit.”
She didn’t even bother to listen to the voicemail messages. Given the number of calls, she dialed straight to her mom.
The connection had barely been made before her mother shouted, “Why didn’t you answer?”
“I was in class, Mom. I can’t take calls during class.”
“You could have stepped out into the hall.”
“No, I’ve told you a hundred times. I will always answer my phone unless I’m in class or at work. Now, what’s wrong that you called me every five minutes?”
“Joey ran away!”
A headache birthed behind her eyeballs. Of course, this was about Joey. When wasn’t it about Joey?
Gathering up her books, she clamped her jaw to hold in the sigh. The eye roll started, but as soon as she realized, she stopped. It didn’t pay to allow that habit because someday she’d forget and do it in front of her mother, and then there’d be hell to pay.
“What happened?” She choked back the word “now” at the end. That would be an invitation for her mother to lecture her on how her sass was unwarranted, unnecessary, and unattractive.
“I was cleaning in Joey’s room, and I found a plastic bag with some of that candy in it. When I confronted him, he started yelling at me for going through his private things.”
Glennon hung her head in despair. “Mom. I’ve told you and told you. Stop referring to it as candy. It’s not candy.”
“It looks like candy. And when I questioned Joey, he said it was candy. So I told him what you shared with me, and he said you’re lying.”
This time, the sigh couldn’t be contained. “Mom. I’m not lying to you. I have no reason to lie to you. Those pieces of ‘candy’ are fentanyl made to look like candy. It’s how the dealers market that shit to kids.”
Her mother huffed. “Joey wouldn’t take that stuff. He knows how dangerous it is.”
Shaking her head, Glennon headed toward the campus library. “Mom. Joey is a dealer and an addict. We’ve discussedthis. He will tell you anything you want to hear to avoid an argument.”
“He seemed so genuine,” her mother whined.
“Because he knows he can play you.”
“Glennon! Are you suggesting I can’t tell when one of you is lying to me?”
“We’re not getting into this argument, Mother. You’re never going to listen to me. What do you want?” She knew what her mother wanted, but she was going to force her to say it so that later she couldn’t claim her daughter misunderstood her, as she often did.
“After I told him what you said, he tried to leave. I told him he couldn’t, but he said that if I was going to always take your side, he was going to go somewhere he was appreciated. I begged him not to leave, but he stormed out of here, and I don’t know where he went. You need to go find him.”
“Mom. I have an exam in an hour. Joey is an adult. You need to let him fuck up so that maybe he learns from his mistakes.”
Her mother gasped. “Watch your language! Besides, it’s your fault he took off. If he didn’t know you lied about what I found?—”
“For the love of God, Mother, I did not lie. Joey is the one who’s lying.”
This argument was a no-win situation for her. Her mother and father were never going to listen. Joey was the golden child. Even when he was in the wrong, he was in the right. Joey knew this, and he played it to the hilt. Even when he did something terrible, like stealing from his parents to buy drugs, they were still in his corner, constantly fretting about how to show him they loved him.
“Glennon, please. You have to find him. Your father’s at work, and I have a meeting that I’m already late for.”
