Old Arguments
The front door opened and shut with some force as footsteps stormed out onto the porch overlooking the great city. Delphi City was best seen during the day when the light shone over it but even at night, it was pleasant on the eye. Of course, those born in the city could be classed as biased. Blake was one such person. She wrapped her hands around the white coated railing of the porch and watched as the last glimmer of sun started to fade over the city, it was beautiful. It reminded her of those times when she would sit outside and watch the sun rise in the morning and set again in the night with her parents.
It was easy to get lost in the romantic sight of the sunset and she had, so much so that she hadn’t noted someone following behind her out of the house. She lowered her eyes and stared down at the ground, the dirt around the front of the porch, staring at it as she tried hard not to look over her shoulders. Her lips parted, “Do we have to do this?”
for a moment after the question, an uneasy silence which was noted by Blake as she knew that it was her mother standing behind her, come to finish the job from where she left off inside. Eventually a reply was returned but not one that was expected. “Do what?” It was infuriating.
Blake spun round, allowing her grip on the railing to be removed, her eyes rich with anger as she met eye to eye with her mother who seemed to be strong in her stance, arms crossed in an aggressive manner, that expression of dominance almost practiced. “You’re kidding right? It happens every time I come and visit”
Her mother took a deep sigh and then shrugged her shoulders as if she had no interest or no answer for the original question. It was difficult, the relationship between mother and daughter and each time the road got rockier. “What do you expect?” It was a powerful statement with a lot of emotion attached for the ride.
If it wasn't so infuriating then Blake might have found some sense of humor about her mother’s half heartedness. Her mouth was slightly ajar, a hand behind her as she leaned on the railing, her eyes training on the image of her mother, powerful and unrelenting yet again. “I expect my mother to welcome me home, to not pick apart my life at the dinner table…to realize that I am a grown woman and that I have a life now” Blake found it difficult, strange to have to remind her mother of who and what the relationship was.
“Yes, on that ship of yours…I know” her mother started to move from the door, heading to the seated area outside, the furniture that clearly had her taste all over them. Blake’s eyes followed along, her body turning as she wanted to continue this. Her mother sat down on the chair and got herself comfortable, her cardigan remaining wrapped around.
The Avalon was her assignment, her life’s work up until now and her mother treated it as if it was a joke or something, something she would eventually grew out of or bored of. It wasn’t a fad nor was it a joke, this was her life. “It isn’t my ship; I work on it…I help people…” Blake was cut short in her statement as her mother interrupted with strength.
“No…you should be helping me here…your father needs…” As mothers went, no one could deny she was a good one at most things except jealousy and regrets. It wasn’t that she didn’t support Blake in her life but it was because as her mother, Blake was free from having to care for her infantile father thanks to his service record.
Blake broke into the conversation again with a little more punch, “Dad wants me to do this, to be someone that does good for people mom. All I want to do is make him proud, is that so much to ask?” She knew her father was proud, he didn’t say it, he didn’t even have the capacity to show it anymore but she knew, in her heart.
Her mother again sighed; it was a repeat of the last time. She reached over to the window sill situated behind the chairs, hidden almost from most and she pulled out a packet of cigarettes she clearly had left stashed around the place, hidden from view. Her fingers pulled out one of the filtered sticks and she positioned it in her fingers ready.
“Hey! Mom you promised me you had quit?” Try as she might, Blake couldn’t act totally surprised or even partially. Her mother was cunning enough to always work around obstacles even ones with good health advice. She however wasn’t going to wait for some reason to be drafted, Blake started across to her mother ready to snatch the pack from her.
“Blake, just mind your own business. This is the one thing that actually makes me happy and I’m not letting you or any health board tell me otherwise. Here…take one…” Her mother opened the top of the pack and offered one to her daughter, not exactly promoting good health but as a mother, she could tell they both needed a little pick me up.
Blake stood over her mother for a moment and listened to that pitch and was nearly set for round three but what was the point. She sighed, reaching into the packet and pulling out a cigarette for herself. Her mother nodded and started tapping her pockets for a light.
The one thing to never have around a depressed individual like Blake’s father was a lighter, it was something that could end the suffering, an accidental death by fire or whatever and she knew her father, he hated weakness. It was the reason that Blake insisted that her mother stop smoking, that and for her health. No lighter.
After a few moments of watching her mother show her age and her own frailties, Blake let out a sigh. She placed the unlit stick between her lips and padded around her clothes, finding her own lighter in seconds and pulling it out her pants pockets. Blake leaned down to where her mother was sitting and offered the flame with reluctance and a half garbled sentence thanks to the cigarette hanging from her lips. “This is your last mom, I mean it.” Her mother was addicted to it, hell Blake was but her mother wasn’t young, she wasn’t in the great health, she needed to thinking about herself more. Maybe that was it.
Blake lit her mother’s cigarette and then stood up straight and lit her own, inhaling for the first part and then removing the filtered tip from her lips and exhaling the smoke, moving back to stand against the railing, one hand on her hip, the other at her side with the cigarette. “Are we going to finish our little talk now?”
Her mother sighed again, she wasn’t interested in discussing what was pointless in her life now, not when she was enjoying a few moments from her husbands, Blake’s fathers side. It was handy having siblings around. Her sister was a medical student, Blake always knew that Ana would be the good daughter and help mom with father. “Blake, I respect your decision, I do really but sometimes it feels like you are avoiding helping us”
“You really think that? Mom, gods all my leave is spent coming home to you and dad, I mean every chance I get to help, I try to but you…” The sentence was interrupted when Annabelle came out the front door looking tired already from watching her father.
Annabelle crossed her arms and shook her head, “Mom, you aren’t suppose to be smoking, remember what the doctor said, no smoking!” Blake watched her sister deliver that order and her mother nearly jumped. Ana was anything but quiet. Her eyes shifted to look at Blake and then they lowered to the cigarette in Blake’s hand and she frowned, “A doctor huh?” The Flight Surgeon could only shrug her shoulders as Ana; her sister helped her mother up and took her back inside leaving Blake alone with her thoughts and sunset.