Malinger

Kenny held the reading lamp to his forehead until the last possible minute. He heard his mothet coming down the hall and switched it off.

His door opened and his mother's head appeared. “Up and at ’em," she said. "You’ll miss your bus and I can’t take you.”

“I don’t feel well,” he croaked, keeping his eyes closed. “My head hurts.”

She came to the bedside and felt his head. “You’re a little warm.”

“Only a little? I feel like I’m burning up.”

“I don’t have time to find the thermometer,” she said, exasperated. “I’m late as it is.”

“I think I need to throw up.”

“Jesus. Not on my dress.” She brought the trash can over and set it by the bed.

“Try to aim, okay?” She went back down the hall to the bathroom. “I’m almost done in here,” she called.

He raised his head and listened. She was fumbling around in a drawer. She’d been wearing a lot of makeup since she started dating Jim a couple months back. Kenny was pretty sure they were doing it. They’d sure seemed eager for him to go to bed last night. As usual, Jim was gone by morning.

He thought about using the lamp again, but she was coming down the hall. He leaned over the trash can and retched. She stood in the doorway looking at him. He lay back and groaned, gave her a feeble smile. “Hi Mommy,” he whispered.

That did it. The skepticism vanished from her face. “Oh, you poor thing. But really, Kenny, you’ve missed so much school this year.”

“I can’t help if I’m sick,” he whined. “There’s a stomach flu going around.” He retched again, slid the bucket closer. He kept it up until he heard her heels clicking on the hall tile.

“I’ll call the school from the office. But seriously, Kenny. This is the last time.”

He thrust out his lip. “I really feel sick, mommy. Really.”

She stared at him a second, then bent to kiss his sweaty forehead. “Feel better.”

He felt bad for lying to her. She really was his mommy, and here he was lying. She wanted what was best for him, was going off to work so she could support him. So what if she had a boyfriend? It wasn’t like his dad was coming back. His dad had lied to her plenty, and now he was doing it too.

Right there he made up his mind that he wasn’t going to lie to her ever again.