Silence is Golden

The silver Chevrolet Camaro sped near-silently along the highway, the high noon sun beating down on its occupants from its perch above the trees. 1

The woman removed one of her hands from the steering wheel to adjust wavy dark hair. She took a quick glance at her makeup in the rearview mirror before letting her eyes settle on the road. 2

"We're almost there, you know." She pushed back another curl. 3

A boy sat in the back seat, staring blankly out of the rear window. His arms were crossed over a bulging knapsack that he had settled onto his lap and a suitcase was pressed between his legs and the passenger seat in front of him. 4

"We only have about four more exits to pass, and then we're there," The woman continued. 5

"Each exit is about ten minutes apart, so… about forty minutes. No – fifty if you want to count how long it'll take to get to the house…"6

She sat back in the seat, using her right foot to coax the vehicle to a higher speed. 7

"Well, okay…" She continued, "We're not exactly almost there." 8

The boy did not reply. His fingers traced the edge of the window and his hazel eyes flickered across the horizon. A heavy exhale misted the window and moved strands of light brown hair away from his nose. 9

"Do you know what we'll do once we get there?" The woman adjusted the rearview mirror, watching for a headshake that would never come. 10

"We're having a party. Well, not we, per say, but a friend of mine. He name is Annabelle. You wouldn't know her, because I met her after I –" She stopped for a moment and shot a glance into the rear of the car. When she saw that there was no reaction, she continued.
"She knows all about you, though. I showed her pictures and told her stuff about when you were little… You'll have fun there. I know she has other friends with kids your age – I know Jenny has a daughter who's almost sixteen, and –"11

She had stopped suddenly. The boy in the back had pushed his backpack down in his lap and was rummaging through it. 12

"Conor –" 13

She turned her eyes back to the road and his hands froze. 14

"Look," she said, pushing the car to above the speed limit after routinely scanning the area for cops, "I'm trying as hard as I can. You know I didn't mean to leave you like that – I didn't even know what had been happening to you guys… You know that if I had I would've come to get you, right? And not just you – the both of you. If I had known, Nate wouldn't have been –"15

Conor zipped his bag shut, closing his eyes and leaning back against the car seat, seeming for all the world that he was asleep except for the way he had clasped his hands tightly around the front of his bag. 16

"See –" The woman continued haltingly – "I won't even pretend to know what you're thinking. I shouldn't have even brought it up. I know… I'm supposed to be the mother here, the responsible one – but it wasn't responsible leaving you two behind. I'm trying to make up for it now… Aren't I allowed to try?" 17

She had upset him and she knew it. The silence was unnerving by itself, but when the tension had escalated to this much, it was practically unbearable. The woman shifted in her seat and reached for the radio, dropping her hand half way there. 18

"Do you even remember me?" She whispered, half to herself. The boy didn't answer, and even though she was used to that, it still hurt. 19

"You can call me 'mom', if you want to. Mother. Heather, even, if that would suit you. That's what everyone else calls me." 20

Her hand made it all the way to the radio this time, and she turned it up as high as it could go without distracting her completely. She saw a flicker of movement from the back and turned the volume down a few notches. 21

She stayed quiet for the rest of the ride. It had taken more that fifty minutes, partly because of the traffic and partly because she had been so lost in thought that she had missed her exit and had been pulled over for speeding. 22

Finally, at about eight o'clock, she had pulled up in front of her house, parking in the drive way and leaning her head back against the seat. She could partly see the sunset through the window, and the rain clouds forming to the left of the glowing sphere. She sighed deeply, and turned halfway to where her son was seated in the back. 23

"If I were you, I wouldn't want to call me 'mom'…"24

Conor stayed silent in the back, eyes closed and arms around his bag. 25