Monday morning is my fucking worst enemy.
I don't want to say goodbye to my blissful weekend I hate to go back to my chores after having a super lazy Sunday and this stupid traffic. I sit on the driver's seat Leaning forward with my hands clutching the steering wheel, my eyes fixed on the traffic light wishing I could burn it with my stare. We have been stuck at this interception for the good 20 minutes and that damn light turns green only for 15 minutes before switching back to red. I'm going to sue the person who made this stupid rule.
To add to that, my 7 year old daughter hasn't stopped talking since she woke up in the morning. I bite the inner part of my cheek to refrain from snapping at her.
"Diane and Robin kissed last week" Khloe announces "does it mean Robin is Diane boyfriend now?"
"Uhh" I drum my fingers on the steering wheel, trying to recall any conversation with my sister about her daughter having a boyfriend, nothing comes up. "Can be what did Diane say about it?"
"Well Robin never really said they are a couple but Diane thinks that they are "
" Oh", the green light blinks, ready to hit the accelerator but the blue mini Cooper in front of me doesn't seem to move fast enough
" Come on you turtle " The orange light flickers and right after the car passes the line the red light returns" Goddamnit! you gotta be kidding me! " I yell in exasperation.
" Calm down Mom "
I grit my teeth "we are late honey"
" I know but those words are so unnecessary" she replies
Shit she repeated the very line I said to her everytime people cursed us." You are right sorry that was unnecessary "
" So do you think they are boyfriend and girlfriend now? "
She pulls us back to the topic " okay, here we go again, I can't answer that question, to be honest but if they have kissed like what you said, they probably are "
Children nowadays are nothing like what I knew back then, I don't know if I wanted to laugh or cry when I learned that kids at Khloe s school were already familiar with the idea of dating and kissing. One of them even went home with a plastic band around her finger and proclaimed that she was married, I mean it's just a puppy love thing and it's harmless but its enough to give me a headache to answer my daughter random questions here and now.
" Mrs Smith kissed the gardener but they are not a couple"
My breath hitches on my throat " What? " I squeak
" Mrs Smith kissed Matt but they are not a couple " Khloe repeats slower with pressure in her tone as if im too dumb to understand her
" Yeah I heard that " I reply, shifting my gaze to her in the rear view mirror
" But how did you even know about this? did they kiss outside in the open?"
" No" she frowns, she left out a soft shriek as she brings her hand to cover her mouth.
l peer at her " KHLOE SUMMER GARNET", did you use the telescope to spy on our neighbors?"
My daughter winces before reluctantly lifting her gaze to look at me, a guilt in her eyes
"It was an accident! I didn't mean it, I just cleaning it up and peeking through it to check if the lenses were clearer enough and I saw them"
I take a deep breath as I massage my forehead "You know the rule young lady, no more telescope for two weeks"
"But I didn't do it on purpose Mom, it really was an accident "
" It doesn't matter you broke the rule then you need to hand it over to me tonight End of discussion "
I hear my daughter grunt in the back seat but she doesn't dare to say a word which is smart of her. We have agreed about this before since she developed an interest in astronomy and all the things that happen in space, I bought a good quality children's telescope, it was a gift for her seven year birthday six months ago, and she so much loves it.
However there was rules that she needs to follow: regularly clean it by herself and not use it to spy on our neighbors.
The green light finally blinks again, granting permission for me to run my car, but its useless, a few hundred meters ahead we are greeted by the same problem again. That it, I'm done with this nonsense, I need to either move to the neighborhood closer to our school or transfer her to the school closer to our house. This was never a problem before, but since they built the toll road across our town last year the traffic hasn't been the same.
To make it worse, the toll road entrance is right between our house and Khloe school. Every morning cars are piling up on the street, waiting for their turn to pass the gate and monday is absolutely the worst.
At the next traffic light, Khloe was mute, I guessed because she was suspended from her telescope for two weeks. I glance at the mirror to check on my daughter who is staring out the window with a gloomy face. Feeling my chest tighten, I fight the temptation to reconsider my decision, this is one of the real struggles to become a parent: teaching your child lessons with minimum degree of lenity. But as much as I don't want to see her sad I need to be consistent with my words ,She needs it. I did believe her when she said It was an accident but she also needs to understand that there are two kinds Of accidents: the one you can prevent from happening and the one you can't do anything to avoid. Hers fell to the first category She might not do it on purpose But she also didn't keep in mind how important It was not to point the telescope lens at the neighbor house ,this suspension will help remember It next time.
I clear my throat "so, about Mrs Smith, you are right, some people kiss but they aren't a couple"
Slowly Khloe turns her head and her emerald green eyes lock with my brown ones "Will Mr Smith be angry? Diane gets angry every time Robin plays with another girl"
I wrinkle my nose, thinking about the best answer to give "Maybe, maybe not sometimes adults do confusing stuff, but it's only confusing because we don't know the whole story behind it. Maybe Mr Smith knows about it and he doesn't mind, maybe he doesn't know it and he will get angry when he finds out, but the thing is it's not our problem to worry about"
Our car stopped a few meters from Khloe school entrance, 7 minutes before her class starts. she manages to get out of her seat, she leans over to give me a quick kiss, not quite in a cheerful mood yet.
"Have fun at school, sweetie, and oh what you saw in Mrs Smith house it not something to discuss with someone else okay?"
"Okay" she mumbles.
After putting on her knit hat, Khloe hops off the car and runs towards her school gate.
For the third time, a make a vow that I will never drive to my workplace, it's located in the city which is only 30 minutes drive from my house, but that only happens in the middle of the night.
During rush hours once I enter the city, the traffic is pure evil, I decided to find a private school bus for Khloe so that I can take a train to work.
This is my second week working for Remington Group, a world wide energy supplier company. After four years working in the construction and transport industry, I finally made my way through to an account executive position in this multi billion dollar company. To be honest, I still can't believe that they see me fit to join this team, it feels so real. probably pure luck or maybe I deserve it. Raising a child on my own has slowed me down with my career path. Sometimes it forced me to skip opportunities because of my situation as a single mom, not that I regret because Khloe is my priority.
The year becoming a mom was hard, I had to take a break from college and focus on her with my parents help of course, as expected they were not happy about the pregnancy but fell in love with Khloe once she was born. I went back to school after Khloe was eight months old, determined it was my turn to focus on the plan for my future that I had abandoned a long time ago, little did I not know that things will never be the same because Khloe had become a part of my future.
"Good morning, Mrs Garnet". greets the woman behind the receptionist desk as I enter the Remington building. She looks like into a white box in front of her and pulls out a small blue card with gold and white string attached to it.
"Here is your ID card, you can use it as a building pass and access certain facilities, the details are written on the backside of the card, can I have your trainee pass back please?"
"Sure" I reply before giving her the ID card I used during the welcome training last week
"So I will go straight the Lysander and CO's floor today? " I ask after looking at my new company ID card.
" Yes, it's on the fourth floor you will be expected in the main meeting room, they have kick off meetings every first Monday of the month, everyone will be there and of course as a new cormer you will be introduced to the whole team, good luck! " she smiles at me that it reminds me of a toothpaste ads
" Thank you " I glance at her name tag " francisca"
I turn on my heels and make my way to the fourth floor, despite being employed by the Remington Group, Lysander and CO's which exclusively handles the marketing and distribution work. After spending a few days on the welcome training and corporate introduction last week, my first actual working day has finally arrived and I'm nervous as fuck.