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I flushed Oh randmother know? But I just shook my head There’s no way she could, I’d been coiving just enough detail to prevent any suspicious questions

Because Nana and Mattie thought I was headed to Nevada for a suht But there was more to the job than that I was headed to Nevada to be auctioned at the Billionaires Club, selling hest bidder It’s crazy, it’s insane, it’s outrightto help the my body

Because it’s always just been me, Nana and Mattie My mom is a deadbeat, someone who breezes in and out of our lives whenever she wants, whenever it’s convenient Her last visit had been a disaster, the woernails like it was no big deal

“He’ll get over it,” Ellen whined, one hand on the door knob “He’s old enough”

I was so angry that I lost it completely

“He’s your son!” I screa down my face “You can’t just come in and out whenever you want! Mattie needs you! He needs his mother!”

But Ellen wasn’t having it, she had a date with souy don

“Nah, he’s okay,” she cooed, ht Mattie?” she said, chucking hi man, you don’t need your mama”

And Mattie had nodded through the tears, trying to do his best not to cry despite the hiccups and sniffles that erupted from his small chest

“I-I’ at his flushed face “I’m okay”

Ellen turned to

“There you have it,” she cawed triumphantly “Now shut up Becky, and mind your own business”

And with that, the wo, almost unable to breathe What mother could leave her child like this? I kneouldn’t see Ellen for another couple weeks, she’d be the invisible person until it was convenient for her to wander back uptown at so else

But the thing is, we don’t have a choice It’s Ellen’s disability checks that support this little fahty ways And so while the wo up with strangers, Nana,to get by

But recently, things have taken a left turn Ellen isn’t reliable, hasn’t been her entire life, but her disability checks come like clockwork They arrive by snail mail around the middle of every month, and I swear,for theof our mailbox It’s aon baked beans and canned corn, and dreaone So just as usual, around the fifteenth of last month, I’d jumped up as soon as I heard the shuffle of the post keychain