The Long Way Home by Phillip Overton

  ****

  Three hours later Rowena looked up groggily at the sound of a bedroom door opening. She had forgotten that Simon was home, she could vaguely remember rousing at him earlier in the afternoon and thought that he had ridden his bike over to his friend Brian’s house. Instead, Ron had come over from across the street after hearing the commotion to see if she was alright. He’d brought some pot over with him too, and so the two of them had spent the afternoon smoking marijuana in Rowena’s living room.

  “Simon, is that you sweetie?” Rowena called out as a small, blurry figure walked into the lounge room.

  “Are you smoking Mum?” Simon asked sheepishly, looking first at the sight of a man passed out on the lounge chair, then at the full ashtray and strange looking grassy stuff on the coffee table in front of it.

  “Oh damn it!” Rowena, realising she still had some rolled joints sitting on the coffee table, tried quickly to put them back in the plastic bag and stuff them away out of sight in her hand bag.

  Looking at his mother this way scared him, she looked like she was sick. Her eyes looked terrible, they were glassy looking and rolling around in their sockets. Her hair was messed up, the buttons on her blouse undone and she was falling out of her bra. Simon wished he hadn’t woken up hungry to be greeted with the sight of this.

  “Why don’t you go and play with your friend sweetie while Mummy tries to wake up and clean up this mess?” She tried to sound awake as she slurred her words. “Mummy’s sorry for yelling at you before, so when you come back I’ll try and cook your favourite dinner, okay?”

  “But I haven’t had lunch yet.” Simon spoke softly. His mother was staring right through him, she hadn’t noticed his blackened eyes, his swollen lip or the dried blood caked over his eyebrow.

  “Then you’ll be really hungry for dinner now won’t you?” She stood to her feet and playfully squeezed his cheek so hard that it hurt. She went to step forward and lost her balance, falling back onto the lounge chair.

  “Mum, are you okay? What’s wrong?” Simon stepped forward, concerned for his mother but at the same time scared.

  “Just go to Brian’s house and play alright!” She snapped at him, causing him to jump back. She lay back on the couch clutching her head in her hands, the last thing she remembered was the sound of Simon closing the front door behind him before she passed out on the lounge beside Ron.