1. Pretty Mama


    Date: 8/25/2015, Categories: Love Stories, Author: Frank_Lee, Rating: 6, Source: LushStories

    an odd guest at a party like that. He almost asked Jessica if he could have a sleepover party with her mother instead. Jessica was looking at him with a smile that could turn vinegar to sugar. In a few more years, she’d probably learn to look at the world through a haze of amorphous anger. Then he felt a brief wish that her mother had been like Jessica when she was young. At least there would be some part of her life that was free of anguish, and once in while, maybe she could reach backward and touch it. “Is today your birthday?” “Mmhmm,” the girl replied with a pronounced nod. “And how old are you today?” “Six.” She said the word with a little ring in her voice, as if reaching the venerable age of six was a rare and astonishing experience. Jim supposed it probably was after all. “Well I hope you have a great party,” he told her. “You can come, if you want to,” she said again. “We’ll see,” he lied. A little later, Jim went to the hardware store to buy some WD 40 to loosen those bolts. Driving through town, he started to feel bad about lying to the kid. Not bad enough to actually go to a six year old birthday party, but he thought he should at least buy her a present. He stopped at a shop that sold toys and children’s books. It was full of brightly colored things, posters of cartoon animals, all happy and smiling. His clothes were grimy, and his hands were still stained with grease. He smelled like gasoline and rusty steel. Everything in the store was maniacally bright and ...
    cheerful. He couldn’t wait to get out of there and almost forgot why he’d gone in the first place. He bought a book called The Polar Express. He didn’t know anything about the story, but the artwork resonated with him. It was hard to imagine pictures on the walls of Jessica’s house, and he thought maybe her imagination could use somewhere to go. Late in the afternoon, he finished working on his car. He went inside to shower and change. Then he wrapped Jessica’s book in paper with little Santa Clauses and candy canes on it. It was all he had. When he knocked on the door to Jessica’s apartment, one of the ladies who lived in the same block of apartments let him in. There were two mothers along with their daughters at the party. Jessica’s mother wasn’t there, and Jim didn’t ask about her. He just gave the girl her present. She got up from the game she was playing on the floor with the two other girls to come over and thank him. She even hugged him, and then went back to her game. The mothers of the other girls were also neighbors of Jim’s, and he knew them both. He knew their husbands. At least enough to say hello, but not much more. He wanted to leave, but one of the mothers asked if he could stay with Jessica until her mother came home. “We just can’t stay any longer,” the woman told him. “We’ve got to get back to our families. I’ll call Jessie’s mom and let her know you’re here.” Jim wanted to invent a reason he couldn’t stay, but the two women were so anxious to leave they ...
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