Jacob's Mother—Chapter 5
Uninvited Guests
Jacob’s Mother is a serialized novel. Start with Chapter One.
Chapter Five: The Uninvited Guests
California—2010
Jacob lay out his mother’s pills for the day on the counter. He knew that she was lying on her bed with the TV on, but not really watching it. This is what she had been doing since they had moved in with her. TV day in and day out. The Price is Right, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune played all day long. Cheesy hosts in bad suits handed out money to contestants to the drone of Las Vegas style slot machines. It drove Hannah crazy, and sometimes she would close his mother’s door and blast the radio throughout the rest of the house. It was difficult for her to leave their tiny third story apartment downtown which she adored, but there was no way Julia could make it up the steps, let alone fit in their tiny place, and Hannah insisted they help with her care. Jacob sighed, missing their tiny apartment in the middle of the city. Hannah had tried to spruce up his mom’s place by painting and adding a few new pieces of furniture, but he felt uncomfortable in this house. It held so many bad memories.
Julia never moved from the bed except to come slowly to the dinner table, to use the restroom, or to go to the store on Wednesdays at 5pm with Hannah to buy Coke A Cola and Little Debbie snack cakes. It had to be 5pm on a Wednesday, or she wouldn’t step foot outside the door. She spent her hours lying on her side, making a permanent dent on her pillow and mattress, her white hair splayed across the pillow.
Sure enough, when Jacob went into his mother’s room with her medication, she was in the same position as usual, staring at the space on the wall above the TV while the Wheel of Fortune spun on in front of her. She didn’t even notice that he had entered. He sighed and approached her. She just stared at the pie shapes going around on the wheel.
“Morning, Mom.” He handed her her pills and she just stared at the wall.
“Mom, you have to take these. I have to go to work. I have a class today.”
She continued to stare at the wall. “This is not God’s house,” she said. “This is not the house of the Lord.”
“Nope, it’s not the Lord’s house. It’s your house, and Hannah and I live here now, too. So we can take care of you. Hurry up and take your damn pills, so I can go to work.”
Jacob and Hannah worked at the same university, but Hannah didn’t have any classes this morning. During his commute, after the dreaded daily pill distribution, Jacob felt a wave of anger wash over him. So this is my life now. Taking care of a woman who never bothered to take care of me. He was so angry at the unfairness of it all. His life had already been hard, and he didn’t want to do this anymore. It was unfair to him and his family. He clenched his teeth and tightened his hands on the steering wheel and went to work. At least today he was teaching his favorite course, Celtic Anthropology. At least he wouldn’t have to think about his mother for a few hours.
Later that night, the three of them sat around the dinner table with Thai take-out. Julia stared at her box of take-out. Hannah’s huge pregnant belly kept her from sitting close to the table. She smiled at both Jacob and Julia, but Jacob could tell that the smile was forced. She looked haggard, lines forming around her eyes and mouth.
“How was your day, Hon?” Hannah was trying to make the best out of a terrible situation.
Jacob looked down and studied the floral table cloth. He couldn’t stand to look at Hannah with that fake smile. Especially when her real smile lit up the world.
She ignored the fact that he didn’t respond. “Well, my day was hectic. I am trying to get all the lessons for my classes together for when I go on leave, just two more weeks.” She grimaced. “Then, it’s just going to be you and me all day long, Julia. At least until the baby comes.”
Julia lit up at the mention of the baby. Just for a second, it seemed like she was a normal grandmother, excited for the arrival of a grandbaby. She patted Hannah’s belly and said, “A wife should cook for her husband.”
Hannah let out an exasperated sigh, slid out her chair, lifting up her belly, and left the room.
“Mom, Hannah works full time. She doesn’t have time to make dinner every night. We share responsibilities, and we eat out a lot. That’s just how it is here.” His explanation fell on deaf ears, he could tell that he had already lost his mother to the other world that she seemed to stare at most of the time. “I’m going to go check on Hannah. I think you hurt her feelings.”
“This is not the Lord’s house.”
“Damnit, Mom!” Jacob, slammed his fist on the table and got up.
“See, I’m not crazy,” Julia said while slurping a mouthful of Pad Thai noodles. “This place is not the Lord’s house.”
Jacob found Hannah in the nursery. She was sitting on the ground, leaning her head against the crib and crying. Her belly overpowered everything about her. She was sitting cross legged, and Jacob could barely see her legs. She saw him enter and wiped angrily at her tears.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I know she can’t help it. It’s just so hard.”
He knelt before her and gathered her and her belly up into his arms. He stroked her face and hair and wiped her tears away, which caused her to cry even more. Hannah, filled with hormones and frustration was one of those women who can’t stop crying once she starts. Her raw emotions were unleashed, and Jacob knew there was nothing he could do to stop them. He held her and waited while she sobbed into his neck.
“I know she can’t help it. I just am having a hard time dealing with this,” she cried. “I don’t know if I can do this once the baby comes.”
“Hey, just because she is a schizophrenic, doesn’t mean she has to be such a bitch!”
Hannah laughed. Then they both laughed.
Hannah giggled and whispered, “Especially in the Lord’s house.”
Jacob loved how his wife could find humor in the toughest times. She was the glue that held him together. She put her head back on Jacob’s shoulder, and they sat on the floor like that until they heard the rustling of a snack wrapper in the doorway.
Julia stood there, looking completely insane, with unkempt white hair and her house coat that she never took off, eating a Lil’ Debbie Snack Cake. There was some chocolate around the corners of her mouth.
“Sorry,” she murmured. Then she shuffled away down the hall.
Continue with Chapter 6.
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Jacob’s Mother is an original publication by Laura Ellis. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law and fair use.