set in South Bend, Indiana, The United States of America
It was rare for Mother to receive a call from her son, but she knew why she was getting it. After all, just like everyone else, she was glued to her TV screen, witnessing the results coming out as each US State decided who would be in the Senate, and who would be in the House of Representatives. She didn’t notice at first because the TV was kept on so loud but then she noticed that the sounds of Patti LaBelle and the tunes from the advertisements were innately different. She scrambled for her phone, which had gotten stuck in between the sofa cushions, then looked at the name of the person who was calling her.
“Hello?” she asked, giving a chance for Son to explain why he was calling.
Son was quick to get to the point.
“Who did you vote for?”
Mother smiled.
“Did you see who won?”
“I asked, who did you vote for?”
Mother started laughing.
“I ain’t telling you who I voted for. That’s my business. Who did you vote for?”
“You ain’t telling me. I ain’t telling you.”
“That’s because, you didn’t vote.”
“How do you know?”
“I know my own son.”
The facts were the facts. Son was an expatriate out of the USA for so many years, and he never voted. His excuse was that he was no longer really an active American citizen, and he didn’t like the country, so he didn’t care which way it went politically.
But then when the Republicans were in power he would make any excuse to make angry posts online, decry the current government whenever he talk to his parents, and make equally histrionic claims about the death of democracy and good governance.
Now that he was in Australia, studying to become a professor, Mother was hoping he’d grow out of these habits.
“So, did you see who won?’”
“Yep, JD Ford. He’s the first openly gay representative from Indiana.”
Mother could hear the sudden lightness in Son’s voice. He was radiating a real positivity as he spoke. Mother felt that happiness and it made her happy. Believe it or not, no matter how much they disagreed on most things, she did want him to be happy too.
Son asked it again. “Who did you vote for?”
Mother said it straight. “You’re annoying me with that question.”
She felt like telling him it was none of his business. She was getting annoyed enough that she wanted to end the call. She knew exactly what he was insinuating, and she didn’t feel that this was the reason a son should be calling his mother.
Would he ever call to ask about her health? Would he ever call to ask something simple, like how was her day?
Again, the truth was that her son rarely called her, and she had gotten used to it. She had stopped wishing for more discussion in between them, because it mostly led into arguments.
Mother decided to ask, “How’s Melbourne?”
“What?”
Mother repeated. “I asked, how’s Melbourne?”
“What does that have to do with the election?”
“You live in Australia. You complain to your father it’s racist. He spent a lot of money to help you get there. So I’m just asking, how’s Melbourne?”
“There you again, talking about money…”
It wasn’t even an important part of what Mother mentioned. Of course, it had to come out. They were so happy Son was finally considered a Master’s that they went out and sponsored it. But was Son focusing on his studies, or was he taking advantage of his time to enjoy a very expensive city at no cost? Anyways she really didn’t want to know about that part of things. Again, she just wanted to know if he was happy or not, or if he had any stories to tell… the typical sorts of things children expressed to their parents when they spoke on the phone.
“Anyways, I’m good,” Son decided to say.
“That’s good,” Mother said, feeling a gulp of air drop down her throat. He got a feeling he was going to ask, again, who Mother voted for.
Mother decided to ask her son, out of curiosity, “Spence, what are the things that you think are important to think about when you vote?”
“I don’t know… the rights of people like me, their right to exist, their right to be whoever they want, and the rights of all people, really… who deserve to have a free life like anyone else.”
“Of course,” Mother said. Her gut curled up as he spoke. She could sense the ire in his voice, and that his thoughts were targeted to the government, but also being spoken towards her.
She decided to mention, “For me, I hate that we pay so much taxes. And we know it’s not going to anything. We see that on the streets. It’s just going straight to those politicians’ pockets.”
“That’s why you vote red. I know you do. Because all you care about is taxes.”
“That’s not true,” Mother said. She also hated that so much money was being spent to fund a war in another country, into another kind of war that the President had promised to never get into. She also hated how so many families were being separated based on who was born where, which she felt was unfair. She knew how it felt to be a mother, and far from her son.
But Son never gave her a chance to share those opinions, and he wasn’t giving it now.
“This isn’t worth my time,” he was telling her. “I know how you voted. I don’t even have to ask.”
Mother’s face curled out of its curious smile into a straight and deadpan stare.
“Let’s talk some other time. I want to watch more of the election results.”
“Me too,” Son said, and he hung up.
Mother said she wanted to watch more election results, but she changed the channel, onto a rerun of Cheers.
The truth was that she had voted for JD Ford, but she didn’t want Son to know, given her own inability to accept his homosexuality, and the history they had happened to have based on it.
