Excerpt from The Butterfly & the Bull III

  HIM

I go home Monday evening to take some time to myself and

get some clothes to take over to Kayleigh’s tomorrow. I’m

going to house hunt with her soon. We can buy a family

home together, combining our housing trust contributions as well

as some money from my business and savings if necessary.

       There’s a vehicle in my driveway. It’s a white Kia Sorento.

It’s my mother. I still haven’t seen or spoken to her since the day

she came for her belongings and went to live with her husband.

I park behind the vehicle and get out. She puts the window down

as I approach.

       “Hi son,” she says.

My heart melts looking at her. She’s a shadow of her former self.

If stress was a person, it would be the woman who had given birth

to me. She has lost a serious amount of weight. Her face looks weird,

her cheeks look like sink holes and her skin looks loose. She looks

so much older. I open the door and we hug for a long time, both of

us crying.

        “I’m so sorry Mason, so sorry,” she whispers, her voice gravelly

and hoarse like she has been spending most of her time arguing and

crying.

        “Come,” I tell her and help her out of the vehicle. I put the window

up and turn off the ignition, and we go inside.

We sit at the kitchen table.

       “Are you hungry?” I ask. I would have to order some food if she

is, there’s not much here to eat since I spend most of my time at

Kayleigh’s.

       “No, son, thanks. What I am is tired. Tired of being used and

abused. Tired of being disrespected and walked all over. I’m leaving

Ragga once and for all.”

“I’m really happy to hear that, Mom. Really happy,” I respond.

        “You know you’re welcome to stay here. Your stuff is in the vehicle?”

 She nods.

        “Yeah, I only took some essentials and some clothes. Everything

I bought for the bastard when I was living with him, I just left

there.”

I go and get her stuff, and take them to her old room.

       “I’m mostly at Kayleigh’s now. A lot has happened since we last

communicated.”

I fill her in on everything that has happened with Kayleigh and

her joy is just as strong as my anger when she fills me in on

everything she has gone through with Ragga. I’m going to get her

a divorce lawyer tomorrow and get the process underway.

By the time we finish talking, we’re both hungry. I order Chinese

food and call Kayleigh to update her. She’s happy that my mother

is back in my life and away from that piece of shit Ragga. We talk

for a bit and I tell her that I’m staying for the night with my mother,

and she says hi to my mom and ends the call. Noris is sleeping.

The food arrives in forty minutes and it’s not a moment too soon. 

We devour the shrimp fried rice, sweet and sour chicken and roast

pork like the bearer is waiting outside to take it back. Then we watch a

comedy and when she falls asleep half-way through, I turn it off

wake her up and we go to sleep.

        We have breakfast at Jamway Deli, they have the best breakfast

as far as fast food restaurants go, and then we go downtown to a law

firm, Gooden, Kunta and Rhoden, a very prominent firm. I’m

hiring one of the best to ensure that things go as smoothly and

quickly as possible. I had done a little research last night and

selected them. The firm Sacha works for is also a prominent one but

I’m not interested in having Sacha in my life in any capacity. Her

part in my journey has long come to an end. No fucking stragglers

for the rest of the way. I’m back in control of my life and it feels

glorious.

       We park across the street in the designated parking lot and walk

over to the firm’s large, imposing building. It screams “old money”.

The lobby is spacious and the receptionist is pretty and sophisticated

looking.

       “A pleasant good morning, I’m Sole-May. How may I assist?”

       “Good morning Sole-May. I need to speak with a divorce

attorney.”

       “Ok, kindly have a seat and let me see which of our attorneys is

available for a walk-in consultation.”

       “Thank you.”

We sit and I thumb through a magazine while my mother reads

the pocket Bible she carries in her handbag.

Sole-May calls me over and informs me that Ms. Villa Gaye is

available for a walk-in, and can see me at 9:15, which is twenty

minutes from now. I thank her and spend the time leafing through

the stack of magazines. I mostly look at the ones about cars. Buying

the house and a Mercedes at the same time will wipe out most of my

cash on hand and savings as I won’t be taking out a car loan, but I

went over everything last night and with the car wash raking in

between one and two million dollars weekly, and the mobile service

adding an additional one to two hundred thousand dollars weekly,

the money will be made back in short order. Tayla has done wonders

with the business. At this point my car salon is probably the number

one car wash in Kingston. I’m going to miss her when she

goes on maternity leave in the coming months but I’ll personally be

on top of everything and maybe I’ll hire a new receptionist so that

the current one, Juniper, can focus on being my personal assistant.

           Villa Gaye is a fearsome looking woman with a warm personality.

She has a face even a mother would have a hard time loving, but

that ugly shell of a head houses a very keen legal mind. We talk for

twenty minutes and she tells us about the process. My mom has to

be married to the pussyhole for two years and separated from him

for a year before the petition for divorce can be filed. Once that

happens, things can be finalized fairly quickly if he doesn’t contest

the divorce. If he does, he’s going to lose and possibly get arrested for

domestic abuse. My mom has pictures of her bruises and video

evidence of him beating the shit out of her. Thank God she had the

foresight to capture him on video during one of his violent episodes.

When I watched it, I cried. She’s battered but not broken or broke.

All is not lost. She has her vehicle and still has forty-eight thousand

dollars in her US savings account, and twenty-five hundred in her

pension account. We’re going to meet with a financial advisor

tomorrow to discuss some investments for her.

We shake hands and Ms Gaye wishes us all the best and assures

us that she will handle things when it’s time. I pay at the cashier

and we head out. I take my mom to the supermarket and then home

before going to the gym.