Alex kept her hand tucked into her mother's elbow as she oohed and aahed all over the fancy jewelry display they were both leaning over. Her mother loved sparkly things, adored them really, even though she couldn't afford them. But she liked looking at them.
Alex looked down at the pretty woman by her side, saw her beautifully soft features which did not betray her sixty years and the carefully relaxed hair that was colored once every two weeks to maintain its pitch black color and sighed. What had happened to her mother, she wondered the the billionth time. What happened to the woman who'd helped her with her homework and who'd taught her how to play piano?
Schizophrenia, the psychiatrist had said. That simple. Her mother was hearing voices. But Alex didn't want to believe it... her mother had been hearing voices all of her life. Why was it different now? Why was it that now the voices went by the greatly feared name of mental illness. The same psychiatrist had quoted the hardships of her mother's life. Alex shook her head again.
"Come on Mom, let's go. We have to go home."
"But the pretty things Lexia... all the pretty things..."
"I know Mom, but we can't stay here all day... I'd explained that before, didn't I?"
Rita raised blank eyes to her daughter and Alexandria shook her head, swallowing the frustration, making a show of patience instead.
"Mom... we have to go because I have to prepare dinner for Richard and his family. They're coming over tonight."
"Richard?"
"Yes Mom, Richard. You remember Richard, don't you?"
"Richard was a bad boy. He dumped Lexia's dolls in the toilet... he made me spank him... he's a bad boy!"
As her mother's voice rose, Lexia saw the store's attendant look at them again, a questioning look in her eyes.
"Come along Mom."
"The sparkly things, Lexia, the sparkly things."
This had been a mistake, Alex realized. When she'd dropped off her best friend Lissa at the airport yesterday, she'd seen the beautiful display of emeralds and rubies and had known on site that her mother would appreciate the sight. And so, she'd reworked her schedule to bring her mother to the airport. But now, now her good intentions seemed to have been for naught.
"Mom, please, let's go."
"NO!!! NO, NO, NO!!! Sparkly thing!!!"
"Mom!"
"Ladies, please." The attendant had quietly made their way over to them, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"NO!!! I WANT TO LOOK AT THE SPARKLY THINGS!"
"Mom!"
Alex started drawing her mother out but Rita reacted, pushing back at her much taller and stronger daughter. Finally, Alex gave up trying to look dignified and bent her tall form over her mother and wrapped her around her slim frame and dragged her out of the store. Once they were on the walkway, Alex put her fuming mother out and spun her around to face
her.
"We're going home now Mom. And I want you to be good, is that clear?"
Rita looked up at the tall stranger with the familiar face, stepped on her foot and took off running.
Alex was in shock. As she hobbled behind her mother, her foot still throbbing, she felt tears come to her again. Tears of embarrassment, anger, frustration... why her? Why not Richard? Because he had the family, the kids... what did she have? The family home... and a job as a freelance columnist which allowed her to work from home and therefore look after their aging mother.
"Mom! Mom... please... stop running. I'm not going to hurt you."
Rita looked over her shoulder once and increased her speed without looking and went careening into a well-dressed couple, sending them to their feet. Alex sighed and hurried over, helping her mother to her feet as the broad-shouldered man helped his more delicate companion back to her feet.
"Mother," she said sternly, "you're going to apologize to these people and then we're going home, okay?"
"No! Let go of me! You're mean! I hate you! You're not my daughter anymore! I wish I'd never had you... I should have had an abortion!"
Alex staggered back as if she'd been hit. Her hold on her mother loosened and gasped.
Vince and Linda watched, shocked as the older woman spat out those hateful words at the younger, taller version of herself.
"Ma'am," Vince said, reaching out to touch Rita's shoulder, "are you all right?"
Rita turned around and threw her arms around Vince, holding on to him for dear life.
"You've come back, my love! Oh how I've missed you!"
Alex and Linda were at a loss for words, as was Vince who did not know quite how to react. Alex moved quickly, trying to undo the tight curl of her mother's fingers into Vince's jacket, aware of the stares they were getting.
"Let's go Mother... let the man go and let's just go home!"
"No! Don't you know who he is? Oh Alex, I never told you this, but this man is your father!"
Vince looked at the young woman, her sad and tired eyes and felt for her. He was not her father. He knew it, she knew it, Linda knew it. But the woman who held on to him for dear life did not know it. How could she look at the dark chocolate skin of her daughter and believe him to be her father?
"He is NOT my father Mother! Now let go of him this instant!"
Rita turned to her daughter and literally snarled as she leapt on her. Alex landed on her back, landed hard and before she could make sense of what was happening, her mother was on her, hitting her face, her arms, her shoulders, her chest.
"I am not crazy! I am not stupid! I am your mother and you will respect me! Can you hear me! Can you hear me?"
Alex lay there, not moving, crying as she suffered through her mother's anger, knowing in her heart of hearts that she couldn't do this anymore. That looking after her mother was endangering her own sanity.
At some point, her mother was plucked off her and when she opened her eyes, she saw the man and the woman her mother had pushed to the ground looking up at her, concerned looks in their eyes.
"Are you all right?" the woman asked.
"Yes. Where's my mother?"
"Security took her away. She'll be fine."
"Took her away? Where? Why?"
"I assume it's because she attacked you."
At the security office, they told Alex that her mother had become too erratic and that they'd taken her to a nearby medical institution, St.Luke's Hospital. Vince and Linda, intrigued by the situation, were quick to follow and offer the young woman a ride to the hospital.
"I have my own car," she said tartly.
"Fine," said Vince, "we'll ride with you."
"But why?"
"Well, you heard your mother... I'm your father."
Vince's poor attempt at humor earned him a withering look that would have made Dwayne proud.
"Please," said Linda, "my husband and I are concerned... about you, and your mother."
Alex shook her head, "Arguing is the last thing I have time for. Let's go."
At St.Luke's, Rita's doctor had already been alerted. He met up with Alex, shaking his head.
"She stopped taking her meds again," he told her as soon as she came in.
"No. I saw her... every day... she took them..."
"Did you check under her tongue?" Dr. Wilson asked.
"I did... well, I used to... not lately... oh my God, this is my fault, isn't it?" Alex whispered, sinking into a hard, plastic chair. "I should have checked... I wasn't careful enough..."
"I wouldn't say that. Alex, your mother's crafty... she would have found another way of not taking the medication."
"But I could have made sure."
"Who knows? Alex, we have to start looking into more advanced care for your mother."
"What do you mean?"
"You can't look after her all by yourself anymore."
The realization that she couldn't look after her mother anymore hit Alex hard. But it also hit Vince and Linda hard too. Because they had the money, they knew that there would always be someone out there to look for them. They had enough children and family members to make sure of that. But the plight of Rita and Alex hit close to home. They weren't much
younger than Rita.
"I'll have to speak to my brother," Alex said.
"I know. I'll be in tomorrow. You two can come in and see me then, no appointment, ok?"
"Okay, thank you doctor."
Doctor Wilson walked out, smiling at Vince and Linda. The older woman went to Alex and laid a careful hand on her shoulder.
"Do you want to go see your mother again?"
"Not right now," she sighed. "She's hyped up on drugs right now... she won't recognize me. I need to drink something."
Fifteen minutes later, Vince and Linda were sitting at a table in a coffee shop across from the hospital across from Alex. The young woman was putting a dent in a serious looking meatball sub. She sat back, half her sandwich in her stomach and smiled tightly.
"I never apologized about the airport."
"It's okay," said Vince, "no harm done."
"Vince is right," Linda said, stopping Alex's objections with a wave of her hand, "no harm was done. But I am curious. With your mother, how did it start?"
"I was sixteen and one day, she took the car to go to the supermarket. She didn't come back for another three days. My brother and I were scared shitless."
"And your father?"
"Not around enough to care. Anyhow, that was the first time... and she became more and more erratic you know... so much so that she got fired from her job, where she'd worked for twenty-five years. My brother and I had to come home from college to look after her. The deal was I would go and get myself a job while he finished his degree at the community college and then he'd do the same for me. But he didn't. He got a job clear across the country and left me to look after Mom by myself. But somehow, I juggled working full-time for a small paper as an copy editor, go to school by correspondence, and look after Mom."
"How?" Vince asked.
"By not sleeping nights for four years."
"Ouch."
"It was all right... and being angry at Richard was a great fuel for my ambitions."
"Then what?"
"I got my degree in journalism. And I hounded the managing editor until he published my columns. Three years later, I was syndicated."
"That's great!"
"It's definitely a success story," Linda gushed.
"Professionally, yeah. But personally. I don't date because I work from home. I work from home... the only times I go out I'm with Mom."
"A girl your age..." Vince began.
"I know, I know."
"What about your brother?"
"He visits once every two months and sends 500$ every two weeks. Eases his guilt."
"That's not fair."
"No, it's not."
Alex finished her sandwich and gulped the remains of her scalding coffee.
"Listen, thanks for everything but I have to go back to the hospital and check on Mom, okay?"
"It's all right. We'll make our way back to our hotel. And Alex, what's your last name?"
"Vernon."
Two months later, Linda and Vince McMahon were proud to announce the very first recipients of the Alexandria and Rita Vernon scholarship, a WWF-funded scholarship that would allow young people who were looking after their ailing parents to keep going to school while the WWF would pay for their parents' care.
Alexandria Vernon was very proud to give the first recipients their checks and had tears in her eyes when she saw her mother sitting in the front row, applauding as loudly as she could.