Jennifer is hosting Write on Wednesdays this week and our prompt is a line (above) from Alex Miller's "Autumn Laing". So the challenge is "Set your timer for 5 minutes or write about 500 words. If you’re looking for specific feedback, please let us know. Otherwise – enjoy the writing."
I've done a 5 minute flow of consciousness, not quite sure where it came from!
Have you ever wondered
what it would be like to grow up not knowing the truth about your mother? When
you are a shiny smily child you believe that you do know all about her, that she is
an angel in heaven (well that is what they told you). But then, when the adults
deem the time is right, they tell you their new version of the truth. This, of
course, is only their perception, the story that fits best with the reality
they live with, the truth that they believe to be the right thing to say. What
do you say to a teen who thinks their mother is dead?
“Your mother had some
problems”, they said, “she was never the same after what happened, she just
couldn’t cope, so she went away”. It never really gelled, it never fitted the
photos, the smiling face gazing at a babe in arms.
And then the years of
wondering, the watching of faces in crowds for a glimmer of familiarity.
Somehow I thought I would “ just know” when she was near me, but that feeling
never came. With the arrival of my own child, her absence was more acute, more
poignant and more painful. How to be a mother-less mother?
And then, just two
nights ago, there was a knock at my door.
