[sunday] used rainbows
"Oh, that rainbow," his mother said, setting her purse on the back of her chair. "It was beautiful wasn't it?" She took her seat and made sure to push her chair in before picking up the menu.
"Yeah, Ma," Slade replied, pulling his own chair down and sitting back in it. "It was great." It wasn't that he wasn't a rainbow enthusiast - and that sparked the very wrong train of thought. "Ma," he started to say, before trailing off and picking up his own menu.
"Yeah?" she asked, looking up. She was a classy woman for where she had come from and Slade admired her for it. She wasn't the most wealthy but he'd fight for her being the most loving.
"Did you or dad ever notice me -- when I was younger --"
But he couldn't finish the sentence. His words choked up and his sentence ended and she got the wrong idea quickly.
"I thought we were very loving."
"No, I - yeah, Ma. You guys were. That's ... not what I'm asking." He sighed, taking off his baseball cap. He should've done it in the first place but, details. "Did you notice me as different?"
"Different how?"
They had always been loving and supportive parents. His attention to both the opposite and same sex had only bothered his father slightly and Pa Snow had gotten over it once one of his exes had come into the picture. When your son dates a doctor you don't question it, his mom had said. She was particularly disappointed in that break-up -- of course, the circumstances surrounding it were still a mystery to her.
"Did I ... fidget with yarn?"
"I don't understand what you're askin' me," she said, setting her menu down. Her eyes told a different story, though, as her son's hand came to rest on hers.
"Did I turn into a cat." There. Simple. And it was out. Albeit, a little louder then he had wanted. "...caller? Did I catcall? As a child?" His eyebrow went up and this was a disaster and all he could do was stand and gesture for them to return outside.
"What was that?" she asked when the door closed behind her.
"What do you mean - Ma, I asked the question. You heard the question. You also heard an addition to the question but that's cause I had been loud. Well? Was I?"
"A kitten?" she asked, bringing her hands to her face. This was not going through. "You were playful - sure..."
"Ma!"
But, it was too late. Frustration had taken hold and where there once was a full grown man there was now a pile of empty clothes and a small kitten crawling out of the sleeve of his t-shirt. His mother gasped as Slade scampered away and behind a trash can and before she knew it, her son was hunched over. Thankfully.
"...Could you hand me my clothes?"
A speechless middle aged woman handed her son his clothes and turned around.
"Yes," she said, finally, nodding. She caught a glimpse of the rainbow she had seen earlier. "Yes, you did that in front of me. Once. I thought I was going crazy. I thought it was the hooch." He frowned at that as he pulled his t-shirt back on. "I blocked it from my mind because it never happened again."
"...That you knew of," he said, coming up next to her. "Look, I've researched -- it and, this is going to sound weird-" His mother turned to face him. "Right. Weird-er. Possibly." He cleared his throat. "Do you or dad have descendants in Thailand?"
"Thailand?" she asked as if this was the most preposterous thing he could have asked. "I'm from Long Island, your father's from Brooklyn. Thailand?" she asked again.
"Thailand," he restated.
"Wouldja look at that rainbow," she said, looking up.
"Ma," he griped. "Come on. We're talking. I'm a freakin' kitten. That's a used rainbow!"
"A used rainbow?" she asked. "What's a used rainbow?"
"You saw it. It's been used. Same rainbow as before. It's -- used." He sighed. "What's a werecat," he mumbled.
"Let's not tell your father," she said, putting an arm around her son. "Have there been any developments with that doctor?"