My mother begins to wrap another strand of my unruly black hair around the curling iron. I can see her in the mirror wearing that fake smile that she’s adopted since he left. When she finishes she kisses me on top of the head gently.
“You look beautiful darling.” She says, her smile ever so slightly more genuine than it was a minute ago.
“Thanks.” I say lightly, trying to hide my annoyance.
“Now honey, when you’re at school today remember, It’s all about the-“
“Surface”, I say shortly cutting her off. “I know.” My aggravation shines clearly through my flat voice now.
“I know your frustrated sweetie”, my mother sighs, “but you know why we can’t tell people. In a town like this, and with the church we belong to. Besides your father is a very well-liked man around here. When people here that he left us, they won’t blame him, they’ll blame me.”
“Who cares what think mama? That’s what you always told me.”
“ Grow up, this is different, and you know it!” She says harshly.
I fire back immediately, “what about when he doesn’t show up for church on Sunday?”
“We’ll say he’s on a business trip.”
“He can’t be on a business trip forever” I say my tone no longer angry, but very matter-of-fact.
“I’ll think of something, you just worry about school.”
I turn and march swiftly out the door. One thought sticks in my mind as I walk: good parents teach their kids to be honest, so maybe she’s not a good parent.

I stand at my locker, my boisterous best friend, Molly, talks animatedly about the date she had last night. I don’t even here what she’s saying, all I can think is: tell her, tell her, tell her, tell her, tell her.

I don’t tell her, my mom may be a coward, but this means a lot to her, and I don ‘t want to betray her. Still, I don’t know how long I can live a lie.

When I get home from school the house is quiet, I figure my mom is still out job hunting. At least she’s doing something… maybe. I still don’t think she’s trying very hard to get a job. She doesn’t want to deal with reality, and getting a job would be like admitting he’s gone, and that’s something she just can’t seem to do. I got a job the day he left.

When I get upstairs I hear sniffs coming from my mom’s bedroom. I duck my head inside and see my mom crying on the floor. When she sees me she pulls herself up and smiles like nothing’s wrong, even though I can see the tears on her cheeks. A lot can be said about my mom, but she defiantly practices what she preaches. She always has a perfect “surface”.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” She begins to sob again, and I don’t know what to do, comforting people is not my forte.
“I-I went d-do-down to the fl-o-ower sho-o-op to appl-y-y fo-or a job”, she begins to sob even harder and I pat her gently on the shoulder. “Ms. Ne-nesbin was th-there”, she continues weakly.”She as-asked me wh-wh-why I needed a jo-job”, she chokes out.
“Mom, it’s ok. What did you tell her?”
“I-I just couldn’t li-lie t-to her. I to-told her th-that your fa-fa-father left.” She sobs uncontrollably now.
“Mom!” I say happily “It’s going to be ok, this is a good thing. It’s time to start telling people.”
My mom sniffs and pulls herself together slightly. “No it’s not, everyone is going to judge me, and our family. They’re all going to think that it’s my fault. They’ll talk about it, they’ll probably even think I cheated on him. They think so highly of your father, they won’t be able to come up with any other reason why Joe Craig would leave his wife and daughter”.

I never liked living in this stiflingly small town, but now, seeing the pain in my mother’s eyes all because she’s so terribly afraid of the people here, I can’t stand to live here for one more minute.
“I’ so sick of the judgment!” I say angrily, “It’s everywhere I turn. Everyone in this town is judged by everyone else for everything they say or do. I mean why can’t we realize that we’re all just humans, and we’re doing the best we can at being human? And maybe if we weren’t so worried about accomplishing the impossible and over rated task of pleasing everyone, and escaping judgment that we might actually be better people.”
“I know honey, I hate it to. But there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Says who?”
6 Days Later:
I sit in the back of the church, ready for battle. The town meeting drags on as slow as it always does. I used to hate it when my dad would drag me along to one of these these. It’s just a bunch of the most opinionated people in town sitting around arguing about nothing of actually significance while sipping lemonade out of Dixie cups. Tonight however the town meeting is very important.
When Mr. Cod, the mayor, asks if anyone else would like to speak before he ends the meeting I shoot my hand up into the air. Teenagers usually don’t speak at these things, but the purpose of town meetings is to let anyone say anything. So, nobody objects. My mom looks anxious as I start to make my way to the front of the audience. She’s still not quite sure about this plan. But the way I see it is you have to face your fears, head on.


“Hi”, I say, my voice booming through the microphone. “I’m Beth Craig, and that’s my mother, Suzy Craig”, I motion to the back of the room where my mother sits with a nervous smile on my face. “You guys all probably know my father, Joe Craig”, many people nod. “Well, last weekend he walked out on me and my mom.” I hear a gasp and many people turn to look at my mom while others whisper to each other. “Also”, I say loudly drawing the attention back to me. “If you happen to be a low-life loser with nothing to do but stick your pointy nose into other people’s business, don’t chose ours. Because quite frankly we don’t want your pity and we couldn’t care less what you have to say about the matter.” This brings on another gasp, just the reaction I was hoping for. I smile, mission accomplished