Haunted MTL Original – Taking Care of Mother – Todd M. Guerra
“Taking Care of Mother” by Todd M. Guerra
Gotta take care of mother. Mother is why I’m here. She’s the reason I’m alive. She kept me alive all those years so I must do it too. That’s what a good daughter does. The house is cold when the bills aren’t paid. I work hard to pay them so Mother isn’t cold.
I scrub the dishes very hard at work. It makes me think of Mother and when she used to wash me in the sink. She got me very clean; she scrubbed me hard. I wish pans could bleed so I’d know they were really clean.
The people at work always give me funny looks. They whisper that I’m slow and weird when they don’t think I can hear them. I’m not slow I’m just busy. I don’t have time to talk about television and boyfriends and getting laid (whatever that is). I have to clean dishes to keep Mother warm.
Mother always kept me warm when I was little. She made me play where it was warm, so I wouldn’t catch cold. It hurt but I know that’s love. I love her, so she stays warm now too…just like when I was young! She’s old now, and she’s like the kid and I’m the mother now. I just want to be as good a mother as she was to me.
I invited a boy over to the apartment once; his name was Donny. Mother didn’t like him because she caught us playing her game together. She told me that’s a game only mothers and daughters play, and I shouldn’t be bringing anyone home to play it with them. She told me boys were evil and wouldn’t do nothing but trouble for me. She said if I got in trouble by a boy, she’d make sure it died. I don’t know what she meant, but it scared me and I tried to never cross Mother again.
I never had a daddy like other kids. I finally asked Mother why. She said he left her with the little shit-maker to deal with and ran off with someone. I don’t know what a shit-maker is. I’ve been looking all over the house to get rid of it to make mother happy. I thought it was the cat, so I dropped him out of the window. It made a real neat splat sound and a really big mess. Mother got really mad when she found out. Things got out of hand and we hurt each other, and since then Mother’s not said anything to me. She’s just mad, but she’ll get over it eventually because I keep her warm now, where you’re supposed to go when you get cold.
End
Todd M. Guerra is a longtime amateur writer who will take this thing seriously one of these days. He is, as Doctor Octopus once described Peter Parker, ‘brilliant, but lazy.’
-Mountains-
A serene mountain landscape yawns; monumental evergreen trees fingering a brilliant azure sky stroked with wispy clouds. The air is crisper and fresher here, wafting its piney fragrance along the meandering deer path that bends and swerves down the gradual slope…
-Reset-
-City-
A bustling urban environment beckons, its diverse, brightly-clothed denizens laughing with one another, casually parting as you stroll through their midst. Sunlight dances through the crowd, reflecting off of towering buildings, cars, and bicycles. Sounds swell together as though breathing life into all interconnected within this rich tapestry of time and space. The street is a cacophony of alluring smells, and the savory scent of kosher all-beef hot dogs…
-Vegetarian-
Fragrant cumin zing of vegetable samosas…
-European-
Perfume of freshly baked baguettes embraces you in a warm hug as you sit at a small metal café table, savoring an espresso…
-Caffeine Free-
Lavender cremosa…
-Non-Carbonated-
Limonade…
-Reset-
-Beach-
The warm sand squishes between your bare toes as the soft ocean waves lap at your feet, beckoning you to wade further into the cool water…
-No Swimming-
The woven rope hammock stretched between two perfectly-spaced palm trees sways slowly as you lounge in its cradle, sipping a Mai Tai…
-Non-Alcoholic-
Iced lemonade in a highball glass through a red plastic straw…
-Eco-Conscientious-
Paper straw, the citrusy elixir providing respite from the steamy…
-Less Hot-
Warm breezy summer…
-Spring-
Spring air, children…
-Nature-
Birds…
-Silence-
You close your eyes, hammock gently rocking you to slumber.
We here at My Universe wish to thank you again for choosing our services. We know that there are many post-cataclysmic alternative realities available, and we appreciate your business. Please enjoy your respite from the societal collapse, and remember us next time you need to unwind.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website. And if you really feel like getting away and helping clean up the beach a bit, check out this relaxing video from Dylan Clark titled Seagrass. Or maybe that wasn’t so relaxing after all… 😉
Somehow I came across an older Midnight Panther comic book, Feudal Fantasy #2 from the late 1990s to be precise, and I thought I’d reappropriate it into a new story as a collage. Anyway, this is what evolved. Honestly there wasn’t a lot of content to work with, but that isn’t surprising seeing as how that wasn’t really the point of the original… And sorry, I saved the erotic bits for another project, though even that was pretty tame in this one – just a bunch of boobies.
Images: Black and white line drawings of wide-eyed anime women and men in various states of undress, looking cute, being coyly pensive, and hack ‘n slashing.
Text reads: I like… men who are dying. We ought to just kill everyone involved. The scent of blood!! I never see his face, he always wears a mask. What a waste of time. I don’t like this. The horny bastard. What a pig!! -Slash- Sounds like it could be fun.
Images: More black and white line drawings of wide-eyed anime women and men kissing and hack ‘n slashing.
Text reads: Mercenaries of glorious Edo, if you can make the flowers that bloom along the rivers during spring drop their petals, then do so. I’m the Ferryman of the River Styx. Whssh.
OK, OK – here are some boobies since you stuck with this so long. And here’s a link to some more of my comic book collages, in case you are interested.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.
Black Friday.
You can’t beat the deals. So many of us. Waiting. Readying. Checking the time. Counting down the seconds. You better believe I earned my place at the start of the line. I’ve been camping out here since late Wednesday. Yeah, yeah, the holiday was yesterday. Whatever, I had my family’s full endorsement.
Because that new high-definition television beckons. The best in zoning out technology. All channel access. Cutting edge entertainment. Bleeding edge. That blade is sharp, baby. Like a razor.
But this kind of escapism is costly. A reality check says it’s not in my family’s budget. We don’t make that kind of money, and so here I am. Among all the others vying for the same prize.
Only one will get there first. Only one available. Must have TV. Must have T.V. Must. Have. T. V.
An employee approaches the door. Nobody noteworthy. A soon-to-be-casualty. No more. No less.
We rise and lurch into place. Ready…
On your mark.
Get set.
Go!
Original images generated with Nightcafe AI art generator.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website. Or if you just want more zombies, might I recommend either Elvis or the Fashionistas?
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