Something Fierce by David Drayer

he couldn’t see if she was inside or not. He stopped and got out.
    “Mom!” he said, walking toward the passenger’s side, which was facing him. Just as he reached for the door, they saw each other and she leaned over to unlock it. He got in and before he could say a word, she threw her arms around him. It was clear that she’d been crying. “Are you hurt?”
    She shook her head no. “I shoulda known better.”
    “How stuck is it?”
    “Really stuck. Tires just spin. Won’t budge an inch in either direction.” She shook her head, discouraged. “Your sisters and your dad already think I’m outta my tree and this’ll add fuel to the fire.”
    “They don’t think that. Not at all.”
    She eased out of the hug and looked him in the eyes. “Then why are they always trying to make me go to the doctor and get checked?”
    “They are just worried about you. They love you.”
    “Well, I ain’t going.”
    “Okay. That’s fine. No one can make you go if you don’t want to go.”
    “Cotton-picking right, they can’t,” she said, wiping her eyes with a wadded up tissue. “Just because a person forgets things now and then don’t mean they’re losing their mind.”
    “No. It doesn’t.”
    “When a person gets older, they forget stuff sometimes. That’s just natural.”
    He nodded that it was and said, “What do you say we get out of here? Me and the guys will come back and get your car later.”
    “Can’t we just sit here and talk for a little bit?”
    “Sure. But do you mind turning on the car to get some heat going? It’s cold.” She turned the engine on. He’d been right about the pink coat and jeans but wrong about the boots. She had on tennis shoes. “I have to call Gail and let everyone know that you’re okay. They’re all worried.”
    “Tell them I’m sorry for being such a dough-head.”
    He smiled. There wasn’t much of a phone signal. Stepping outside the car helped some. With a lot of loud talking and repeating, he was able to let Gail know the situation and assure her that everything was fine and they would be home in a little bit. She said she’d let everyone else know. Getting back into the car, he said, “We could drive into town and talk over pie and coffee.”
    “I’d rather sit here for a while.”
    Seth turned the heater down a notch. “Good heater.”
    “You bet,” she said. “It’ll roast you right out.”
    “So what the heck are you doing all the way out here?”
    “Just driving. Lots of good memories on these old roads. Me and Rita used to love the view from the top of this hill. I shoulda known better than to try getting up there in the winter.” She sighed. “For Pete’s sake, I wasn’t gone that long, was I?”
    “I was already on my way home when Gail called. So, a couple, three hours maybe.”
    “That’s not very long.”
    “No. She called shortly after she noticed you were gone.”
    His mom looked startled. “I told her I was going to go for a drive.”
    “She said you didn’t.”
    “Well, I did. We picked out Rita’s dress at the nursing home—”
    “Who picked it out?”
    “Me and Gail. We picked it out and I asked her if she’d take it to the funeral home, that I wasn’t up to it and that I was going to take a drive.”
    He looked down at her tennis shoes. An ugly fear and a deep, heavy sadness started to choke him, but he couldn’t afford it so he pushed through it. “I thought you picked the dress out yourself and met Gail at the funeral home?”
    He could see her processing the information the way a child would when something was explained to them. “Yeah,” she said and turned her gaze outside. “That’s what I meant. I just got balled up there for a minute. But I did tell her I was going for a drive.”
    The fear came rushing back and he felt sick but if he let it take over, his mom would know and then she’d be worried and that would only make things worse. Besides, it was too early to worry. There may be nothing to worry