The Broken Summer

I rolled over and fell off the beanbag when mom called me. I must have fallen asleep playing X-Box last night and it hit me like a ton of bricks, spring break!

Soon it would be summer and our family would have our first vacation. I poured myself some cereal and milk and went to check out the cartoon channel. I had just sat down and the doorbell rang, after I got my dog calmed down I answered it, it was my friend Eric.

He wanted to go to the mall and hang out for a while. I asked mom and she said the regular pick up your room first then you can go. I did and we were off.

Eric and I decided to pick up our other friend Derek on the way he lives just a few houses from me. We got to the mall and decided to walk around and then bought sodas. These were new ones that just came out and they were in these colored glass bottles.

We went home thinking we could hang out at Derek’s and play x-box for while. I knew Derek’s mom wasn’t home but I figured if my mom was distracted enough she would say yes. I got to my house and as I thought she was busy.

Hey mom I mumbled I want to go to Derek’s and hang out is it ok? She managed a sure in between her work and then looked at me. My heart sank. She asked me if it was ok with his mom. Yes, Derek’s mom said it was ok was my quick response followed by a holding of breath. I knew better, the rule is you can’t go to someone’s house unless a parent is home, but I also knew for sure nothing would happen but fun and mom would understand after all it was vacation right?

We hung out for a while and I totally destroyed them in x-box. We decided to go into Derek’s back yard and finish our sodas. It happened so fast the bottle was soaring through the air and coming down in the street with an explosion in the air of flying glass. No cars were coming down the street so Eric and I threw ours too then we saw a cop car.

We ran into the house and the cops were at the door in seconds. Did you boys throw the bottles into the street of on coming traffic? I couldn’t answer; it felt as though my lungs were inside out. “No way” Derek was answering and lying we were dead for sure. The next question came like a bullet, “Are your parent’s home?”

The police went on knowing we did it. Well it is against the law and people could be hurt. Get brooms and bags you boys are getting a ticket and cleaning this up. My mom was called and was there in about 20 seconds.

At that point the officer backed off seeing my mom has this one and his point was made. Why can’t I be like the other kids their parents weren’t here? They clean up said sorry and were back at Derek’s playing x-box.

My mom continued, “You will write a 10 page report this week everything else is gone, no x-box no friends no nothing”, she continued, “Write about how this affects lives the decisions we make and then I’ll read it and see if you learned anything. Also the summer vacation we planned is off.

I hated this type of speech. So I lost my spring break writing a 10 page report, my summer vacation is gone because of broken bottles in the street? I got one last look from the cop who said his mom was the same way, she cares about you and they drove off. I wish she cared less, cared like my friends parents, why is there some lesson in everything?

We got home at dark. My sister Kara was waiting and she was worried. I told Kara what happened expecting her to sympathize with me. She looked at me and ran up to her room. I ran after Kara and she said she believed in me and never thought I would do anything to put people at risk. She told me some kids killed a lady and her passenger doing the same thing.

The full weight of what I had done was finally hitting me and I was ready to write now. Mom wouldn’t give me any clues on what to write other than I better have paper in my hands at all times. I could see mom looking at me write and caring about the effort I was putting into my words and it was better somehow. Kara had the same reaction. I was worried about how this would affect Eric’s and my friendship and worried about Derek who really didn’t have anyone there for him. I wrote about it and worried about them. I knew the time for helping there would take awhile especially for my mom to let me go to Derek’s or Eric’s again. Rebuilding trust takes so long and is so much harder than destroying it.

After the week I brought mom all the pages I had written in my notebook and she started to read. It felt like days but was hours later and she came to me. She said she was impressed with my thoughts and she could see I had learned what I needed to from the situation and it was her hope that I would always remember this moment before acting in such a manner again.

We hugged and I could feel my broken summer repairing itself. My family means so much to me and their trust means so much. Kara read it also and when I had her faith and trust back I felt almost whole again. I contacted Eric and Derek and we talked. All still friends and we agreed to make better choices and still have fun.

I told my mom that I can’t fix what I did and I am sorry. If it means I stay here and you all go on a vacation I can do that but I really want this for our family. She hugged me and told me that being willing to give of yourself is so important, self-sacrificing is the anchor of all bonds people will share. I know I can’t un-break the bottles but I am sure I can un-break the summer vacation. She told me she was proud of me and she loved me.

I rolled off the beanbag again hearing mom call and got up got dressed and ran for the bus knowing that back to school meant two months and then SUMMER!!!! I was happy my summer would not be broken this year!


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