The Middle of the Night

 

It is 2 AM when Sharon vaguely hears the phone ringing. She rolls over reaching around on the bedside table for the phone. If Sam weren’t working nights, she would have just taken the receiver off the hook, but she worries that he will need to call, so she never does. She knows who it is before she answers, but her fear that it could be about Sam overpowers her and she groggily picks it up on the third ring.

 

Sharon:       Hello?

 

Lisa:             (Screeching at the top of her lungs) You know what I decided, Sharon? I

                    decided that you stole my family from me. What do you have to say about

                    that?

 

Sharon:         Lisa, it is 2 AM, can’t this wait till morning? Maybe when you are sober? I

                     have to get up in the morning.

 

Lisa:             (Slurring her speech) No, Missy, it cannot wait. You didn’t waste any time

                    taking my kids from me, so I am not going to waste any time making your

                    life hell!

 

Sharon hangs up the phone with a shaky hand knowing it will be useless to argue with her. The phone rings again. Sharon picks it up and immediately puts it right back in the cradle. It rings a third time, and she lets the answering machine pick up, hoping that if Lisa vents to the recording, she will get stop calling.

 

Lisa:            (Still slurring her speech) Pick up the phone little girl. You think you are so

                   smart by not answering me? The kids told me that you had another kid,

                   and I have done some thinking on that. You know what I decided? I

                   decided that I’m not gonna come and take my kids when you least expect

                   it. I think it would hurt you more if you lost your kids. Danielle, Cole &

                   Sammyboy all know how to make their way home, but your kids? Now,

                   they’re just babies. The littlest can’t even talk yet since he is still an infant.

                   I could take them, brainwash them against you, and you would never see

                   them again. As a matter of fact, I’m close by; it might even be tonight. Yeah,

                   tha…

 

Sharon:       (Reaching over and picking up the phone) Lisa, you have to stop this. The

                   courts awarded you visitation, no one took your kids away from you. You

                   can visit them any time you want to.

                   (Hangs up the Phone and dials Sam’s cell) (In a terrified voice) She is at it

                   again, but this time she threatened to take DawnMarie and Jimmy. I am

                   shaking uncontrollably. I am so unsure of how to stop this! I’m trying to

                   be a good mom, but I am always exhausted because of these middle of the

                   night phone calls. It’s as if she knows when you are at work. What do you

                   want me to do?

 

Sam:           First, you are a good mom. Tired, granted, but still a good mom. Second,

                   make sure all of the doors are locked and the windows too. Open all of the

                   doors downstairs and let the dogs roam the house. If she is in the area and

                   tries something, they will hear her first. Take the phone off the hook and

                   go sleep in the kids’ room between the toddler bed and the crib. I doubt

                   she will try anything, but if she is drinking, she is unstable. If you hear

                   anything, put the phone back on the hook, call 911, then Lori.  I will be

                   home by 6.

 

Sharon:       (In an exhausted voice) Ok. This is getting old, you know? Love you.

 

Sam:           I know. I love you too.

 

 

Sharon checks all of the locks in the house, opens all of the kids’ bedroom doors so the dogs can wander in and out, then grabs her blankets and pillows from her bed and throws them on the floor between the DawnMarie’s toddler bed and Jimmy’s crib for the third time that week.