Chapter 2

This time around, my saintly mother didn't even glance at Mikey. She was standing there, tears in her eyes, arguing with Uncle Joe about why she did what she did.

"Why wouldn't I love my son? Of course I wanted to save him! But there was another child! He's just a little boy! What about him? All lives are precious. Didn't he deserve to be saved?"

A crowd had gathered, and they were all nodding, agreeing with my mom's nonsense.

"She's right, Martha is right. All lives are equal. And little Timmy is younger. He should be saved first."

"Yeah, Martha is a good woman. She always puts others first, even her own son."

"That's right! And all the good she does! Always helping people, giving away her money. She's a saint!"

My mom looked like she was about to fly. She looked at Uncle Joe like "See, I am not wrong."

The boy and his family were long gone, and they forgot to say "thank you."

Saint? She only gave to others!

My chest tightened with every breath when I thought about my brother's last days.

Uncle Joe, who never lost his temper, was furious. He slapped my mom across the face, hard.

"So, you didn't call for help? You didn't try to save your son? You just let him lie there under the rubble?"

Smack!

Another slap.

"He's little? What about Mikey? He's only eighteen! He's only a month older than that kid!"

"And that boy had a table protecting him! What did Mikey have? Nothing! And you just stood there and did nothing? Is he even your son?!"

Uncle Joe yelled.

My mom was silent. "They're all saved, right? No one died..." she mumbled.

"You..." Uncle Joe was so angry he couldn't talk. He raised his hand to hit her again, and she screamed and curled into a ball on the ground, shaking.

The crowd turned on her.

"I thought she was such a good person, but she abandoned her own son."

"Exactly! She cares more about strangers than her own kids. I bet..." The women eyed my mom up and down.

"I bet she still has a thing for Timmy's dad!"

Everyone gasped and began talking about my mom's "colorful" past.

Mom's face turned red. "Stop! Don't talk about that!"

I grabbed Uncle Joe. "Uncle Joe, let's get Mikey to the hospital."

Uncle Joe hesitated for a moment, then scooped up my brother and put him in the car.

"If anything happens to Mikey, I'm going to kill you!" Uncle Joe shouted to Mom.

I limped to the car, following Uncle Joe.

I turned and stared out the window at my mom, a mess on the lawn.

If anything happens to Mikey, you're going to pay.