Mum, Mother and Me: A girl who believes she can see the future using green peppers reflects on her two mothers, a mysterious stain, and a dog she’s sure is pregnant.
Mother’s POV
I don’t know when it started. First it was one, then three, then bags of them. Charlotte ate green peppers all day long, and now the house smells like a salad bar that’s lost its will to live.
Now she’s throwing up green stuff in the garden, and out dog is eating it. I stood at the kitchen sink watching her, wondering what she was thinking. She mentioned reading that if you eat 30 green peppers, you can see the future. I don’t believe her. Plus, I don’t think it works if you throw them up.
I sigh and wipe my hands on the tea towel.
Eloise was my half-sister, but everyone thought she was my cousin. Maybe that’s why I never quite knew how to handle Charlotte. She’s Eloise’s kid. I’m just the person who kept her alive after Eloise bailed.
But she has Eloise’s flair and craziness, which is precisely the reason I am now taking care of her.
It wasn’t just Eloise I blamed, either. I think of her father and the time he caught a fly ball at the park on a family trip. I remember thinking how perfect their little family looked, but how odd and out of place they were.
It’s unfortunate what happened, but Charlotte is mine now. And I’m glad for my little oddball.
Once she’s done throwing up, she comes rushing in.
“The dog’s pregnant!” She shouts. I look at her, confused.
I look at her, confused. “What?”
“I just saw it, I look at Lassy and it’s like she told me she’s pregnant. I can’t wait! Eight little doggies!”
I shake my head; if that’s what she thinks, then I’ll play along.
Charlottes POV
My mother was doing that thing she did. That thing with the rag in the sink, like she’s trying to rub Mum out of the house. But one day I’ll show her.
I’ll tell her about the stain on the wall, the one she thinks came from Lassy’s muddy paws, but I know better. It showed up after my dream. After I knew the puppies were coming.
I know she doesn’t believe me, but I swear Lassy is pregnant.
I don’t know how, not really. But after reading Mum’s journal, how she used to eat green peppers to see into the future, I had to try. I wanted to see if she was as crazy as Mother says she was.
But she isn’t.
She is sane.
Yes, our family was small and unusual, and we stood out from the crowd, but we were happy. I’m glad to be here with Mother, but I was never as satisfied as I was with Mum and Dada.
Mum used to read those books out loud, Danielle Steel, skipping the kissing parts. There’s one under my bed now, dog-eared and soft-spined. It smells like pepper oil and lavender. I think that’s why I sleep better with it nearby.
I was telling Mrs Talbot that her cat is going to have kittens. It’s not even fat yet, but I know. That’s when she said it: “You could make a living doing that kind of thing.”
I suppose I could. I never thought about it until then.
Mum used to do tarot readings. She told me I was too young to understand, but now I think I do. I’ll have to ask Mother to get me some cards. She’ll think it’s silly, so she’ll probably say yes.
Sometimes Mother walks me past the Jenny Craig Centre. She never goes in, but she always stares at the window display like it’s a mirror. I don’t know why, it’s just vegetables and smiling ladies in tight tops.
Maybe it reminds her of something she lost.
Amelia Wilson is a writer and marketing creative based in the UK. She writes flash fiction and short stories exploring quiet emotion, memory, and speculative themes. Mother, Mum and Me is her debut flash fiction submission.