The Pride – page 22
Naomi stood up and walked toward William who walked toward her. As they met to change places, Naomi bumped him hard with her shoulder. William didn’t even break stride, nor did he once look at Naomi. When Naomi got to her bedroom door, where she knew Benjamin and Sarah would be waiting, she looked over her shoulder and saw William sitting in the seat that she’d just vacated. Their mother was still smiling.
“Tell me something good, my beloved.” Denise touched her son’s knee and smiled lovingly at him.
As she closed the door to her room, Naomi heard William clearing his throat.
“I’d like to…,” William was saying as Naomi closed the door.
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Denise & William
“…share an idea with you, Mother. I would appreciate it if you’d let me say everything I need to say before you comment. This isn’t easy for me.” William sat stiffly in his seat looking down at his hands crossed over his abdomen. He knew he had to remain calm and cool like he’d seen his father do when he had to tell Denise something she didn’t want to hear.
“Yes, son. I can agree to that.” Denise removed her fingers from William’s knee and sat back in her seat.
On the outside, it seemed that nothing had changed in her demeanor. Inside, Denise’s mind and heart immediately began to race. What news was William bringing to her? He’d been withdrawn and moody for about three months. When she’d mentioned this to Emmanuel, he’d laughed it off and said, “He’s probably smelling himself. You know how boys get at a certain age. He’s just a jumble of raging hormones, and some little girl probably has his nose wide open. You won’t let him date for another year, something I told you I don’t agree with, so he’s probably just unhappy about being treated like a baby.” Denise had taken Emmanuel’s explanation and not pressed the issue, but she wondered now if William had been sneaking around with some girl behind her back and had an accident. Denise thought to herself, “If he tells me anything other than I’m about to be a grandmother, I think I can handle it.”
“Like I said earlier, I did feel badly about walking in on Naomi in the bathroom. I just wasn’t thinking, and I opened the door before I thought.” William realized he’d said “thinking” and “thought” back-to-back. He tried to ignore the redundancy, but it kept playing over and over in his head. He was hoping his mother didn’t get hung up on that and stop listening to him. She was relentless about good grammar. He needed to set his mother up perfectly to drive home his points.