A Holiday Brawl

Anna stepped out of her dingy car after parking in her driveway. Her mother’s old blue explorer was parked in front of her. It gave her the warning to prepare herself for her mother’s wrath. She took a deep breath and let herself into the house.

“Well, look who came home!” her mother shrieked as soon as Anna was in the doorway. “For a second, I thought you had forgotten,” she said sarcastically.

Anna groaned, walking past her mother and into the kitchen. She was pulling up her wispy blonde strands when her mother cornered her again.

“I can’t believe you would even try to-“

Anna held up a hand to silence her, feeling irritated. Her head was pounding, and her mother’s nagging was making her patience thinner.

“If you’d just let me explain,” Anna gritted through her teeth.

“What, it’s ‘not what it looked like’?” she bellowed. “I saw you there. It was clear as day!”

At this point, Anna was a furious shade of scarlet. She had her small hands clenched into fists by her sides, and was shaking with anger.

“Stop it! Just stop-“

“No Anna! You’re out of control! I am your mother Anna, and no matter how much you don’t like it, you can’t make it without me!”

They were both panting heavily. Tears of hurt and fury had built up in Anna’s eyes, though she wiped at them roughly. The two women stared at each other dead in the eyes.

“You saw me at the grocery store with Maria,” Anna explained quietly. “But I got the chocolate chunk cookie dough for me and you, Mother. Not for Maria and I.”

Anna’s mother just looked at her before embracing her, sobbing and apologizing for her immediate jealously about who would be making the Christmas cookies.