Aaron unveils a tale of a mother faced with an unspeakable choice. After a friend’s child goes missing in her local neighborhood, Missy faces the prospect of overprotecting her young son. Is it the right choice for a parent, or is there something more important at play here? As the story goes, her choice will become even more complicated.
Enjoying SMIRK? Then please be sure to share the show through your social media outlets!
Welcome to Smirk. A podcast that covers society and culture through a storytelling lens. Part creative writing, part discussion, and always interesting. Each week our hosts brings a story to the show, a story they wrote themselves, which is immediately followed by discussion on the author’s moral or theme.
These stories can cover any topic the host wants to discuss, it can be lighthearted or more serious. No one but the author knows if these tales are truth or fiction, and part of the fun is guessing while you’re listening before the reality is made clear.
We want to hear from you! If you want to share YOUR story, join the conversation by writing in to mystory@smirkpodcast.com, and include your moral, or you can let us guess at it. This is the podcast that looks at truth, fiction, and reality. With a Smirk.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Smirk and share the show with your friends!
Want to read Aaron’s story “A Mother’s Story” in full? Think you can identify the moral or theme for this episode? Read it below, and then take a listen to the podcast.
A Mother’s Choice
It has been 3 days since little Sadie Wilkins disappeared. And what a harrowing few days it had been. The neighborhood was still in a heightened state of panic ever since Sadie went missing while playing alone in her backyard. Sadie’s parents were diligent, canvassing the area night and day, they still had hope in their eyes.
For Missy Jenkins, though, hope was gone. Countless hours of Law & Order reruns had relentlessly taught her that if Sadie hadn’t been found in the first 24 hours, the likelihood that she could still be alive was miniscule at best.
But this being Sadie really hit home for Missy. She and her husband, Bill, had been friends with the Wilkins family for years. While their son, Jeff, was a few years older than Sadie, they had always been friends. Even playing numerous times in their own backyard. She couldn’t fathom losing Jeff, and the pain Bob and Stacy must be going through.
Missy continued cleaning the house. Though it seemed odd to Bill that she would remain committed to her regimented cleaning schedule, Missy was desperately clinging to some semblance of normalcy.
“Was it wrong”, she wondered, “that while Bill and Jeff comb the area looking for any sign of Sadie that she remained home cleaning? Did it make her an awful mother, or friend, to remain inside the safety of her own home? Would anyone understand the truth of her situation…that she was terrified to go outside? Petrified of what horrors are obviously lurking in their very neighborhood?”
Regardless, she continued. Focused solely on the task at hand. Keeping her life active, and her family safe.
Jeff was with Bill or Missy at all times, so she knew nothing would happen to him. But, dear god, what if whatever happened to Sadie had instead happened to her boy? He’s 14 now, but such a little adventurer, always roaming the area looking for something crazy to do.
Suddenly, Missy caught a reflection of herself in the hall mirror. “Yes, you’re going to have to keep Jeff indoors all summer now. It needs to be done. To protect the child, sacrifices must be made. This is what mothers do”, Missy said under her breath.
She finally arrived at Jeff’s room and marveled at the disaster that lie before her. How could a teenager so sweet and intelligent also be so damn lazy? Missy sighed, and began picking up after what was obviously an indoor tornado. She worked her way around the room, slowly realizing Jeff’s summer would easily be full if she started assigning cleaning duties to him. “Actually”, she thought, “what a WONDERFUL idea!”
She finally arrived at Jeff’s bed, the trusty old waterbed that she and Bill had used for many years before finally saving enough money to upgrade. She began tucking in the Star Wars sheets when the water hit her fingers.
“GREAT!”, Missy thought, “the last thing we need right now is to deal with a leaky waterbed.” Which made Missy think again, does it make her a bad person to buy furniture at the same time her friends and family are desperately searching for the missing child?
She digressed. Not wanting a waterfall on her solid oak staircase, Missy grabbed some waterproof tape from the hall closet and began to pull the waterbed mattress up to plug the hole.
Immediately, she froze. Missy looked around the room, trying to gather her bearings. Then returned her gaze to the mattress. Rather, what was UNDER the mattress. The details made little sense, but she recognized the soft, innocent features immediately. Lying here, on Jeff’s bedframe, surrounded by the gelatinous mound of a waterbed mattress, was the lifeless body of Sadie Wilkins.
Missy brought her hand to her mouth in shock, and it was then that she noticed it. That wasn’t water on her hands, it was blood. Sadie’s blood.
Missy slowly backed away, stunned. “What do I do?”, she thought. The ramifications of every decision flooded her mind. Jeff’s future, Bill and Missy’s marriage, the looks from neighbors – everything took over her mind.
She took a last look at Sadie, her sweet, adoring face. Lost to a horrendously bleak fate.
Missy closed her eyes, for what seemed an eternity. She took a deep breath, and exhaled. She gathered her composure and walked confidently down the stairs. She opened the front door, and walked outside. The police and her fellow neighbors were still out en masse. She took a look to her right, and caught the eye of Jeff up the road. He smiled. That smile she’s loved since the moment she first saw it as he first left her womb. She smiled back, and gave him a nod. Her indication to him that everything was going to be alright. Jeff turned back to fruitlessly assist his dad and the search party..
Missy stepped into the street, and sternly walked towards an officer. He glanced up at her and asked, “Yes, ma’am. What can I do for you?” She took one last look at Jeff, a lifetime of memories flooding her mind.
Again, Missy took a breath, turned back to the officer, and said, “I’m going to need you to come with me”.
Now, listen to the full episode as we dissect Aaron’s story.