It wasn’t for another month that I saw Mo’s Mom. She had invited me to her home in a very non-descript part of town. “Well, hello, there”, she said as she invited me in to a nicely decorated home adorned by tasteful artwork and decor. She pointed to an antique chair made of brown leather where she asked me to sit. Our visit had not been too long when she started telling me stories about Mo. “That Mo is such a bad boy that every time I think about him, my heart starts to do the rumba. Some years ago, while he was still in high school, he did a very nasty number on me that I have never forgotten it. It was close to my 70th Birthday and I was excited thinking that Mo will have a nice gift for me. He had been planting ideas on my mind for many weeks that as my birthday approached the more excited I got. Then, on my special day, he came to pick me up”.
“Mom, I have to blindfold you because I don’t want you to see what I got you. Mo, said. “Is it outside”, I asked. “No, we have to drive a little ways”, he replied. “Very well”, I said. In his company were the two sisters that he had struck a friendship with and who he had been spending a lot of time with. To make things even more exciting, Mo asked me to sit in front – shotgun. And before we drove off, he pulled out a cupcake with candles shaped in the number 70. “Ok”, Mo said, “we’ll sing a birthday song before we go”. I must say, the two sisters had the most interesting voice and were quite impressive blending together singing a cappella. They sounded like the band America singing the tune A Horse with No Name.”
“Then, as we got to the last verse ….”Happy Birthday to you ……. I blew out the candle and Mo turned to me to cover my eyes with a black bandana. “Here we go Mom, it will be quiet a ways ok?” “Ok”, I said – smiling with the gigglish excitement of a schoolgirl. My thoughts were filled with delightful anticipation thinking that maybe he got me a house in a better part of town”.
“What happened next has been the very center of my fight with Mo. After a while, Mo started letting me sip a drink that tasted like grapefruit juice with a hint of champagne that made me feel happier and bubbly. As the trip wore on, I started asking are we there yet? Only to be answered with a chorus of Happy Birthday songs by the two sisters in the back seat. That happened at least four times.
“Then, just as I was about to fall asleep, the car stopped”. “Here we are Mom”, Mo said. “But you must remain silent and what ever you do, do not remove your blindfold”. “To which I complied. I heard music, the modern sound of hip-hop and we were walking in the direction of the thumping music. In no time, we were in what sounded like a nightclub. But to make sure I didn’t ruin the surprise, I kept the blindfold on. I had been sitting on a stool for a long while when I realized that Mo had left me in the nightclub and that there was no birthday gift at all. The only surprise was that I was in a gentleman’s club for retired playboys. Mo, had sold me to a crime syndicate involved in the business of entertaining rich retired men. The moment I took off my blindfold, I knew I was in trouble because everyone around me – all of them old men – had a glass of champagne on one hand and a can of Red Bull on the other looking like they were ready for something. Every one of them was well dressed and had nice smelling imported cologne”. “Only then did I know I was taken. My own son had mercilessly tricked me. But with all the womanly power in me, I told them they will never be able to make me do what they had paid Mo have me do, not even for a million bucks!”
“What did they want you to do?” I asked. With the face of an aggrieved and tormented woman, she said, “they wanted me to put on a really tight red leather skirt and jacket and they wanted me to sing Tom Jones’ hit song “It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone”.
Sobbing in despair, she yelled – “that double-crossing devil boy, my own son!”
