A quiet night kept her attention as she travelled home from work. Karen Tracey, a woman of many talents, had veered off from her expected life of success in recent years. A long winded divorce could be blamed. But why feel deflated when she was rarely happy with him? A marriage born from obligation instead of love. The whole neighbourhood was shocked when little Karen Tracey, the introvert, revealed herself to be pregnant at the age of 19.
The night of conception was nothing special. A blood shot eyed Karen would be seen walking towards the local shop to meet with her friend Cal. They were more friends of convenience, as neither was particularly outgoing or aesthetically pleasing. A random night of drinking lead to casual sex between the two. Whether they had prior experience is irrelevant, as that was the night her son, Joe, was conceived.
She had taken a job in a local café to pay the bills after the divorce. She didn't mind it. Despite being capable of a lot more, she never had big aspirations or plans of grandeur. As long as she could afford Internet and satellite TV she was happy. To revisit statement made above, you could say that Karen did have one aspiration: To prevent Joe from making the same mistakes she made in her youth. Of course you'd never catch her labelling her son as a mistake, but it would be a lie if she said she didn't constantly fantasise over what could have been.
This night, she was on her way home from her regular night shift. It had become a nice routine for her that summer. She would arrive home at 12:30am, providing there was no traffic, and would be greeted by her son.
"Sprawled out on the couch, as always!" she said, as she placed her keys on the hall table.
"Only the best welcomes for you, Mom." was the lazy reply as Joe's eyes stayed glued to the TV.
As the one adult in the house worked in a café, it's not a surprise that the building itself was unimpressive. The kitchen and TV room were linked, meaning the kitchen table had a decent view of whatever Joe was watching that night.
Karen yawned as she took a seat. Her waitress outfit hiked up in this position, showing off her aging legs. No longer did they have the natural, youthful shine to go with their good shape. Apparently waiting tables is enough exercise to keep a 39 year old in adequate shape. She didn't put much effort in outside of this. Men weren't much of a concern to her these days. Not to mention the fact that she was just never that in to sex. Even when they were married, sex between her and her ex was uncommon. When it did happen it was usually under similar circumstances to the night of Joe's conception. Alcohol was a good way to get her sex drive going. But nowadays she only afforded herself the luxury of one or two glasses of wine a night.
