Deviation Actions
Description
Scene from EC's novel "The Outsider" - www.asstr.org/~caligula97030/o…
Ruthie had not made any plans about introducing Mike at all, because she was used to keeping secrets from her mother. She had a vague intention to introduce him at some point in the distant future, but wanted to put it off because she saw no reason why Mike had to be dragged into her troubled relationships in Salinas.
She ended up having to introduce her boyfriend much earlier than she had wanted or expected. At the end of the third week of November, she was talking to her mother on the cell phone from Mike’s room, taking advantage of having the place to herself on a Friday afternoon. The conversation consisted of the usual stressed dialogue about Ruthie not finding a church when it took a turn she had not anticipated:
“Honey, I asked Cristina Rosales to call you. She told me that she did, a bunch of times. Haven’t you been getting her messages?”
“Uh…no Mom…I didn’t get any messages…that function’s…uh…kinda messed up on my phone…the messages, I mean…I’m not getting them…”
“You need to take that phone in and fix it. Why do you have a cell phone if you can’t get messages?”
“I haven’t had time Mom, honest.”
“Yes love. But I’ve asked her to go by your room…and she told me she did…several times….and she says you’re never there.”
Fucking bitch, thought Ruthie to herself. Why can’t Cristina mind her own fucking business?
“Of course I’m not there! I’m in the library!”
“Ruthie, she’s gone by your room at 11:00! You’re telling me you’re at the library until 11:00?”
“Mom…I’m in the library until it closes.”
“Please don’t do that to me. Don’t you know it’s not safe for you to be out like that? What would I do if something happens to you?”
“Mom, nothing’s gonna happen to me.”
“You’re walking around at night…alone…and you say nothing’s gonna happen to you.”
“I’m not walking around alone, Mom. Mike brings me back every night. I’m perfectly safe.”
“Mike? Who’s Mike?”
Oh, shit…thought Ruthie. She was silent, desperately trying think how to cover that slip. Her mother’s suspicious voice repeated itself.
“Who is Mike, Ruthie? You need to tell me who Mike is.”
Ruthie took a deep breath. She wanted to come up with a lie, but she was a terrible liar and knew that lying would come back to haunt her later. Might as well come clean now and be done with it…
“Mike’s…uh…kinda my boyfriend, Mom…”
Ruthie heard her mother’s voice crack on the phone.
“I knew it! So that’s why you’ve been running away from Cristina! You’re up there leading a secretive sinful life and you didn’t want me to know! Don’t you know that the Scripture says that everything you wish to keep under a lamp will be shouted from the rooftops? Don’t you know that, my daughter? You’re not just running from me; you’re running from the Lord, aren’t you?!”
“Mom! MOM! It’s not like that! Honest! Mike’s not what you think! He’s a nice guy!”
“Yes, he’s a ‘nice guy’! I’m sure he is! They’re all ‘nice guys’ because they all want is to use you to satisfy their lustful sinful desires! I knew it! I knew you would do this to me!”
“Mom! It’s not that way! Honest! It’s not like that! I’ll have you meet him! I’ll have you talk to him! You’ll see he’s not what you think!”
“I don’t believe you! I know that you are a liar!”
“Mom! The Scripture says ‘Judge not, that you not be judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you shall be judged and the measure you give is the measure you shall receive!’ You are the one committing a sin, by passing judgment on someone you haven’t even met! At least meet him before you start casting stones!”
There was silence on the other end.
“Mom?”
“It’s OK, love…”
“What’s OK?”
“I apologize. Bring your boyfriend here. I’ll meet him. I shouldn’t have passed judgment so quickly. But if you’re with a man, I am your mother, and I have a right to know.”
“Yes, Mom. I shouldn’t have kept it from you…but I wasn’t sure how things were gonna go with him…”
Ruthie managed to get her mother to calm down enough that she was able to give a superficial description of Mike and a censored version of the relationship they had developed over the past month. She played up the fact that Mike’s family did go to church, although she knew very little about that detail of his life other than the Sinclairs were mainline Protestants and not evangelicals.
Ruthie’s mother suggested that Mike go to Salinas to meet her on Sunday, but Ruthie knew better than to go along with that, because a Sunday trip would entail spending several hours at church. Ruthie, grasping for some way she could keep a minimal amount of control over what was going on, suggested meeting Mike the very next day…Saturday…having to make the commitment without any input from him.