The Writers' Circle

Valery

Just as I was about to doze off, the door was swung open and in marched my parents.
'Oh my God Valery, how are you feeling,' my Mum said.
'Don't try to sound caring, it doesn't suit you.'
'Of course I care, we care, our daughters been involved in a serious car crash.'
'Your extra benefits income has been in a car crash, but as you can see I've survived, so don't worry, the payments will keep coming.'
'Don't talk to your mother like that,' Dad attempted a tone somewhere between disappointment and anger.
'You talk to her a hell of a lot worse.'
'Valery love I know you're upset and that you've never thought of us as good parents, but this is the sort of time to forget about all the stuff that has gone on in the past,' Mum did a decent impression of a real mother.
'Your mum's right, this is a serious moment and we have to be together on it.'
'You're right, this is a massive moment. I've been in a life threatening car crash, I could have been killed and I guess that puts all your arguments and the fact that you're lousy parents into perspective.'
'Exactly,' Mum said, looking surprised and pleased in equal measure.
'I was in a life threatening car crash,' I took a deep breath in and out. 'Twenty four hours ago and you're just pitching up now, was there nothing on the telly tonight?'
'Oh Valery I'm sorry, you know what my phone can be like, we only just got the message from the hospital,' Mum reverted back to pleading.
'Then we came straight here as quick as we could.'
'How often have I stopped out all night? I'll give you a clue, it starts with "n" and rhymes with ever. Yet you still didn't call me to find out where I was.'
'We just figured that you were staying the nights at a friends house,' Mum went into classic lying mode. 
'That would almost be somewhere near believable, had the nurse not told me that she didn't leave a message, in fact she spoke to you in person Mum.'
'Oh Valery, I really am sorry,' Mum continued in her search for forgiveness.
'Waterworks, nice touch. Let me take a wild guess at what happened. You got the call around seven thirty, by which time you would both have been hammered, so you couldn't drive to the hospital. Neither of you could be bothered forking out for a taxi or even a bus, you haven't got any true friends between you, so you couldn't ask anyone for a lift. So instead you decided to carry on drinking, have some sex, anybody's guess whether it would have been with each other or no, and think about dear old Valery 'Income benefit' Law after work the next day.'
'We'll come back another time, when you're less upset,' Dad said.
'Please don't.'
They made their way out of the room, without even trying to deny my suggestion upon what happened last night. After they left the exhaustion was so great that even though I had so many horrible thoughts about how Mr Wooden was and whether I'd play tennis again, I still fell asleep soon enough.