Brian relaxed a bit, but not entirely. Mom looked up at the clock again. “Oh my, we’d better get you dressed right now honey, time is just flying by!”
Brian held out hope that this was all going to turn out to be some kind of joke. So he couldn’t read and his mom was treating him like a little kid, once he got out of this house, got back to campus, someone would be able to help him. It wasn’t really logical of course, but then nothing about the situation Brian found himself in was logical. In his fear Brian had left his logic behind.
Back up in his room Brian stood idly chewing on his finger-nails out of nervous habit while his mom picked out clothes from his closet. As she laid them out on the bed Brian’s nervous chewing only increased. Things were quickly going from bad to worse.
“There we go!” she announced brightly once the whole outfit was set out before him.
Brian looked from the outfit to her smiling face and back again. He didn’t want to upset her, a big part of him wanted to be a good boy for her in fact. Yet he couldn’t just accept such an outfit. His mom had chosen a blue and red Spiderman t-shirt that no doubt any 5-year old would have considered the height of cool. To go with that was a pair of jean shorts with an elastic waist and worst of all a pair of white Velcro sneakers.
“Please mom, can’t I pick something to wear?” he begged.
“We don’t have time Brian, now get your butt over here so we can get you dressed. You want to see all your friends don’t you?”
“No!” Brian screeched. He didn’t want to see anyone he knew dressed in that get-up.
“Don’t be silly! Now come over here or there will be consequences young man,” Mom ordered, her voice going suddenly stern.
Brian pouted but nonetheless found himself creeping closer to her in obedience. He didn’t know why but the need to be good for his Mom seemed to be overwhelming. It was almost a physical urge it was so strong. He seemed unable to resist as she lifted his hands in the air and slipped the t-shirt off his head. A second later he felt the cotton material of the new shirt brush over his face, his world going all blue for a second. Soon she had his shorts pulled up and he saw to his shame that they fell well above his knees, like no self-respecting teen or young man would allow. Then came the socks. They were white tube socks that came all the way up to calf length when Mom pulled them up. With the Velcro sneakers added to the mix Brian had never felt so stupid in his life.
