Cell Phone Saga

"Pepper Marie Rose, if I hear the words 'cell phone' again, you are grounded." My mom liked to threaten me with grounding, but what would happen was she would give me some crazy chores like weeding the garden with a pair of toenail clippers, but I wasn't to be intimidated.

"But, mom, I'm the only one at school who doesn't have one."

"Good," was her only reply.

"Mom, people are starting to talk - I'm a leper!"

"You don't even know what that means, Pepper," Grabbing the pepper shaker from the back of the stove, she liberally doused the chicken simmering in the pan with a second skin.

"Mom, think of it this way, you'd be investing in my safety."

"Pepper," my mom heaved a sigh and turned to face me, her back to the stove, "When you get your driver's license, we'll revisit this conversation, but until then, I don't want to hear another word and that's final."

"That's barbaric! You said I wouldn't get my license until I was eighteen."

"Pepper, don't you have homework to do?"

"It's summer break, mom."

"Then go clean your room. Don, I mean Deputy Doogle, is coming over to discuss instituting a Neighborhood Watch group in our area. I promised dinner, and this chicken won't cook itself."

"My room? He'll see my room over my dead body."

"That can be arranged, young lady, now scoot."

"I hope you know this is child abuse, and when school starts again, I'll be at the mercy of the big bad world and the laughingstock of my whole class. Let that be on your conscience, mom!"

I don't know what my mom's problem was, it was as if she didn't trust me. And I have no idea why...