In Between Days: Raising Jordan (boyxman)✅

American Idiot

Jamie

My mother took a liking to Jordan and I really didn't blame her. She liked almost all of my girlfriends and boyfriends, not that Jordan was my boyfriend or anything. She liked Gavin the most, but from what I could see, she developed a quick love of Jordan. As far as I was concerned, he was definitely likable and lovable, even after he spit, bit, and kicked me. Jordan and my mother chatted back and forth for awhile. I could only imagine how much he missed his mother.

But, by 3:30, my mother started to fade and a new woman emerged, one Liz and I hardly recognized. The correct term to use was sundowning. That's when people with dementia become more and more confused, sometimes even agitated in the late afternoon and early evening. My mother kept getting up, looking for her car keys because she said she had to go "pick the kids up from school" even though Liz and I were adults. She no longer recognized me as her son or Liz as her daughter. It was a good thing my dad took the car and keys away from her, otherwise she'd be driving around town getting lost and posing a danger to herself and everyone else.

"I have to pick the kids up from school," she said again and again. "I'm late. I have to go."

"The kids are fine," my dad said calmly. "They're taking the bus home today."

"No, I have to go," she said.

"No, you don't," he said again.

"Here," Liz said, holding a spoon of ice-cream in front of her. Liz hid a pill in the ice-cream. Sometimes she'd take it; sometimes she didn't and a battle would rage between my mother and Liz or whoever was trying to get her to take the pill. "Why don't you take Jordan home?" Liz said to me. Things were just about to get worse.

"Yeah," I said. I knew better than to try and kiss or hug my mother goodbye as much as I wanted to. I wondered if Jordan noticed my eyes tear because he reached for my hand as I walked him out of the house while my mother cursed at my dad and Liz inside. While growing up she never swore. She did things and said things she never did before this nasty disease took over. "I'm alright," I assured him even though I wasn't so sure.

"What do you want to listen to?" he asked once in my car.

"You're asking me what I want to listen to?" I asked, genuinely touched by his offer.

"Yeah," he said.

"Okay," I said, scrolling through my songs. "Okay. You're gonna love this." Within seconds, Green Day's American Idiot blasted from the speakers.

"Don't wanna be an American idiot
Don't want a nation under the new media
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind-fuck America"

Jordan's smile and head bob told me how much he liked the song. "I like Green Day," he said.

"Should I add them to your play list?" I asked.

"Okay," he said.

By the time we got to the park, people were piling in. For such a small town, there were certainly a lot of spectators and vendors that supported the event. I, too, had fond memories of this event. My parents used to take us, but we never hung around with Tim and Jordan. Tim wouldn't let anyone near him. For all I knew, they hid in the corner of the park in case there was "a freak out."

Jordan knew exactly where he wanted to sit and spread out a blanket. Instead of sitting down and relaxing, he took me around to all the different vendors that hadn't changed much over the past ten to twenty years. He bought a couple of glow and the dark necklaces: one for me and one for him.

"Tim bought me one of those light-up swords once," he said, referring to the vendor with a bucketful of glowy things, all a huge rip-off if you ask me. "The stupid thing broke within a few minutes. I was so angry."