One morning, not long after the start of what was going to be my final summer vacation of junior high, I woke up to find a strange woman sleeping next to me on the futon where my mom was supposed to be. Propping myself up on my elbow, I pulled away for a moment, then decided that it was no big deal and went back to sleep. My mom worked at a small bar not too far from where we lived, and this wasn't the first time she'd brought home friends or some girls from work to stay the night. The next time I woke up, the woman was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the pajamas she'd worn had been neatly placed on top of the futon, which had been folded up. They were the same old pajamas my mom had been sleeping in for years, but now they looked pristine, like they were on display at a store. I couldn't take my eyes off them. We always hung our clothes and underwear to dry on the curtain rod over the window, and we'd just grab whatever we wanted to wear when we needed them. Our room was messy and...
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