Crescent Heights High, 1998

“Where’s your sister? I thought she was with you.” I ask my other near 18 year old daughter as she climbs into the passenger seat of the Aerostar. “She was at band practice! She should be over where the buses are.” Tammy replies as she slams the door. The traffic is never a breeze getting through the stop and go’s. I always get white knuckles when passing through worrying that some sporadic kid will run out from between the parked cars.

“Mum! Mum! Pull over here real quick!” Tammy shouts at me causing my heart to nearly leap out of my chest. I negotiate finding an open spot amidst the clogged mess of yellow buses and fellow vans. Her window rolls down followed by a loud ‘Hey Travis don’t forget my G string when you bring over the Gibson on Thursday!’ She falls back into her seat laughing with closed eyes. “Really?” I say to her, “Was that necessary to shout that for everyone to hear?” Tammy leans into me with a hard nudge, “Oh c’mon mum, we're not seven anymore, besides he knew what I meant!” I see Alicia standing there with her guitar case strapped to her back, talking with some other girls that I don’t remember seeing before. “What did she do to her hair?” Tammy asks glued to the window. “Who?” I ask. “Michelle! She changed it back to blue! I was supposed to change mine to blue!” Tammy says rather annoyed. “Whatever, she’s a --” I lay my horn down to get Alicia’s attention along with my hand waving her over. She glances at me confused then trails over to us. “And by the way, we don’t say that about others. How would you like it if someone said that to you?” I question Tammy. “I’d beat’em up.” She says as her face stays fixated outside.

The side door slides open with Alicia trying to get her things in. “Hurry up, you’re late!” Tammy calls out. “I was about to get on the bus. What’s going on, mum? Why are we being picked up?” Alicia asks. 

“I know, today is a little hectic. I actually need to drop you both off at your dad’s tonight instead of Friday.” Tammy sits up in her seat, “We’re going to dad’s tonight?” I glance over to her with a slight nod while cautiously going through the last school controlled intersection. “I have night classes this semester. Anyways I figure we’d stop by and grab dinner on the way. I don’t know what his plans were but I’d feel awful expecting him to feed you on such short notice.”

“Hey mum, guess what? Today Mr. Sherman said that law school would be my calling, I know its only a couple of months from graduation, but I was thinking Columbia.” Alicia says to me.

“Mr. Sherman is a class act pervert and he was probably hitting on you.” Tammy replies back.

“Shutup Tammy!”

“Ok, ok, you know what Tammy that’s not true. I’ve met him before and I actually think very highly of him.” I say to Tammy while watching my left turning on red.

Tammy laughs under her breath, “Mum, I heard him say you were hot once.”

“Just once?” I ask with mild disappointment.

Alicia leans in from the rear middle seat, “I hope dad doesn’t make us fold laundry all night in the basement while blasting Mike and the Mechanics.” Tammy laughs with a moan of pain, “Mum, you do realize that we were supposed to practice tonight and every other night up until Garage Warz? We only have a month left and we are nowhere near ready!” I crawl to a stop at a red light and try to sit back and breathe a little bit. “Well I just see you girls already as amazing artists!” Upon finishing that I am met with a hug from behind and a kiss on the cheek. Tammy rolls her eyes again, “Mum! Just because you are supposed to say that doesn't mean it's true!"

By the time I pull into the drive thru, the radio is cranked up with my daughters singing along to Sinead O’Connor. “Alright what do you girls want?” Tammy leans over me to get a closer look at the menu. “Aw mum, why didn’t we go to the one over at the Sunridge Mall, they give you more curly fries.” Alicia protests. I grab the steering wheel with one hand to turn back to her, “Well you will just have to deal with it. This one is on the way.”

"Mum, I'll have a number four." Alicia says in a more humble tone.

"The same but can I get a coffee with mine?" Tammy requests sitting back into her seat.

The drive thru lady hands us our food in exchange for a stack of toonies accompanied with a smiling thank you. "So we changed our band name...again." Alicia announces to me. "Ok," I say while pulling onto Edmonton Trail heading north trailing behind some light traffic. "Flunk," Tammy jumps in. "We're called Flunk now," 

"Oh," I give myself an adequate space of time to comprehend what and from whom this inspiration came from. "Well..." I go on to say something about the name, "...please don't 'flunk' senior high over this pursuit." I hear Alicia in the back nearly blow her drink through her nose with Tammy laughing, "Oh mum, thank you for being so cheesy," To which I reply a dry but warm 'you're welcome'.