Son Increasingly Concerned His Mother Did Not Offer New Girlfriend Fresh Cut Fruit
Silence is violence
June 8, 2021
By: Julia Zhen
Michael Liu returned home this past weekend and brought his new girlfriend with him to celebrate his mother’s birthday. To his dismay, during the entirety of the 3-hour long visit, not once did his mother, a Chinese immigrant, offer Lorena Bergen fresh cut fruit of any kind.
“I’m 28 now; this is not my first time introducing my mom to a new girlfriend. All of the girlfriends I’ve brought back in the past my mom has always offered fresh cut fruit. The ones she liked the most she would present dates and peaches. Even the ones she didn’t like she would at least hand them an orange. I don’t know what to make of this,” described a panicked Michael.
Bergen, who had met Michael while attending the same MBA program at UCLA together, was extremely offended by the non-opportunity to share fresh cut fruit with Liu’s mother.
“I did EVERYTHING that Michael said to do. I took my shoes off. I accepted the squishy pink slippers that were offered to me. I even brought her gifts! Lemon pound cake and a dozen Asian pears that Michael insisted we get from the Korean market! So what the fuck!” ranted Bergen.
While Lorena, Michael, and his mother sat around the table chatting and drinking tea, Michael’s father, Terry Liu, sat afar on the couch, pretending to read the news on his iPad and clearing his throat very loudly from time to time. Terry had already made pleasantries with Lorena when he went to visit Michael earlier this year at school. He quietly observed his wife’s ambiguous disdain for Lorena.
“My wife, she is an incredible woman. Raised two of our kids through college, rushed them back and forth between swim practice, violin lessons, Chinese school, you name it. And she still had time to come home and keep this house tidy. I, of course, was very busy reading the news on my iPad and working full-time. She worked full-time too, but that’s not the point. The point is that my wife knows exactly what is best for these kids. If I could read her mind at all, she probably did not like Lorena’s eye make-up, too dark. Or maybe her hair, it was brown but had blonde in there. It could’ve been her talking, either too much or too little. Could’ve been her chipped nail polish or the way she breathed, blinked, existed. Honestly, who’s to say? Michael should probably just find a new girlfriend,” lamented Terry.
Michael, in a frenzy, did what he thought his mother would’ve wanted and broke up with Lorena. Later, in a phone call, after he told his mother he had ended things with Lorena, she responded, “Ok.”
