It's Just About the Money

The first time we couldn't pay the bill
Mom made me go visit Mrs. Morgan
And I didn't mind

I need to tell you that
Because that's honest
And I want to be honest

I didn't mind

Mrs. Morgan was pretty
Really pretty
And she wasn't that old
Only in her late twenties
And I was fifteen
And yeah, fifteen is young
But not always
Not in my case

Anyway, I went over to Mrs. Morgan's
While her husband was at work

She told my mom
That she needed her spare room painted
And would I like to make
Some extra money?

Mom said sure
And quoted her a price

Mrs. Morgan went a little low
Mom went a little high
They met in the middle

And when I got to the house
There wasn't a paint can in sight

Just Mrs. Morgan
Asking me if I wanted a drink

And I didn't mind
You know
I really didn't mind

She was a nice lady
And a friend of my mom
And her husband was a dick, you know?

So no, I didn't mind

And we made good money that day
We, because, you know
Me and Mom, we used the money
To pay the bill we owed

I think it was for a credit card
I'm not really sure

Anyway, that time I didn't mind

But then there were times after that
And you know, me and my Mom
We would never talk
About why I was going
Over these houses
To see these women

She said, you know
You're just going to paint a room
Or fix a leak
Or clean out an attic
Or hang some pictures

But then I'd be gone for hours
You know
And it doesn't take hours
To hang a few pictures

And I'd always come back
With a lot of cash
And she'd always know
How much I was supposed to get
So I couldn't keep any extra
For myself

But we never talked
We never really talked at all

And after awhile Mom quit her job
At the mall
And just started sending me out more
And then to people she didn't know
And then to women I didn't like

And then one day
She was going to send me to this...

She was going to send me to this guy
Who lived a few houses down

And it wasn't that he was a guy, really
Because I mean, whatever
But it was more because
He was scary

I mean, I was nineteen by then
Still living at home though
Because there weren't any jobs
In Portland back then

And I was a good-sized kid
Not in bad shape, you know?

But this guy
This guy creeped me out

And I said 'No'

I said I wasn't going
And I'd never said that before

I'd never said 'No'
To my mother

And she looked at me
Not like she was mad
But like, like she knew
That this was going to happen
That one day
I was going to say 'No'

And she gave me a hug
And I thought she was going to say
That she was sorry

That I didn't have to go

But then I felt her mouth on my ear
And she whispered to me
She said--

'It's just money. It's just about the money.'

And I was nineteen
And I was grown up
And I could have left

But she was my mom
And where was I going to go?
And I owed some money too
And she'd gotten bad at counting
So I could skim a bit off the top
If I needed to

And...

And I went

Except after I was done
After I hung all his pictures
I never went back home

Wanna hear something funny?

I didn't even take the money

I just left

And I didn't mind
At all

How do you like that?