A soft, slender hand quietly gripped the handle,
While innocent blue eyes looked up and asked why.

The soft slender hand belied the turmoil in the mind of the young brunette. The big sister a little blue-eyed girl always held in awe. Brunette had just quarrelled with their neurotic mom. Mom, too, had a troubled mind. She was lonely in her world and just could not explain Daddy's immaturity. There had been a new money crisis in the family, and Mom and Dad were not speaking again. Brunette made the mistake of asking to go visit a kid, and that set Mom off. She packed Brunette a suitcase and told her to get out and go live with that kid's family. Now Brunette was only 11. Blue eyes barely 3, but she knew the fear in her tummy and she looked up at Brunette soulfully with "why" in her eyes. Brunette, sobbing, headed down the street, suitcase in hand, not really knowing what she would do, where she would go, both sad and scared, and so innocent. She had always been an argumentative child and thus blamed herself for this state of affairs.

Before Brunette got very far down the street, Mom came to her senses, more from embarrassment of what the neighbors would find out than wanting Brunette back. Mom caught up with Brunette and grabbed her shoulder. "Now you get right back here," she said. Brunette was confused, not knowing what awaited her in either direction, but "Mind your mother," was ingrained in her so that she followed Mom back home. Now Mom didn't yell, re-assure her - nothing. Brunette received the silent treatment for a few days. She didn't understand until much later that Mom did not have it in her to "make up" with anyone. Poor little Brunette hugged little Blue Eyes and Blue Eyes hugged her back. In Blue Eyes' little heart, it was all over and she laughed and played with her toys. But Brunette spent her life begging "Moms" everywhere to understand her.

© Dreamer (Twilite08@aol.com)


~WRITERS' CORNER~