Milk Carton Child
Huddled under the table, she stared at the faces around the room. Her brother, younger by only a bit over a year, laughed and giggled as he opened his presents. There were a few other children there, but they were of no consequence to her. It was the adults who commanded her gaze.
Her grandmother bustled about cleaning up, cooking, caring for anything she could. She wore her trademark mask of concentration, but Emily had learned to see the frustration and exhaustion under the façade. Her grandfather quietly nursed a drink on the sofa in the other room, the television flickering against a toneless countenance.
Her father was there, somewhere. She could hear his deep chuckle in the distance. Had she any premonition of the future, she would have sought him out, entreating upon him to sing and dance and throw her in the air, just once more. Instead she looked toward the living room, where her aunt was bustling towards her. "What are you doing down there? You're going to make your brother sad with that sour face!" She chided, pulling Emily up from the floor. Emily mumbled her apologies, and walked towards the backyard, where her mother was setting up the piñata, an elaborate racecar swerving down a murky paper road. She had spared no expense in making this party perfect for her sweet little boy.
Emily's eyes drifted back to her brother. How she envied that he could be content in his artificial world, oblivious to the hurt in the people who had created it. If only she could be like him. All the lies, custom cut, just to give this boy enough security to be himself.
Her vision flooded with tears.
*drip* strawberry milk mustaches
*drip* go fish, candy land
*drip* saturday morning cartoons
*drip* christmas tree ornaments
*drip* swingsets, treehouses
*drip* stuffed animals and dolls
*drip* laughter….
Her grandmother saw her go into the bedroom, and observed a few minutes later, when she reappeared. Emily had put a bow in her hair, and her smile was constant and generous. But her eyes hinted at the sad reality. Emily the little girl is long gone, never to be found again.
Labels: Vignettes