TITLE: Ice cream and swings and the things that don’t count.
AUTHOR: Mexx
DISCLAIMER: Not mine… you know the drill.
RATING: PG-13.
SUMMARY: Faith recalls her childhood, and her relationship with her mother.
FEEDBACK: Don’t make me beg. Seeing me beg isn’t pretty. But feedback would be nice.

When I was seven years old, just after my Dad had left my Mom and me, my Mom took me to the park for the day.

She let me wear my new sneakers that she had bought me for school, they had real laces and she let me tie them up myself.

We walked to the park together, Mom didn’t make me hold her hand like I had used to, and she let me walk all by myself, like a grown-up.

Mom sat on a bench at the park, she didn’t walk around all the swings and slides with me, she left me to do them myself. She sat on a bench, drinking her can of grown-up’s soda, and watched me as I climbed on the ladders and climbing frames for the big kids, and let me swing myself on one of the big kids swings. When I asked Mom to push me she said I was a big girl and could swing it myself.

When I wanted ice cream Mom handed me five dollars and let me go to the café across the street all by myself. After I’d finished my ice cream I’d gotten it all around my mouth and Mom didn’t wipe it off with her spit on a tissue like she’d used to, she let me wipe it off on my sleeve.

When I cut me knee falling off a climbing frame Mom didn’t come and sweep me up and kiss it better, she didn’t want to embarrass me in front of the big kids, she just let me sit next to her on the bench for awhile.

She let me stay at the park as long as I wanted, we didn’t have to go home even when it started to get dark, we left when I got tired.

On the way home Mom bought pizza as a treat for me. She bought another six cans of grown-up soda for herself.

We went home and Mom let me stay up as late as I wanted, and let me sleep in the next day, and the next, and the next.

--finis