“Well, this is my private line; the RSVP number on the invitation. I didn’t want my mother to get wind of this.”
“That makes sense.”
“If you ever just want to talk to me, this is the number to call,” he explained.
She wished she could take him up on that. Even on the phone, his voice did strange things to her.
“Oh... anyway...” she said, trying to get her mind out of the gutter. “I was calling you to ask you a favor...”
“Sure.”
“I completely forgot I promised to look after Madison today.”
There was a short pause at the other end of the line.
“Can you bring her along?” He took the words right of her mouth.
“Would that be ok?”
“Sure. No problem. I’d love to see her again. I’m a sucker for dimples.”
“Me too.”
Another pause.
“So we’ll see you here, later?”
“You bet.” She put the telephone back in its place, giddy.
She hopped over to Madison. “Let’s go shopping.”
Madison loved the mall. After lunch, Angela took her to play in the play park. It was quite busy since it was a Saturday but Angela didn’t mind. She sat on the bench and looked at the children play. They were all so different; each one of them unique but all beautiful. Well, almost all; the one annoying trouble maker being the exception. She thought about how she would love to have her own child someday but couldn’t quite picture it. Robert would never go for it. What was the point in thinking about it?
After the play park, they went for ice cream. This was just as much fun for Angela as it was for Madison. They always got the chocolate flavor; Angela’s favorite and Madison’s too, if only by association.
After ice cream, Angela was not thinking about the logistics of it when she took Madison into the giftware store. She was originally thinking of getting Dot a beautiful ashtray but thoughtit inappropriate; encouraging an unhealthy habit. She tolerated it but she didn’t want to encourage it. She kept a close eye on Madison.
“Don’t even think about touching anything.”
Madison obeyed.
She looked around for inspiration; so many beautiful things, breakables mostly: Candle holders, pot-pourri bowls, frames, glass vases; iridescent greens and blues. She doubted Dot was in need of anything but she hoped she would appreciate the gesture. She inspected all the pieces, trying to put herself in Dot’s shoes.
“What would I like, if I was seventy-something or eighty? How old is she anyway?”
Finally, she settled on a glass candy dish.
As she was about to grab one, she spotted Madison reaching for a flower in a tall glass vase on the floor. Angela leaped in as fast as she could, but didn’t make it on time.
The vase came down and crashed. Broken glass pieces scattered the floor. Her first instinct was to get Madison out of harm’s way. Madison started to wail.
“C’mon Madison,” she urged as she took her hand.
“We have to go; there’s broken glass everywhere. You could get hurt.” She held Madison’s hand and guided her away from the glass. A petite stern looking woman sporting an up-do and glasses ran towards them. That’s when Angela noticed all the other patrons just standing and staring.
“It’s never a good idea to bring kids into a place like this,” the obnoxious woman told her.
“These things happen,” a young woman offered kindly.
