AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sometimes adults bring work home...” Surprising me, because I didn’t think it was possible for such a small person, she frowns.
“But then the house also turns to work?” God, couldn’t she just say it’s okay and give up?
“Sometimes, just sometimes, Bella.”
“Being an adult must be very boring!Why don’t you go back to being a kid, Marcos?”
“I would like to, Bella, but they haven’t figured it out how to do it yet.” She shakes her head and, seriously, answers me:
“When I grow up, I’ll be very smart and I’ll come up with a way!” I smile.
“I’ll be waiting for it!”
“Okay!” she replies and goes back to touching her soft dough, but without looking away from me.Again I bite my lip and, even with a feeling that testifies against my actions, I collect my briefcase, my jacket and say goodbye.
“Bye, Bella...”
“Bye, Marcos...” Her eyes remain fixed on me. It’s almost as if they can see through my lie and accuse me.What do you expect me to do?I want to ask them, but I also know that this is purely in my head.Isabella is a child who has no idea I’m lying to her. ButI know.
And why do I care? I shouldn’t care, should I?So why is it that with every step towards the stairs the feeling of heaviness in the stomach becomes bigger and so uncomfortable as to cause me to interrupt my walk?I look back, but Isabella no longer follows me.
With her back to me, she probably doesn’t even care about my absence.She’s over it.Then why the fuck am I so bothered?What sense of unreasonable honesty is this to a child?
I rub my hands on my face and let my head weigh back. I can’t believe it!
I turn back to the kitchen, and as she hears my approach, the infant body turns in my direction.The smile on her face is so natural it makes me understand why I came back.I mean, who in their right mind wouldn’t do everything in their power to make that girl smile?
“Did you forget to drink water, Marcos?” It’s my turn to smile.
“No, Bella...I remembered that, actually, I don’t need to work now, so I can help you paint the dough…” Her mouth takes the shape of a little surprisedO, just before it again stretches into a smile, one even bigger than the previous.
“Really?”
“Really!”
“Yaaaay!” She claps her hands, excited, and suddenly any doubt I had about whether or not I was doing the right thing is eliminated.
I leave my jacket and briefcase on one of the stools again, fold the sleeves of my shirt up to my elbows and turn to the child.
“Okay, Chef Bella, what do I need to do?” I laugh a nice, spontaneous laugh, and I wink at her.
“First, you have to wash your hands, Marcos!”
“Okay! Wash my hands!” I repeat, already going to the kitchen sink.After completing my first assignment, I turn again to the girl, who seems very pleased with the role I assigned her.
“Now you have to choose a color. What color do you want, Marcos?”
“Um...” I look at her, her blond hair stands out among the pink infinity that are her clothes. “Yellow?”
“Yep!Yellow like the sun! Let’s make a sun slime!” I laugh, because this seems strangely coherent to me, since such a slime is nothing more than a puddle of goo, and, well, the sun is hot... Oh, whatever, I’m going crazy.
I take the yellow dye bottle between the others and walk to the counter, positioning myself on the opposite side of where Isabella is sitting on.
“And now what?”
“Now you have to spread sugar up here.” Aims for the counter between us.I nod, turn around, open the cabinet and reach for the sugar glass, but Isabella scolds me.
“No, Marcos! Not this one! That one!” Points to a pink container, with cakes printed, that I have never seen in my house before. I spend almost an entire minute looking at it and trying to understand why I don’t feel even the slightest bit bothered by its presence, but I don’t come to any conclusions.
