AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m going to be a dragon next year,” their son said. “I wanna breathe fire.”
The little boy roared, pretended to spew invisible flames.
“Ew, Mommy, he’s spitting on me!”
“Don’t spit on your sister. Anyway, for now you’re a bat, remember? Bats can’t spit.”
“Really?”
“Have you ever seen a spitting bat?”
“No.”
“Well, there you go.”
“Just ’cause you haven’t seen something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” her daughter said.
“That’s true,” she admitted. “You’re too smart for me.”
“You can’t see gravity,” her daughter said.
“Or air!” her son called out.
“That’s right. And you can’t see love, either,” her husband said.
“Sure you can,” she told him, and when he smiled at her, she squeezed his hand. Felt a tiny break mend.
As they drove home in the earliness of autumn dark, it started to snow. Now her husband was the one excitedly plastered to the car window.
“Look at that! Look at that! All the maples are so red now, and with the snow on them? If I can get some shots of this—well! Those are the bestsellers, the fall foliage stuff. And especially if the sun comes out, lights it up right? What do you think? You okay to entertain the kids by yourself tomorrow? Because I’ve gotta leave before five to be in the air by daylight.”
“Sure! Of course. It’s supposed to be beautiful tomorrow.”
“Fingers crossed!” Her husband held up crossed fingers in the rearview mirror, smiled at the kids crossing theirs, holding them up for him to see.
When they got home, her husband loaded his car with cameras, equipment, and food, preparing for a predawn start. He was in bed before she’d wrestled the children out of their costumes.
When she told her daughter it was time to put the witch’s hat away, time to take a bath, the little girl shrieked, “I don’t want to!” swung a small open hand, and hit her on the edge of her chin.
She gave her daughter a time-out, reeling with how much the girl had looked like her grandpa in that moment.
“It’s hard when things are over,” she told her daughter as the little girl snuffled regretfully, rubbing her forehead against her mother’s shoulder. “It’s difficult when something fun ends. But that’s no reason to hurt someone. Especially your mommy. Your family. Your family is your team.”
“I’m sorry, Mommy.”
“I know, angel.”
She read aloud to them fromCharlotte’s Web.
“Are they really going to kill the pig, Mommy? Are they really going to eat him?”
“We eat pig.”
“We don’t eat talking pigs.”
“Very true.”
“But are they going to eat Wilbur, Mama?”
