Dandyflowers

Here is a small part of the sequel to "Dandyflowers".  Sometimes the story writes itself and this excerpt is one that did indeed write itself!

When I had finished and re-read it, I was amazed at how it just "appeared" on the page without any real effort.

At any rate, enjoy! 

JTM    7-16-07

After supper, Jack, the kids and I went into the living room to watch some TV before they had to take their bath and go to bed.  The kids weren’t very interested in the program on The History Channel that Jack had become engrossed in.  It was about the history of tunneling and although Jack was interested in it, the kids and I were bored.

I began working the crossword puzzle in the newspaper and the kids ran off to play.   I don’t know how long it had been, but I realized that the kids were unusually quiet.  Experience had taught me that quiet plus four year old twins usually meant trouble, so I went down the hallway to Michael’s room which doubled as their playroom.

I found Laura sprawled across Michael’s bed, sound asleep.  Michael however, was sitting on the floor holding one of his new Spiderman sandals that Jack had gotten him when he took the twins shopping.  He was sniffling; his bottom lip sticking out and there were tears on his cheeks.

 “Hey Mikey, what’s wrong?” I asked softly while squatting down to his level.

“Tan’t find fwop.”  He said forlornly.

“You can’t find what?”  I asked.  I was fluent in four year old, but “fwop” and his inability to locate it, whatever it was, had me perplexed.

“Tan’t find fwop Momma!”  His lip quivered then he burst into fresh tears.  I scooped him up and he buried his face into my shoulder.  I took him across the hall to Laura’s room so we wouldn’t wake her.  She had been going full speed all day and I knew she would be grouchy if she was awakened.

I paced the floor in Laura’s room humming softly to Michael while he cried.  When his tears had subsided and he was just sniffling I sat down on Laura’s bed and asked, “Mikey, what’s a “fwop”?”

He sighed heavily then said matter-a-factly, “I tan’t find fwop, I dots fwip, but I dots no fwop.”

 His sobs returned and I let him cry.  It was a full minute before I asked, “Mikey, where’s your “fwip”?

He looked at me incredulously, as if I had asked him to tell me the location of the lost continent of Atlantis, then he sighed and spoke.  “Momma, dis is fwip.” He held up his sandal.  “But I dots no fwop, tan’t find it.”

I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from laughing as I realized what he was talking about.  “You can’t find your other flip-flop?”  I asked.

“Yeah,” He said forlornly.  “Tan’t find fwop.”

I looked across the hall into his room and I spied the missing “fwop”.  It was poking out from underneath his bed, mostly hidden by the dust ruffle that was adorned with race cars.  “Hey Mikey, look on the floor at the end of your bed, what is that?” 

“Fwop!” He cried joyously.  He slid off of my lap and ran into his room, got the missing sandal then hugged both sandals tightly against his little chest as came back into Laura’s room where I was still sitting.  When he came back he was talking to his footwear.

“Was you ‘fraid fwop?”  He asked his sandal.  “I missed you and so did fwip.”

“Mikey?”  He looked up at me.  “Are you okay now?”

He grinned eliminating any trace of sadness.  “Yeah, I dots fwip and fwop!”

“Let’s go back in the living room.  We don’t want to wake up Laura, okay?”

“Okay.”  He ran out of the room and down the hallway.