Stories

Sand / By Evelyn Llewellyn

Mother and my new baby brother were napping upstairs. Since I was three years old, I was allowed to skip naps.

There were many books for me to (pretend) read. I had committed some stories in them to memory, especially "The Little Red Hen."

However, since no plaything called me, I wandered into the kitchen. There on a shelf was a tube, which looked like toothpaste. I picked it up and noticed that it needed to be squeezed, and rolled up from the bottom as I knew toothpaste was.

I rolled it up, to be surprised by a very sticky mess running down the front of my favorite dress! I wasn't sure of what it was, but knew I was in trouble!

The dress had been hand made by Mother. It was of "Pongee", a Chinese raw silk fabric ecru in color, made on a yoke and with a deep hem, which was embroidered with Lazy Daisies and Black-eyed Susans.

The glue began to drip off the dress and onto the floor. What to do?

After replacing the tube on the shelf, I decided to go into the backyard and play in the sandbox. Not a good choice.

I didn't notice that the sand somehow got into the glue and when I stood up, I was front-heavy and tended to be unable to "Stand up tall" as my parents often reminded me.

What would Mother's reaction be? Would she spank me? Since I was by nature an obedient child, I was seldom in need of punishment. One tap on the rear seemed to be enough to remind me-I could take that.

I sat back down in the sand and awaited the moment of truth. Would she scold me and make me take the dreaded naps, or would she opt for brutality? She called me when she came downstairs and I told her I was in the sandbox.

She came out the backdoor and she opted for brutality.

She went into the back hall, sat down on the step and cried as if her heart would break. Her "dependable child" had let her down. I had never seen my mother cry.

I honestly thought "Grown-ups" didn't cry. I sat beside her and cried just as hard as she. She put her arm around me and we cried together until our tears were spent, and tears turned to laughter.