Sagas

{20} Big and little secrets ~ P

April, 2008

For a long time, I thought my mommy was special because she was one of the few people I knew who had the power to heal people. She was a nurse, and she told me that nurses and doctors took care of sick people and made them feel well and happy again. That was what made me think of my mommy and other nurses and doctors as otherworldly beings that guarded the earth and saved lives. I would also be a doctor someday and would go about in my white coat and save as many people as I could. But Mommy never let me go to the hospital with her, no matter how much I pleaded and cried.

I was crying again today as she got ready to go to work and was giving Uncle Timi instructions on what to do with us when she left.

"Make them do their homework and take a nap when they finish. Please, Timi, don't let them step outside. They play too much these days."

"Mommy, don't go!" I cried loudly, holding onto her arm.

"Will you stop it?" She said angrily, irritation in her voice, at my unnecessary pestering. "Why won't you stop crying for once?"

My lips quivered as I tried to stop crying. I didn't like it when Mommy was upset with me, which wasn't often, but I had been pestering her a lot lately, never wanting her to leave the house, and it must have gotten on her nerves.

Fabian chuckled. "Always such a baby," he said without taking his eyes away from the cartoon he was watching.

"It's okay, Aunty. You know how she feels when you go out without her. Stop crying, princess," Uncle Timi said, reaching out for me, but I stepped away immediately, crying even louder. He stooped down to my level and touched my cornrows, ignoring my attempts to move away from him. "If you stop crying, I'll get you pink nail polish, just like the one Fairy has."

"No, Timi, you won't get her nail polish. You spoil her too much. It is why she acts this way whenever you are around," Mommy said, even more upset now.

"Aunty, you worry too much. Kids her age use nail polish nowadays," he said, laughing and indifferent to Mommy's disapproval.

"Timi, she is eight. I don't care what kids her age do, but she isn't going to get one. You already gave her a gift on her birthday," she reminded him.

"He did, but you wouldn't let her use it," Fabian said.

"That is because she is too young to have such a handbag. Maybe she can get it when she is a bit older. Seriously, Timi, you're spoiling this child way too much." Mommy said it sternly, but Uncle Timi kept on laughing.

He got to his feet and handed Mommy her bag that was on the table.

"Aunty, go to work before you run late. She is our one and only princess, and we have to treat her like one," he said, smiling down at me.

Mommy took the bag from him and shook her head. "You are the reason she is this naughty. She knows you will let her act as she wants," she said, but I saw that the corners of her lips turned up into a smile as she went outside with Uncle Timi.

It was just the three of us left now; Daddy would not return home anytime soon, and Mommy would spend the night at the hospital, and soon three would turn to two because I would eventually end up with only Uncle Timi in the house.

I ran into my room and shut the door, then I flung myself on the bed and buried my face in the pillow, hiccupping and crying. I heard the door open again, and Uncle Timi came back into the house.

"Where is your sister?" He asked Fabian.

"In the room," Fabian answered, increasing the volume of the television. Now that Mommy was away, he knew Uncle Timi wouldn't mind the noise, and he could watch his cartoon as loud as he wanted.