Silly Lily

 

“But I want that! I want that! That!” Repeating the last word a few more times, Lily’s high-pitched voice resonated in the room. Her swelling eyes met mine. I looked away.

“Pick something else,” the man behind the counter suggested.

“No!” she protested. “No, no, no!”

They are such troublesome beings aren’t they? Kids. They want what they want, when they want it. They understand very little of things.  They are hard headed, and naïve, and immature. If you’re lucky, you’ll find one like Lily.

“Give me now! Now!” she demanded.

Then she quickly ran straight for the glass shelves. To quick in fact that I didn’t catch her. Not that my reflexes are slow… Or are they?

Lily’s brown, eager eyes gaze upon every item on display. Dolls, she called them – elaborately adorned in gowns of different shades. Stamped with a smile of wax, they glared at the child – not moving, not blinking.

I watched her touch the thin glass, feeling each rack as she moved from one to the other.  How wonderful.

“Someone bought it already, dear” the man confirmed.

“Liar!”

Then it happened. That one thing I dread to see. It started with a few sobs. Which immediately turned into an imperative wailing. Then came the loud screaming and feet thumping.

“It was everything…I- I wanted.” she confessed to the air as tears rolled down her cheek.

Why are they like that? Children believe they have the best yet they’ve only seen a few. Then they cry expecting some magic tears will instantly solve everything.  Did I mention how selfish they are too? I found no fondness on that, really.

But I couldn’t help it. I was curious. I inched closer to her, I hunched. Involuntarily, my wrinkled hands reached for her shoulder, softly placing her head to my chest. This forward shift gave me a view of her eyes – broken and discouraged.

“Well now,” I paused. “How about I give you something better?”

“No, you can’t,”she said hastily.

“Try me.”

“Can you gimme something prettier and more sweet lookin’ with golden shoes and fancy clothes and braided hair and pink lip glotts?” all in one breath.

“On my mind exactly.”

And then she smiled and wrapped her small fingers around me. What a messy scene that was – her hugging me, me hugging her back.

Annoying. Charming. I didn’t understand how you could be both.

 

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