Out of the Mouth of Babes

Your actions shape them more than you know.

 

Mommy is sooo peetty.

Her eyes look like rainbows. Her arm and neck have rainbows, too. But I like the rainbows on her eyes. Sometimes she paints them. I don’t like face paint. 

I like the rainbows.

She said Daddy gives her rainbows with kisses. I ask Daddy for kisses all the time. I want rainbows, too. But Daddy doesn’t kiss me like Mommy. He kisses Mommy with his hands.

I kiss Charlie with my hands at school. I like Charlie. He cries like Mommy does. That means he likes me, too. I want him to kiss me back.

Mrs. Kimble doesn't like me to kiss Charlie. I'm always in trouble. I’m not s’posed to kiss people at school.

But I like Charlie.

Mommy is sooo peetty.

Her hair looks like mud. Daddy likes to touch it--a lot. Mommy is loud when he touches her hair. Black rain comes out of her eyes. She said her rain is black because she loves hard. My rain doesn't have color. 

What does “love hard” mean? 

I think I love hard. But I don’t have black rain.

I don’t love hard, do I?

Mommy is sooo peetty.

Her lips have red gumdrops. I tasted them while she was sleep. She hates when I do that. They don’t taste like gumdrops.

They come from Daddy’s kisses, too. She has red ribbons on them, too. And red ribbons on her cheek. I have red ribbons and gumdrops sometimes when I fall off my bike. My gumdrops tasted just like Mommy’s. And they hurt. But they were still peetty.

Mommy was sooo peetty.

But Mommy is not pretty today. She is sleeping in a shiny blue box. Her dress is blue, too. But her eyes and arms don’t have rainbows. There is no black rain. Her red ribbons are gone. There are no gumdrops. 

I tried to wake her. Granny kissed my hand and told me to stop. She says Mommy is not going to wake up. She says Mommy needs sleep for a long time.

Granny has rainbows.

And Granny has black rain. 

She must love hard.

Granny is sooo peetty.

Author's Note

Another oldie but goodie. And once again, apologies for those who found this too hard to stomach. I just felt the perspective of a child would stir up the emotions I was looking for in my audience.

Reviews

[NoneOfYourBusiness akaK..]

compelling and powerful snippet that sinks its ink in, to the bone

[.]

I reviewed this before..sure of it..this is a stark and clever and so sad..to take the perspective of a child in such a awful situation brings light to way a child would rationalise this kind of abuse..as before I have a lump in my throat and just glad that you posted it...bloody brilliant writing.

[OT]

oh now that was interesting! love the perspective - descriptively brilliant of course - love the rainbows - the child's view of things - poignant but powerful writing - but do we expect any less? nice!

[M Garcia]

Writing from a child's perspective can go one of two ways: very bad or very good. This was very good. It stirs up emotions of all kinds. Thank you for sharing.