'WHERE'S MUMMY?"

A short story based on photo seven in THE PLEASE EXPLAIN CONTEST 4

 

Where’s Mummy?

 

David Sanders sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. It had been a hard day and it was far from over yet. He had to tell his six-year-old daughter that her mummy had gone to live with the angels and wouldn’t be coming home any more.

 

He heard her dancing footsteps in the hall and quickly dashed hot tears from his eyes.

 

Angela danced her way to his side and crawled up on his lap for a cuddle.

 

"Where’s Mummy?" she asked gazing into his face.

 

"Well, Angie love, something has happened, you know when we look at the stars at night and mummy said there was a special world in the sky for Angels?"

 

Angela nodded and waited for more.

 

"That’s where Mummy went today love, and the Angels want her to stay with them."

 

Angela’s face crumpled, "Is Mummy going to live in the sky and not be with me and you?"

 

"That’s right Angie. You know Mummy got very sick. Well, the Angels took her away to their world in the sky and she can’t come home any more."

 

Angela slid off his lap and stood silent for a few moments then she left the room. A few minutes later she came back dragging a box of photo albums.

 

She pulled out several photos of the three of them and then saw one of just her and  I at the beach, when she was just over two years old.

 

"Tell me about this daddy," she asked as she snuggled close.

 

"It was a lovely day Angie and the water was very calm. You wanted so much to crawl under the pier there and build a sandcastle. So we did, and you were very happy because the sea could not reach it and wash it away. That was the day you paddled in the water for the very first time and you loved it. You even caught a tiny crab and put it on a little rock to keep it safe. You chased the seagulls too and laughed because you couldn’t catch them but they kept coming back for you to chase again. We had a picnic on the sand and you tried to eat the sand because you thought that’s what sandwiches were made of. You enjoyed every minute and got a bit of sunburn on your little nose. When we got home, you couldn’t stay awake long enough for a bath so you slept in your clothes."

 

"Daddy, Mummy isn’t in the picture. Where is she? Did she go to see the Angels?"

 

" No darling, Mummy is there. You just can’t see her because she took the photo."

 

Angela scrunched up her little face and thought. Finally she said "Daddy, we can’t see Mummy in the picture, but she is still there because she took it, does that mean Mummy is still here because we can see the Angel stars she has gone to live on."

 

He wiped the salt tears away and smiled at their darling little girl, "Yes, Angie, I think you just might be right."

"Where’s Mummy, Daddy?" she asked.

 

"Your Mummy is in the photo of you and I sweetheart, and she will always be there because she took that photo, and she is living in the Angel world we can see every night in the sky, and even though we can’t see her, Mummy is here with us. Your Mummy lives in your heart Angie and she always will.

 

They went out into the evening together and watched the stars twinkle overhead.

 

"Where’s Mummy?" Angel asked, then she looked at the photo in her little hand and smiled "I know Daddy, Mummy is here." and held the photo against her heart.

 

ã Copyright jen-JG July 2008

 

 

Author's Note

Picture 7 in Please Explain contest. Anything you'd like to say here.

Reviews

[cyanskye]

What a sweet story. The feeling of love between father and daughter is well done.

[Clarisse Nanoit]

A very, very great story. This is heartwarming and beautifully told! The only thing I can find wrong is that you started off telling the story in third person about this person "David Sanders" and then switched to first person with, "She slid off my lap". By the way, you accidentally wrote "of" instead of "off". Anyway, this is a FANTASTIC piece for the contest. Thanks for entering it. I love it.
KH

[Winter McPherson]

A very endearing story. Good luck in the contest!

[Passion for Literature]

death of a parent is a hard explanation to a young child...being strong enough to hide our own pain to soothe theirs...I like the innocent view of a 6 year old child you captured in this story...I sense there may be a ribbon of truth in the "Angels in the Stars" theory...I like that a lot.

your choice of Angela being age 6 is engaging...endearing attempt at independence embraced by innocence...adopting a pure view of life...a child's perception at that age is bound by honesty

WHAT A WONDERFUL STORY JEN...thank you so very much for sharing this with me...*HUGS*