"The trick," Nan told me, "is assuming you're going to fall. Then, you always remember to bring extra clothes and towels and things." She rubbed me briskly with the shabby bathroom towel she'd brought and gave me an extra shirt.
Not everything Nan said to me made sense, but she took me to the duckpond and played Chutes and Ladders with me and so I still loved her.
I didn't love her the way Danny loved her, which was good, because Danny was the only one who got to marry her. But it made me happy that Danny was marrying her, because that meant she was moving in with us (but only until they could afford their own house, Nan warned me) and got to be my sister.
One day, Nan had picked me up from school, and Danny was in the car. I loved when Nan picked me up, because Danny was always too busy to play with me. They took me home and Nan and I started playing games, but when Nan had to go call someone, Danny put down the book he was reading to play Chutes and Ladders with me. That made Nan smile.
Now, with me wrapped up in Nan's big shirt, Danny came to pick us up at the pond. They let me sit on Nan's lap in the front seat because we were so close to home and I was all wet.
"Someday," said Danny, sounding happy, "ours."
Hugging me tight, Nan said, "Yup."
Post a Comment