她留下了一团糟（4）（2/2）
《穿过爱的时光》作者：杨柳青 2017-01-24 02:12
et, sheets, mattress pad, and pillows. Once she starts feeding quarters into Laundromat machines, she’ll appreciate the years of clean clothes I’ve provided for free.
I turn the mattress. A large manila envelope is marked “DO NOT THROW AWAY.” I open it. More papers. I dump the contents onto the floor. There are old photographs, letters, greeting cards, and notes filled with sappy sentiments, bad puns, and silly nicknames. There are comics clipped from newspapers and book reviews. Every single item had passed from my hand to hers.
“DO NOT THROW AWAY. ”
Darned kid knows me too welt.
I read over a lifetime of inside jokes and shared sentiments. Maybe the pickup wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. Maybe it helps her to feel less small in a big world. Maybe, too, the awful summer wasn’t for my benefit, but for hers. It’s easier to leave when she’s convinced she is too angry to stay.
I retrieve garbage bags from the car and the curb. Clothes and shoes go back into the closet. I remake the bed and pile it with stuffed animals. The cat slinks into the room and looks around with suspicious eyes. Finally she makes a place for herself between a Christmas bear and an Easter bunny. My husband comes home and calls up the stairs.
“Just straightening up, ” I tell him. “Can you find some boxes for her stuff?”
He brings up cartons from the basement.“She left a mess,” he says.“I don’t mind. ” I reply.“She’s not coming back,” he says. His anger is gone, and now he’s sad.
My little baby, my dependent child, isn’t coming back. Someday my daughter, the woman, will return for a visit. Mementos of childhood will await her. So will I.
I turn the mattress. A large manila envelope is marked “DO NOT THROW AWAY.” I open it. More papers. I dump the contents onto the floor. There are old photographs, letters, greeting cards, and notes filled with sappy sentiments, bad puns, and silly nicknames. There are comics clipped from newspapers and book reviews. Every single item had passed from my hand to hers.
“DO NOT THROW AWAY. ”
Darned kid knows me too welt.
I read over a lifetime of inside jokes and shared sentiments. Maybe the pickup wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. Maybe it helps her to feel less small in a big world. Maybe, too, the awful summer wasn’t for my benefit, but for hers. It’s easier to leave when she’s convinced she is too angry to stay.
I retrieve garbage bags from the car and the curb. Clothes and shoes go back into the closet. I remake the bed and pile it with stuffed animals. The cat slinks into the room and looks around with suspicious eyes. Finally she makes a place for herself between a Christmas bear and an Easter bunny. My husband comes home and calls up the stairs.
“Just straightening up, ” I tell him. “Can you find some boxes for her stuff?”
He brings up cartons from the basement.“She left a mess,” he says.“I don’t mind. ” I reply.“She’s not coming back,” he says. His anger is gone, and now he’s sad.
My little baby, my dependent child, isn’t coming back. Someday my daughter, the woman, will return for a visit. Mementos of childhood will await her. So will I.