Language

Date: August 13, 2022

Prompt #13 of @JonicaBradley : Language

LANGUAGE.

The small child of five looked at her mother's tearing eyes with puzzlement. She was crying for the last three hours since they left the doctor's office. Though they were still stuck in the clinic's parking lot. Her mother was perched on a big stone, staring into nowhere as tears flowed down her eyes.

The kid was tugging at her mother's sleeve to enter the car but she wouldn't budge. She wanted to make her happy but didn't know how, the thing that her mother wanted from her was an impossible feat. And exasperated she opened her mouth to utter a word but it was useless only unintelligible mumblings came out.

She sighed, and her hand touched her mother's face. "I'm sorry," she wanted to say.

Her mother slapped her hand away, "Why do you have to be like that, huh? Why can't you be normal like everyone else?"

The kid bowed down hiding her welling eyes. She wanted to be strong for her mother even though she was hurting too. She breathed deeply and then tugged once more on her mother's sleeve. "Don't cry no more. Let's go home," she would say if only she could.

"Don't you touch--" Her mother was taken aback, there was a huddle of people staring at them. She stood and grabbed her kid's arm. People nowadays were too nosy about other's business, she thought to herself. "If it was me, I would leave you there. You don't know what people are saying behind me because of you!" she yelled at the kid as she strapped her onto the car seat. She was too infuriated that the whole drive was packed with lots of yelling.

When they got home the mother dismissed the child to her room and poured herself a glass of wine to clear her head and maybe help her fall asleep. She turned the telly on and it showed a show that her kid usually watches. There was a puppet singing in the center and a lady doing signs with her hands in the corner.

The mother approached the screen and looked closely at the lady waving her hands in the air with weird hand gestures. She noticed something peculiar, she was doing some hand gestures her child always does.

The puppet said home and the lady put her balled hands to each other. Then the puppet said I love you and the lady put her pinky up. Next it was her thumb and pointer. And finally her thumb and pinky swayed in the air. She gasped at what she was seeing, those were the exact things her child would do every morning when she sees her.

The mother ran to her child's room. She locked her child in an embrace, "You learned those things from that show? You are communicating with mommy? Aww, baby. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...I was mad. I was awful today."

The child raised her hand in the air and started doing signage again. The mother didn't understand one bit but she swell with pride. She misunderstood her child, it doesn't mean she could not form words with her mouth she's stupid. Her child is brilliant in her own way.