I had a request to read the rest of the chapter so here it is:
“Higher, Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy higher!”
Amy sighed and turned back to the swings in front of her, positioning herself so that the red slide blocked her view of the royalty across the park. Connor’s yelling spurred the other three on. First Austin chimed in with his high pitched “Mama!” then Carys and her squealing joined the chorus. At least Holly was asleep in her swing. Amy began her daily dance. She quickly got Connor going as high as she could then jumped over to Austin, giving him an underdog. Carys squealed louder indicating she wanted to go higher too. Just as she got Carys to her preferred height Connor was screaming again for his turn.
At least it is exercise, Amy thought as she sprinted back to Connor’s side of the swing set. The constant yelling finally woke Holly up who insisted in her own way that she be pushed too. Amy kept up the dance with all four swings for fifteen long minutes.
“Mommy, push me,” Connor demanded.
Amy panted, trying to catch her breath. “Mommy needs a break.”
“But I want to go higher.”
“In a second, let me get some water.” Amy turned towards the stroller only to find a stern looking woman in a pastel sweater and neatly ironed Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. She stepped around the lady and grabbed her water bottle from the diaper bag hanging from the handle of the stroller.
“Are you done yet?” the lady asked, tapping her foot.
“Excuse me?”
“Are you done with the swings. We’ve been waiting forever. Haven’t you ever heard of sharing?”
Amy almost spit her water in the woman’s face. She looked around the park at the other swing sets. The one on the other end of the toddler play area was free. All three seats were empty and there was an empty swing on the other side of the red slide. What was her problem?
“Umm, actually, we aren’t done. There are other swings over there,” Amy said through gritted teeth. She had been planning to leave but now she wanted to stay just to piss this woman off.
“Yes, I see those swings over there.”
“Then what is your problem?”
“They are dirty. These swings are much cleaner because they are under the canopy.”
Amy knew that. It was the main reason she liked them, too, that and the fact that there were four of them. “Well we are still using these so I guess you’ll have to go over there or wait.”
“Well,” the lady began in a gentle voice, “Madeleine just got this new outfit and I would rather her not get it dirty. Why don’t you take your-” she looked past Amy at Connor and Austin with a sneer, “-children over there. I don’t think you would notice the dirt much.”
Amy’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe this lady. She wanted to smack her. “We were here first,” was all she said and turned back to Connor who was whining about needing a push.
The lady grabbed her arm before she could push Connor. “I only think it fair that you move over there so other kids can use the clean swings, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t. If you didn’t want your kid getting dirty why did you bring her to a playground that is covered in dirt?”
“How rude! See, Maddie, this is exactly the kind of person I don’t want you around. Her little, uh, kids are going to be just as rude as her. Don’t you ever play with them.”
Amy gritted her teeth as she pushed Connor and then Austin. By now the lady’s raised voice had caught the attention of the royal court under the maple and Little Miss was heading this way. Amy took another deep breath and gave Carys a good shove. At least she’s back in her shirt, she thought.
“Is there a problem over here?” Miss Perfect asked. Jack was now tucked into a brightly colored cotton wrap, his head resting on her shoulder. Amy rolled her eyes as she moved on to Holly.
“This girl won’t move. She is hogging the swings.”
Miss Perfect smiled at the lady then at Amy. Amy tried to subdue the urge to knock her perfect teeth out of her perfectly lips ticked mouth.
“Well there are some open swings over there,” Miss Perfect said, surprising Amy.
“But those swings are very dirty. I wouldn’t want Maddie’s cute dress to get dirty.”
“Oh, how adorable,” Miss Perfect agreed. “Is that from Gymboree? I was going to get my Amanda that dress but she wanted that pink one with the embroidered flowers on it.”
“Maddie has that one, too. I went when they had a sale so I only paid $35 for each of them. Nothing is too good for my princess.”
“I agree. I would do anything for Amanda or Jack here.”
Both turned to look at Amy as she pushed Connor again. “It would be easier for you to use those swings over there wouldn’t it?”
“Easier? How?” Amy was really getting mad now. How dare these people. Holly chose that moment to start crying. As Connor swung back towards her she grabbed the sides and stopped him. He let out a howl of disapproval. She yanked him out making sure to knock all the dirt from his shoes onto the swing. He screamed as she did the same with Austing, also taking care to stand him in the swing so he could kick the woodchips from his sandals. Carys had made her own mess in the swing. Amy sighed as she saw that her diaper had leaked all down the side of her shorts. She carried her at arms length to the stroller and plopped her into the front seat. Connor followed her back to the swings yelling about how it was all so unfair.
At the last second she grabbed Holly’s bottle from the stroller and “accidentally” spilled it all over the last swing as she lifted Holly from it. “Oh, I’m so sorry sweetie. Mommy spilled your baba. I know you are hungry. Mommy will make you a new one lickety split.” Holly shushed as soon as she popped her binky into her mouth. Amy held her head high as she cradled Holly, walking right between the two bewildered women. She laid Holly in the back of the stroller and handed her the rest of the spilled bottle.
“But MOM! It isn’t fair. I want to swing!” Connor screamed at her.
Amy was at the end of her rope. “Life isn’t fair sometimes and you’ll just have to learn that. This woman and her one daughter are obviously more entitled to those swings then we are so deal with it,” she said loudly. She grabbed Austin’s hand and heaved the stroller through the woodchips. “Come on Connor,” she called.
She passed by the royal court. They whispered as she passed and she was sure she heard something about a bottle and how she didn’t care about her kids but Amy didn’t care what they thought. A guy in a red flannel shirt stood near the blue slides at the entrance to the playground waiting for a little girl to slide down. He looked away as soon as he realized he was staring. Amy shook her head and called for Connor one more time. “You better get over here or I’m leaving without you.” When Connor didn’t come she strolled out of the gate and started down the sidewalk towards home. She heard someone gasp from behind her. She stopped at the water fountain to fill Holly’s bottle. Connor was hanging at the gate watching her. Miss Perfect and Super Rude were trying to decide which swing was the least dirty and kept glancing over at her.
By the time she had dumped the formula into the bottle Connor was at the stroller. Flannel guy and his two girls were heading towards the fountain, too. Now what? Amy wondered.
“Hey,” Flannel Guy said as he lifted one of the girls to the spout.
“Hey,” Amy answered. She handed Holly the bottle who chugged it right away.
“Can you believe those two?” the guy asked.
“Huh?”
“Adara and that lady. I can’t believe how rude that lady was, asking you to leave the swings. And Adara.”
“Oh, is that her name?” Amy said softly. “She’s a piece of work all right.”
“Yeah. I was thinking of timing her next time and see just how long she was planning on flashing the whole park.”
Amy snorted. “Tell me about it.” She started to push the stroller again. Flannel Guy pulled the two girls along to catch up.
“I’m Scott, by the way.” Amy nodded at him but didn’t stop. “And now is when you tell me your name,” he said following.
“Are you going to stalk me or something?”
He stopped. “Uh, no. I was just trying to friendly. Thought you could use it after those two but I guess not.” With that he turned and took his girls back towards the parking lot.
Amy sighed. Why did I go off on him, she thought. He didn’t do anything to me. He was only trying to be nice. “Austin! Quit splashing in the mud. I swear boy!”
0 Ranted.
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