The cheap Folk Art acryllic paints were spread out on the table and some were contained in a pretty basket with a white flower on it and a lime green ribbon with polka dots. Some of the paint brushes had hardened up with dried paint yet the girls were able to find some that were still good.
"These would be pretty to decorate and put around our money tree," said Sally.
"Good idea. We can create a little circle around the tree." said Heather as she started to paint some eyeballs on one of the rocks.
Sally took another bite of her cereal treat. Suddenly, she made a funny noise and fiddled with her mouth for a minute.
"Mom!!!! I lost a tooth!!!"
"Oh, boy! That's exciting. That means the tooth fairy will come visit tonight. How about you decorate a little envelope for the tooth and we'll stick it under your pillow and see if the tooth fairy comes for it."
"Okay, Mom." Sally grabbed one of the envelopes on a shelf in the dining room. Mom tended to stack lots of papers over on the shelf and it was a jumble of different odds and ends. And the stamps were always underneath the sugar free gum. And an old fish tank was still there maybe waiting for a fish once again. Probably not going to happen.
Lara didn't like cleaning the fish tank. Suddenly, the phone rang. Lara sauntered across the kitchen and picked up the black phone and said, "Hello? Oh, hi, Ellen. Yes, Heather's over here. Do you want me to send her home?"
"No. She can stay for a little bit. Hey, you know what we are due for?"
"What is that? A shopping trip, I know we're due for. Is that it?"
"No. We're due for playing scrabble and having some treats to go with it."
"That sounds great. How about tomorrow? I'll call Mary and Susan too and see if they want to come play too. They're always up for a good game. I should see if Susan would like to baby sit again soon. It's nice that they just live right down the street. Have you had her baby sit for you, yet? Maybe she would like to earn some extra money and watch your kids too. We can share her."
"Sounds good. I was also thinking about something too, that I wanted to talk to you about."
"What about?"
"Well, it can wait. The girls are there and I wouldn't want them to listen in. We'll talk while they're in school."
"Okay. Now you've got me in suspenders hanging from the tree. Come over before Mary and Susan come and we can talk in private. Is it important?"
"Kind of. Well, I'll talk later. Send Heather back in about an hour."
"Okay. See you tomorrow."
Lara got off the phone and started to prepare supper. She was in the middle of whipping up a lasagna supper. She had all her meat mixture with lots of garlic and tomato sauce and green peppers sizzling in the frying pan on a low simmer. Then she started quietly cursing as the tomato sauce started to splatter.
She went over to the sink and grabbed one of her knitted dishclothes and got it wet. While wiping up the mess, she looked over at the girls who were still busy painting rocks and doing some drawings. "So, girls. Did you plant the coins yet?"
"Yes. We picked a spot by the tiger lilies. I can hardly wait for the money to grow. How long do you think it will take for it to grow and get big?" asked Sally.
"I'm not sure. A tree takes lots of time to grow and get really big. You will just have to be patient and wait."
"I am not patient. I want to see it grow money tomorrow." said Heather.
"Good things never happen overnight. Anything worth waiting for takes a lot of time. You need to practice patience. Like the old saying goes, Patience is a virtue."
"Virtue?" asked Sally. "What's that?"
"A virtue is a positive trait or quality for a person to be morally good and is a foundation for practicing good moral being. Personal virtues are characteristics that one obtains when collecting and improving their personal goals and beliefs. So, say, you girls want your tree to grow, right? Well, you have to practice good virtures and have all the patience in the world for that tiny seed to grow and take flight. You can't rush it and ask for all the money in the world right away. Life doesn't work out like that."
Heather made a face like she could care less about patience. Lara put a little smile on her face. She knew that kids don't always have the patience that an adult has. They want their gifts right away. They can't wait too long. She remembered back when she was younger. She often couldn't wait. Especially when it was her birthday and she had to wait for her day to open all her gifts and cards. Lara's brother, Johnny, could never wait. Their mother would get after him when he would open a card that came in the mail that day and his birthday was two days away still. And one year, an aunt gave him a package that arrived four days early and before his mother could get home, it had been opened.
Lara, bent down, grabbed a large pot and filled it with water for the lasagna noodles. She bent her frame into the sink as the water filled up. She looked at all the little bubbles coming to the surface. Her eyes suddenly looked with interest and then her mind began to think of bubbles.
Was she trapped inside a bubble? Quietly holding it all inside and not letting anyone in. That was Lara. She held back her thoughts, her worries, her hidden dreams, goals and hopes. Yet, as she looked at these bubble metaphors, she knew she had to find someone and let out some steam and release this jam tight jar.
Maybe she would dare to talk to Ellen. After all, she was like a sister to her and she would be a good listener. Yet, did she think it was good to talk about things? She wasn't quite sure. She didn't want to release a volcano. Was she going to erupt?
In about fifteen minutes, Lara poured the noodles into her white colander and then got all the fixings ready for the lasagna. And she gooped on the cottage cheese and the parsley and italian spices. She loved the combination of cottage cheese and mozzarella. Mmm... good. And then, she suddenly felt her bladder was ready to burst. "Heather, it's time to go home. You mom probably has supper ready for you." And then, Lara ran into the bathroom. She forgot to check on little Betsy. She sometimes wished that she could hang Betsy on a clothesline for a few minutes, while she took a break. She was always worrying about where her younger daughter was. Worried about what trouble she could get into. Or maybe she should be worrying about other things. But Lara tried to hold the world on her shoulders. She was the person that other people came to lean on. Never the opposite.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted June 20, 2012
