Snippets And Conversations

The Wheels on the bus

"The wheels on the bus go round and round-" The CD played in the car. Larissa nodded along to it as Wednesday clapped her hands and babbled along.

"Do you like this, sweetie?" Larissa looked in the rear view at her daughter who smiled back brightly. As soon as the song ended it went to the next one, Wednesday whined when it started. "Do you want to play it again?"

"Dah!"

"Okay, baby." She hit the reverse button twice making the song replay. Wednesday giggled happily. Little did she know, this was the beginning of a long week.

Over the course of the next week, Wednesday demanded to be allowed to listen to her favourite song every waking hour. She woke up in the mornings shaking her caregiver, begging for her song. She would throw a tantrum and refuse to eat her meals until the song was playing. At night she fussed, tossing and turning until Weems gave in.

"Wednesday, is there nothing else you want to listen to? Surely you must be getting bored of this song..."

"No! Again!"

When Larissa didn't immediately hit the replay button, Wednesday's eyes filled with tears and she balled up her hands into small fists, bottom lip trembling.

Taking in a deep breath, Larissa took a shaky hand to the play button. She looked the girl in the eyes, "This is the last time today. Then you need to find something else to listen to."

Wednesday pouted, crossing her arms.

"Don't look at me like that. You of all people know how annoying things can get if repeated enough."

Wednesday shook her head and stomped her foot. "Song!"

Weems breathed through her nose and shut her eyes. She could always use headphones...

"How about some earbuds? Then you can listen to it all you want."

"No." She pointed to the boom box that held the CD. "Play."

"How about over the ears headphones?"

Once again Wednesday shook her head.

"You're not making this easy." Larissa ran a head through her short hair, "One more time, that's it."

Wednesday rolled her eyes sitting on the floor. "Play."

Pressing the button, Larissa walked out of the room to grab headache medicine when her phone dinged. She pulled it out of her back pocket, seeing that the message was from Marilyn. The teacher had sent her a short message which read "just checking in, how are you doing?"

Unsure of how to answer it, Larissa was about to ignore it and put her phone back in her pocket when a second text came through. It read "In every picture you've sent me this past week, you've had the most extreme eye bags that I've ever seen. Have you even slept?"

She decided to reply later, heading to the bathroom. Weems opened up the medicine cabinet, pulling out some tylenol and quickly popping it in her mouth, chugging some water too.

"Mama!" Wednesday shouted as she ran into the bathroom, "Again!"

Larissa swallowed the water in her mouth before turning her attention to the girl. "I told you no more, Wednesday."

"But-"

"No, darling. As much as I love you, I just can't." Larissa bent down into a crouch to pull her little in for a hug. "How about we watch some telly for a bit, hm?"

Glancing behind her to the play room, she turned back to face her caregiver. Pouting, she dead weighed Larissa, making the woman fall flat on her behind while holding the girl steady.