My Mom & My Dad

Chapter 1: An Afternoon at the Park

Stephen:

Dad and I were shooting some hoops at the park that Friday afternoon. I appreciated him leaving work earlier than usual so he could spend time with me. The sun was still up, but not too bright and hot to keep us from the hard court. It was either basketball or baseball for us, but since the other guys we usually play ball with weren't available today, we settled for a one-on-one game of basketball. Obviously, I was no match for my dad. He was way taller and bigger than me. But he was so nice about it, letting me score some shots by lifting me up in the air just right so I could drop the ball into the ring. Everything was going smoothly, and we were just beginning to sweat.

Then the accident happened. Dad was going to sink a strong shot into the hoop when I cheated. I teased him and touched his tickle spot. He missed! The ball hit, not the ring, but the side of the board, and it bounced off... way off... Thug!

Emily:

"Whaah!!!" I screamed. I didn't know what hit me, but I could see stars in front of my eyes. "Moooooom!!!" I screamed again. "Where is she?" I needed my mommy. Tears were flowing down my cheeks and I started rubbing my eyes to make the stars disappear.

Stephen:

"Oops," I muttered. "Dad?" I looked at my dad, not sure what we were supposed to do. That little girl was crying her lungs out and screaming for her mother. We were in big trouble.

Just as my dad started walking towards the little blonde girl in a red shirt and red-and-white polka dots leggings, I saw a blonde lady with dark-rimmed glasses and a ponytail dart across the grassy play area from the nearest park bench towards the crying child. "She must be her mother," I thought to myself.

"Stay here, Stephen," my dad told me. "Let me handle this."

When my dad saw the woman running towards the little girl, his steps became brisk. I could see him rubbing his thumbs across the knuckles of his fists. He always does that when he's upset...or tense... as tense as he was right there.

Emily:

"What happened, Emily, sweetheart?! What's wrong?" my mom asked. She knelt down on the grass and held me firmly by the shoulders with her two hands. Her voice was all shaky. She was so worried I thought she herself was going to cry.

"I'm so sorry, miss. It's my fault. My son and I were playing basketball over there, and our ball bounced off. It accidentally hit her on the head," said the stranger who was now standing behind me. My mom didn't look up. She was too focused on checking me out. She messed up my hair trying to feel through my blonde curls whether or not I had a bump growing on my head.

But I looked up over my shoulder. The tall stranger didn't look mean and scary. In fact, he was smiling a bit, trying to make me and my mom feel better.

"I didn't mean to hit her with the ball. It was an accident," the tall man continued to explain. "I hope she's not hurt real bad?" he asked with a worried tone. My mom still didn't look up, didn't answer. She just held me in her embrace, rubbing one hand up and down on my back and massaging my head with the other to comfort me.

Stephen:

I could see my dad trying to explain that it was an accident and that he didn't mean for the ball to have bounced off and landed hard on the girl's head. But the pink shirted lady didn't seem to be listening to him. She did not even look up to see who was talking to her. I walked closer to listen in on the one-way conversation.

"We can take her to the hospital, if you'd like, so the doctors can check her out," I heard my dad offer. "Don't worry about the bill. I'll take care of everything," he added.