Chocolate Umbrella

Chapter 1 - Chocolate Umbrella

CHAPTER 1

October 2004

Pushing a supermarket cart across the parking lot in the rain, without an umbrella, was not a pleasant thing at all. Pushing a supermarket cart full of grocery with a toddler whining, across the parking lot, in the rain without an umbrella, was even worse. Alena was doing this exact same thing now. She was all soaked from head to toe, her 2 and a half year old daughter, Candy, was not very happy being rained on, her cart was full of stuff.

"Sweetie, it's alright. We will get to the car soon. You know, the grass needs water, the flowers need water and that's why God is giving us rain." Alena said patiently to her toddler. Though she sounded patient, she was actually very tired.

"Mama, I don't like wet, too cold," said Candy.

"Ok, let mama give you a big fat hug then". Alena bent forward and snuggled Candy on her chest, while her hands continued to push the cart across the parking lot.

"But I am wet, mama, I want that", Candy pointed her short and chubby finger to a little girl nearby, who had a Cinderella umbrella in one hand, and holding the hand of her mother in another.

"When you grow bigger like that girl, mama will get you one, how's that?" Alena could not imagine what how she could handle it if Candy had an umbrella in her hands now. Candy probably would not be able to hold the umbrella steadily and would have knocked her a few times while she pushed the cart through the rain.

"I want a big one, mama. A very very big one," Candy's eyes were shining, while imagining she was holding a big umbrella in her small hands.

The big smiley eyes of Candy's were what made Alena determined to be a stayed home mom and shelved her career for an indefinite period of time. Giggles liked bells ringing, hugs liked a clingy cub and wet kisses liked what a puppy would give, were the gifts that Alena would get from Candy every day. Alena genuinely enjoyed this part of motherhood. Therefore, no matter how tired Alena was, she would spend every single minute that she could give, to Candy. She would wake as soon as Candy woke at the break of dawn. Prepared her breakfast, sang to her while feeding Candy at the breakfast table, played silly games with her throughout the day. Those were the good moments of motherhood. But what was in Alena's blood could not be changed easily. Alena liked everything in order, every plan worked out. Having been a successful project manager, Alena liked to have things all worked out according to her plans. Subconsciously, Alena was treating Candy like one of those projects she used to manage. All "i"s are dotted and all "t"s are crossed, contingency was planned out. She managed Candy's daily routine like a project plan. Activities were properly scheduled, the diaper changing schedule, the feeding schedule, the napping schedule and the playtime schedule. The difference between Candy and the other projects was that Candy was a toddler, while the projects involved teams of adults whose pay cheques were dependent on the success of the projects.

Alena held the door open with her shoulder, while holding Candy in her arms. The home alarm was shrieking and Alena quickly punched in the alarm code. She quickly put Candy in the play room while she ran to the garage and un-load the grocery from the car trunk. Alena was dashing back and forth between the garage and the kitchen, putting away the grocery as quickly as humanly possible. She did not like to leave Candy alone in the playroom. She felt as if she was a bad mother, neglecting her precious child.

"Mama, look, bibi is having tea with cici", Candy was happily playing by herself with her tea set and dolls.

"Great, Candy, you want to have didi join the party too? She is just in the toy chest honey." Alena was trying very hard to get everything in order while keeping Candy entertained. She desperately wanted to jump in a hot shower and changed into a fresh set of clothes. She wanted to give Candy a bath and had her changed too. But she also needed to quickly put all the diary products in the fridge as well. She gave the clock a quick glance and it said 5 o'clock.