Pages

Friday, August 20, 2010

Risk. [A drabble of 231 words. Yeah.]

"Please, Mommy? Please can I go?" The little girl sees no reason why she ought not go, so she is begging unabashedly. Then again, she is a little girl, and not one who is in command of impressive reasoning skills. Nevertheless, her pathos is rousing.

Her mother considers this request. Though her reasoning skills are amply developed she can't recall as reason why her daughter ought not to go either, but then, it's nearly always easier to say no than it is to say yes.

Just in case. Her mother wishes that the little girl has gone without asking. So that if things had turned out poorly she could have reprimanded with a, "You ought to have asked," and comforted her daughter with the closure of consequences. And if things had turned out well, so much the better, she would not have been the ogre for deigning to stop them. Things are just so frustratingly unpredictable in their turn-outs.

So the little girl has asked, and her mother just doesn't know.

The little girl is asking because she hasn't considered that the decision could be hers. Her doubt required permission and validation. She is anxious is please but also desperate to have her way, the way she thinks she wants. The mother is stalling because wisdom and an answer allude her. What difference could it make?

"Very well, dear. Go play."

1 comment:

Kristen said...

I like this, Hayley. It reminds me of all sorts of things that I have thought of before but can't quite remember right now. :thoughtful:

:]