Illustrated Short Story: Bad Things I Did To My Mother

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When I was about 7, we lived in a huge apartment complex.  

It was probably early March, when warm days start outnumbering the cold, but it's still too soon to say goodbye to winter for good.

On an especially warm day, a beautiful puddle had formed in the vast parking lot.  As I looked at it through our window, I imagined a family of ants picnicking by the lake.

I wanted desperately to go play in that puddle.  But there was a hole in my boots.

So my mom said no. 

I was very sad.  

But then my mom left!!! 

 I could play in the puddle as much as I wanted, and she wouldn't know!

I played for a long time: I splashed and splashed and laughed and laughed...

Then it was time to go back home.  I think my sister must have been watching me, because I got away with all of this rather easily.  I was pretty happy with myself.  I had outwitted my mother.  I had disobeyed her and nothing bad had happened.  I was invincible!

But my boots were wet.  If I put them on the vent to dry, she would know I got them wet.

No problem!  I just wouldn't put them on the vent.  They would just dry on their own.  Everything was fine and I was invincible again!

But the next day my boots weren't dry.  I think I stepped in water again.  Or laughed in the face of danger and defiantly splashed in the forbidden puddle again.  Anyway, my boots were still wet, and I still couldn't tell without getting myself in trouble.

This went on for a couple of days until my foot started to get sore, and I developed a strange limp:

I was notorious for faking, so my parents barely noticed...

"Why are you limping?"

"My foot hurts"

"Did you fall?"
"No.."
"Um hm, honey go play with your dollies"

This continued for a couple more days...

Until finally my Mom couldn't take it anymore, so she told me to take off my sock so she could see my foot one more time, and to her shock...

My foot was blue!!!

Of course, I was immediately carted off to the hospital:

The doctor took one look at my foot, picked up my boot, felt the wetness and shot my mother an accusatory look.  "She has frostbite.  Her foot is frozen because her boots are wet." he said very curtly.  What he really seemed to be saying was something along the lines of: "Your child has frostbite because her boots are wet, you horrible, horrible mother you!"

My mother was shocked:  "How come you didn't tell me your boots were wet?!" (to me) "I didn't know!" (to the doc).

I'm not sure what happened after that, the rest of the day is kind of fuzzy.  I know she was not happy with me, and she still quotes this day as her single most embarrassing moment as a parent.

So I would like to officially apologize to my Mom, both for disobeying her, and for making her look like the worse parent of the year.  I would also like to set the record straight:  My Mom was and still is, the best freaking mother a girl could ever ask for.

HAHA!

Much Love, 

Felicia

PS: A few precisions about this post's illustrations:

• Although this is suppose to be occurring just before the official end of winter, there isn't a trace of snow left on the ground.  Please imagine small clumps of snow scattered here and there.
• My father's head seems like it's smaller than my 7 year old head.  That's not true, my father has a perfectly normal size head, and at least a little bit of hair on it. :)  *sorry Dad, just couldn't resist throwing that in there.
• In the picture at the hospital, it almost seems as though I'm pointing accusingly at my mother.  The intent was more a shrug.  My mother looks very angry, but the expression is more shock.  Anger came after, when the doctor was safely out of eye-sight / ear shot. ;)

If you liked this post, here are some others you may enjoy:

Top 5 Reasons why Birthdays Rock, Especially Mine!
Happy vs Angry: An Illustrated Short Story by Felicia Stevenson
Rainy Weekends - Another Illustrated Short Story by Felicia Stevenson