The Dollar Store

A woman walked through the gates of the preschool looking like she'd had better days. She seemed visibly frazzled and she was moving so quickly her faded black sweats started to slip slowly down her hips. She dropped the hand of the younger girl to hike up her pants. The younger girl took that as her cue and bolted through the gate toward the princess play house in the corner of the playground. As the girl ran past me, I noticed she was wearing two different shoes, her shirt was on backwards and her tangled blonde hair could have doubled as a bird's nest for a small flock.

The woman raced past me now dragging the older girl behind her. As the woman flung open the door to the classroom the older girl looked up at me with mischief in her eyes and let out a small giggle. The woman told the girl to put her backpack in her cubby. The girl looked up with a confused look but obliged.

I stayed outside and watched the younger girl in the princess playhouse. Like most siblings of children at the preschool she knew her way around the playground and was probably perfectly safe on the equipment. But I kept my eye on her just in case.

I could hear the woman yelling from the office, "I'm so sorry we are late. It was just such a crazy morning that I completely forgot Abby had school." I couldn't hear the teacher's response as she was speaking in a very kind whisper. I continued to watch the younger child as she shooed away the older boys who were playing chase too close to her throne.

A few minutes later the woman came out. Much slower this time. Much less frantic. Her pants holding strong high on her waist.

"Julia," she yelled softly. "Time to go." The younger girl climbed out of the window of the princess play house. Abby was still dragging behind grandma and still giggling softly. The three of them walked towards the gate hand in hand.

"Grandma is definitely losing it girls," she said as she dropped Julia's hand to open the gate. "I can't believe today is Thursday. No wonder I forgot you had school today, Abby. It's because you DON'T have school today." Both of the girls let out a squeal and started to skip in circles around grandma. "Guess we'll just go to the Dollar Store instead," Grandma said as she unlocked the car.