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one: a day at the park

The playground was bustling with excited children playing around and laughing with glee. "Be careful, you two," I call to them as they sprint towards the play set. I sit down on the bench where the parents are, sharing it with a young man feeding a baby.

The baby girl stared at me while she sucked from her bottle. I smile at her and wave with my finger. "Hey, there."

The man gives me a friendly grin, "Her name's Ariana." He says with a light accent I can't really put my finger on. "Hi, Ariana," she smiles behind her bottle, then blinks slowly. "Aw, I think she's getting tired."

"She is?" He looks down at her with furrowed brows. "Mhm, and only hold the bottle like that when she's almost finish, or she'll choke," I say, helping him as I do so. "You have kids?"

Before I could answer, Richie runs up calling my name. "Mommy! Dinah won't lemme have a turn on the swing," he points in her direction. She was going pretty high, which didn't worry me too much since they replaced mulch with a smoother, softer surface.

"There's a free one next to her. Hurry, before it gets taken," he runs back over to the swings and I resume my conversation. "Those two and I have two older daughters."

"How old are they?"

"Richie's 6, Dinah's 5, then the other two are 10 and 11."

Baby Ariana finishes her bottle and I observe him as he burps her carefully and correctly. I remember trying to burp Jade when she was an infant, but she never did. But best believe her gas was lethal. Not that Pez could tell since he lacks a sense of smell.

Lucky little bastard.

"You have any more kids?" He shakes his head, "No, just Ari. Her mom has an older son, about 10, but he's with his dad." He puts her food and things away before strapping her in her stroller.

"I'm Edward," he holds his hand out and I shake it. "Normani."

"Thank you for helping me out with her, Normani. I'm still trying to get used to this whole Dad thing," I chuckle.

"Pez was the same way and by our second child, he was a pro." He laughs along, letting the infant play with his fingers. Just then, his phone goes off and he checks it. "I gotta go. Thank you again, Normani," he stands up from the bench and picks up her pink diaper bag.

"You're welcome, Edward," I wave at him as he rolls the scroller towards the parking lot.

I turn back to watch my kids, seeing the both of them playing with a little boy and girl around their age. They both had black hair, green eyes, and slightly tanned skin.

The boy's hair was cut short and he wore a worn out blue shirt with a big hole on the side and dirty blue jeans. The girl looked just as homely; dressed in an old, pink shirt a size too small and white shorts that looked more brown than such.

Neither wore shoes.

The four of them looked to be having fun, so I let them be.

After another 30 minutes, the sun was setting and parents began leaving with their children. I call them over so we could go as well. Richie came up alone, "Where's your sister?" He points at the playground, "Sayin' bye to our new friends."

"Who?"

"Lauren and Erick. They live in the tunnel." I furrow my brows at that. "They live in the tunnel?" He says nothing and grabs my hand, leading me to the other side of the playground.

There were two playgrounds; one that was popular to the younger kids then an older one that had rusty metal bars, two swings, a broken down play set, and an old, blue plastic tunnel with four holes on either side.