Kessie's Short Stories

Snowy Little Apple

Originally written 2/4/2022

The longer Sabrina had to stay in Shanghai, the more she was starting to hate it. From the crowds, to the lights, to just the mere fact that home was 12 hours behind- it was all going to drive her insane. This deadline had been ridiculous from the start. She shouldn't have taken it. The payout was starting to feel less worth it the longer she was here. At least she was closer to finishing now than what she was earlier today.

It was a little past midnight when she finally gave herself a break. Not wanting to scour social media, she instead went to her emails. Waiting for her there was an email from Lea. The subject line giving the least of descriptive titles; 'You need to check this out.' The actual email didn't have much more to it either. Attached was a 30 minute audio file and the message, 'Need your approval for the next podcast. Love you <3'

Sabrina rolled her eyes. She had half a mind to reply to him 'I'm not your publicist, and I'm operating on a short deadline, so get lost.' but thought better of it. Instead she opened the link on her phone and pressed play. She just as easily returned to her work without a second thought.

A chipper little ditty greeted her ears, along with a prerecorded voice of Lea saying, "Welcome back to the Little Apple Show! Where I, your host, get to talk with the cutest little toddler so you don't have to!"

Already off to a standard start. Lea had decided to make a podcast around Sabrina's toddler sometime after Neige could form short sentences. She didn't know how popular the show was, and she wasn't sure if she actually cared. What she did know was that it gave Neige decent exposure to call-response linguistics, and the occasional sensory exploration based on whatever Lea had prepared for that day. It didn't go over her head that Neige's toddlerhood was being well documented. If anything, it made days like this less boring. She wasn't home, but she could get a decent recount of her daughter's wellbeing thanks to Lea.

"Hello everyone!" Lea himself actually greeted in the podcast. "I'm back with Miss Snowy Apple, and today we are going to play the most competitive game of Thirsty, Thirsty Crocodiles that you've ever heard. A little ASMR, a bit of smack talk, and some fun conversations to boot! What do'ya think, Snow? Are we going to have a fun time today?"

Normally, Neige would have been just as pumped as Lea. Today she was silent. Sabrina's eyes didn't leave her computer screen as she tried to listen closer to the podcast. Something wasn't right. Lea knew it too.

"Aren't you excited to play Thirsty, Thirsty Crocodiles?" he carefully asked.

A small little rustle indicated that Neige had placed her elbows on the table. In a small voice, lightly muffled from likely resting her mouth in her arms, Neige said, "I'm sad."

"Well... why're ya sad, kiddo? Do you want to talk about it?"

Another empty silence. Sabrina started to work a bit faster- her face making a sour scowl as her daughter continued to stay quiet.

"I miss Mommy."

Sabrina's heart stopped. Every part of her body froze.

"It's alright, apple. You're allowed to miss her. She's been real busy lately, hasn't she?"

"Yeah..."

"For anyone who doesn't know," Lea carefully said into his microphone, "Snow's mom works at a super big company that occasionally pulls her away from home. The pay is up in the triple digits -if you know what I mean- so when Snow's family goes on vacation, they go all out! We're talking renting out presidential suites, spas, even half an amusement park!"

Sabrina afforded a small snort; it was enough of a distraction to get her back to work. Lea was heavily sugarcoating the situation- either in an effort to keep their identities secret, protect Neige, or both. Sure, the part about working at a big company and traveling around for it was true- but the pay definitely wasn't that ludicrous. She wouldn't have to be in overtime if that was the case. It was enough to keep them living rather comfortably though, so it wasn't anything to shrug off.