The Sunflower Vampire

Chapter Three: A Careless Mother's Caring

Nine's anniversary is tomorrow. We ought to have prepared something special for my son, but I guess Paul and I will have to improvise. It's not like he knows what Christmas is, but he associates Xmas lights with his birthday. Because we commemorate it like that, but the Director doesn't allow us to mention Christmas for him. Something about him not knowing about religions and holidays, in the lines of that. So we do the decorations with bulbs of elegant and colorful lights so that he would at least know that this cold season means to be cherished. The lights had broken on his last birthday as he climbed a chair to try and pick one. It all came falling, those expensive bulbs shattering on the floor. It was a mess to clean up too, and he got hurt with the glass as well. And we have been so busy that we couldn't buy a replacement. We couldn't go into the city to purchase the lights and return in time of the celebration, oh, even preparing everything! He will have to deal with his birthday without a flashy and vibrant glow. My poor son! He's deprived enough! I don't agree with most of the Director's orders... at least he allowed Nina to come, his only friend...

As his dietitian explained to me, he is allowed to have cake. Only a piece of a vanilla strawberry cake, though, since my boy's stomach is so reduced. Strawberries are his favorite fruit. I recite to him each time he would eat the special strawberries:

Oh, strawberries, berries

Berry good, for very

Good boy

Red as my hair

You will remember me each time

Sweet as your mother

Each one of the most sublime

Bite!

Oh, strawberries, berries

For a very good boy

It's silly, and it's not even a good nursery rhyme, but it's cute, and at least he will remember me every time he eats a strawberry. I'm not good with poetry, but I try my best to be his mother. So in those little special moments where he can appreciate a fruit, it's nice to sing along. I am there when he needs me... but he seems far away now. Something happened that he's not telling me. He's distant and doesn't come for hugs anymore. Paul said that he's growing up and that this is normal, but he isolated himself so much from us. I'm sure Paul knows about something, but he won't tell. Oh my... My child is desolated. And I want to listen and take care of his hardships, but he does not wish to speak.

At least I know what to do to cheer him up. It's a strawberry themed party! I will use the cutout trees and bushes to make tiny and giant strawberries. I'm glad Paul has a black marker to make the black dots of the strawberries, the seeds, the marker in question, which he actually uses to censor Nine's books... This, of course, doesn't make me happy, but it is the labor of my lover. unfortunately... For the green part, I will hot glue pine needle leaves, one by one, on the cutouts. Oh! I have an idea! I will use hot glue to stick tiny strawberries in my hair clips! I would paint my face with red lipstick, but it would be silly without the leaves of the strawberry. I can't get hot glue leaves on my face! If only I had face paint, it would make things much easier; I could draw a strawberry on my cheek. I should've thought about this sooner. I will ask Paul if he can help me with the decoration. He should be in the observation room... which I don't have access to. I will need to wait until supper and talk to him in the dining hall.

— Honey, are you enjoying your soup?

— Yeah, you know how I love corn soup. I get corny!

— Speaking of corny... you do know our son's birthday is tomorrow, right?

— R-right.

I could feel that he had forgotten. Nevertheless...

— So, could you help me set up some decorations?