Peppermint Omega

20

~ fast forward six years ~

'Do you have everything?' I paced back and forth across the hotel room as my little Moonie watched. Her little head followed my movements, and she tilted her head causing her nicely placed curls to fall.

'Mama..' she called, softly and slid off the bed. Placing her small hand onto mine, she slipped something inside. 'It'll be fine, Mama. I'm not nervous.'

I opened my hand to see a peppermint already unwrapped for me. Looking back up at her, I sighed. She guided my hand to my mouth, making sure that I put the candied disc inside. 'How are you so mature, my moon?'

'I don't know, Mama,' she shrugged and sweetly smiled.

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her close to my body. This small being used to kick the shit out of my organs, keep me up late nights, scared me half to death when she hid in the laundry half a day only for me to find her sleeping, and was amazing. Utterly amazing.

The only thing wrong with her - not really wrong with her, but with me. She had those very same demonic eyes and sandy hair of her father. Everything else was me. At around 3 months old, I could really start seeing it come through. She didn't get the dimples I wanted, but she was still so very, very cute.

'Mama?' Her sweet voice was muffled.

'Yes, Moonie?' I answered as I squeezed her tighter.

'You are squishing me. I can't breathe.'

'Oo!' I let her go and looked her over. Her pretty light purple dress was slightly squished down, but I immediately fluffed it back up. 'I'm sorry, honey. You know your hugs cure all.'

She nodded and stepped away from me to grab the bag I had already prepared. 'When it is over, can we go visit Grampa Fa?'

Her eyes lit up as she bit into her bottom lip. This girl's stomach was going to put us in the poor house. She was just as bad as I was.. still am, if I am honest.

'You can ask him, Moonie. He will be there.'

'Whaaa?' she asked with a confused look on her face. 'He closed the restaurant for me?'

I snorted. 'A cold day in hell. No, Moonie, Aunty Kim will watch over.'

We gathered up our coats and the bag and headed out to the lobby of the hotel, along with others who were competing in the state competition. Since literally the womb, this child had been interested in music, and to help grow her interest, I teamed her up with several tutors of several instruments until she found the one she liked.

'Put your coat on, honey,' I ordered gently as we moved to the side of the lobby. It was crowded with several families from different walks of life. It was nice to see such a diverse crowd of kiddos competing.

'Mama?'

'Yes, baby?'

'I can hear your heart from here. Breathe.'

'Who is the parent?' I asked nervously laughing and taking her hand in my free one. The competition was to take place at the City Symphony Center, near downtown. We weren't close enough to walk there, but we were close enough to get there. The hotel had arranged for shuttles to cart the competitors to and from the Center, but they did not estimate the number of family members of the competitors. Of course, they told them to limit it to the immediate family, but who was listening?

As the first round of shuttles left, we headed out on our own. There was plenty of time for us to get there and Moonie loved to navigate the train while we were here. But today, we would have to take the bus to where we were going. My girlie was so smart and made me proud with all the little things she could understand. Little nuances she would pick up.

'I got it, Mama,' she said excitedly after looking up routes on my phone. 'But it would be easier if we just walked.'

She showed me on the map from our location to the CSC, but what I saw on that map made me narrow my eyes at her. She was a little sneak. 'You can't have anything but water in this dress.'

'But Mama!'

'No but young lady. You have to stay intact until you compete. After that, I don't give a damn.'

Her mouth fell open, and I gave her a "so what" look. 'I'm telling Grampa. You have withheld from your child.'

I chuckled and held her hand. 'If you want to walk by and window shop, we can do that. THEN..' I stressed the "then," 'we can go back after you have changed. K?'

Her eyes grew wide and glowed a brighter green. 'Really?'

'Yes, of course.'

'Come on!' she shouted excitedly as she pulled me down the sidewalk.

*--*

When I had lived in the city before, I had never gone to the CSC. Really, I never had a reason to. But since having Moonie, we have gone quite a bit. So, she could hear what a live orchestra sounded like, and we came for a couple performances of ballet. She didn't have a real interest in ballet, but when Disney on Ice came to the city, she was hooked. I think that had to do with both of us being huge Disney fans anyway.

She stood a couple feet ahead of me with her head tilted, as she did when she was in thought or curious about something, with her hands behind her back. I grabbed the ticket from the coat clerk and slowly came up beside her. Following her line of sight, I saw she was staring at another child dressed in red.

This child's dress was made in a deep ruby red and in style of an adult silhouette including a sweetheart neck line. But the girl looked very uncomfortable. Her hair was styled very prettily, in tight ringlet curls, like a doll. I looked down at Moonie, wondering what was going on in her head.

'Moonie?' I whispered as I leaned toward her ear.

'Hmm..'

'Do you like her outfit?'

'No.' I leaned back, taken aback by the simple answer. 'Looks too itchy, but the color is pretty. Can I wear lipstick too?'

I rolled my eyes as she smiled, showing me her missing top tooth. 'You are truly a booger.'

She squinted up her face as she increased the size of her smile. 'But you love me.. lots.'

'You got me there, Moonie. Let's go see where you need to be and find that old man.'

Eventually, we settled backstage and found her teacher from school. She had four students participating today. She explained that CSC was only allowing a limited amount of people backstage. This made me a little sad - not that I was a "stage mom," but I'd miss out on the best view. I wanted to watch her like no one else could.

'Moonie, baby,' I began and handed her a peppermint from my slacks pocket. 'No matter what, just do your best. And don't be nervous.'

'I know, Mama. I know,' she sighed, rolling her eyes, but I could sense the fear rolling off her. So, I did what any embarrassing Mama would do, I rained kisses across her forehead until she giggled and pushed me away. 'You got your slobber all over me! Go..'

I gave her one last look before heading out to the front auditorium.