The world we survived together

Mother's mystery box.

      Leslie and David continued to hug for a few minutes. When he looked over her shoulder he noticed a brown wooden box by the side of her piano.

"What's that?" David broke out the hug.

      Leslie turned around to see what David was looking at. "That. that's a box filled with old toys that my son used to play with."

"Can I look inside?" David asked.

"Sure, I don't see why not."

      Leslie pushed the Box closer to David so he could get a better look at it. The box is made from Lightwood and on the front the word toys was written in yellow paint. The hinges squeaked when Leslie opened the box. The box was filled with toys. Things from old rag dolls and stuffed animals to wooden planes and action figures.

    "Wow, he sure had a lot of toys," David picked up a wooden plane with red and blue stripes painted on it. "Can you tell me about this toy?"

     "Of course," Leslie examined the plane. "His father loved taking his son to craft shops when he had time off from his job. Those two would always come home with a new model plane for board games."

  "Did he paint this plane?"

    "Why yes he did. I think this was the first plane you painted by himself." Leslie looked closer at the plane noticing that there was a little D painted underneath the wing.

          David placed the toy plane back in the box. He picked up a plush bird that was mostly red with brown dangling legs and red stripes. The bird's head was round and had three feathers on top with a yellow plush beak.

    "This bird is really dusty." David was holding running the bird's wings revealing a layer of dust underneath it. The dust caused David to sneeze.

      "Bless you," Leslie said, grabbing the bird so David could wave the dust away from his face.

"How did he get this bird?"

  "He won it at a Carnival," Leslie held the bird closer to her. "It was a balloon-popping game. He was able to pop three balloons in a row."

"So he won the top prize."

       "The top prize was a bird similar to this one but it was bigger and Rainbow colored. But you had to win the game three times in a row and exchange three of the same plush to win the big one, and we didn't want to carry it around the park for the rest of the day so we just settled on this bird." Leslie gave the bird back to David.

   "Did he win anything else that day?" David started to rummage through the toy box to find toys made of a similar quality to the bird.

    "I remember that he and his father entered a balloon squirting game and they managed to win a hand puppet of a blue dog," Leslie put a hand on David's Shoulder. "You won't find the hand puppet in there I'm afraid. His father loved anything puppet-related."

   David picked up a random stuffed animal from the bottom.

   "Why did his father love puppets?" David asked.

    Leslie noticed the stuffed animal David was holding and went quiet for a few moments.

   "Mother, are you all right? I asked you a question."

"That doesn't matter now sweetheart. Do you know what you're holding?"

     "You're holding the plush he had when he was a baby." Leslie picked up David and placed him on the piano bench.

    "Really? It's so cute I bet he loved it," David examined the plush. He could tell it was a lion by the light yellow mane around its head. David also noticed the little ladybug on the side of its head. "What was the Lion's name?"

    "He never gave it a name. Every time he tried he would only replace it with something else within a day." Leslie said.

       David started the place the toys back into the box. Leslie stayed quiet, she only played her piano and let David finish cleaning up. The song Leslie was playing didn't sound like a happy song or a sad song, it was very somber. He didn't know why but the sound made him uncomfortable. When David finished putting away the toys he sat on the bench and continued to listen to Leslie's song trying to push down any negative feelings he had about it.

"I miss this," Leslie spoke up, surprising David.

"Miss what?" David was confused.

      "I miss the simple moments I had with my son," Leslie started to play the piano slower. "I miss having him lay in my lap listening to me play Lullabies on the piano until I fell asleep. I miss teaching him how to play a new instrument and how happy he was every time he learned a new song." Leslie wanted to keep going but she was too choked up to keep talking like bringing up one more memory would send her into tears.

"That sounds like a lot of fun times. I'm sorry that those memories hurt think about it." David put his hand on Leslie's hand causing her to smirk.

"You know there is one more thing I miss about him," Leslie said mischievously

"What's that?" David said, unaware of Leslie's Intentions.

     "I miss how he loved to be cuddled and held close to his mama." Leslie quickly grabbed David and cradled him in her arms, holding him like a toddler.

    "Hey, I'm not a baby." David was still shocked by the comforting embrace.

     "In a way, you are my baby." Leslie teased, poking David's nose.

     "Mom," David said, squirming out of Leslie's playful grasp on him.

    Leslie let David out of her hold and chuckled. "You are just too funny."

"Mom, I think I'm going to get going." David brushed the dust off of his overalls. "It's almost lunchtime and I'm starting to get hungry."

David made his way to the door but before he could leave Leslie called out to him.

   "David, one more thing before you go." David turned around. "If you like you could stay here a little while longer and play with the toys. But only if you like to."

    David was a little put off by the request. "No thanks. I don't want to break something. Maybe next time."

      Leslie stayed quiet only sitting back down and turning away from David to continue playing the piano. David Closed the door and walked down the dark hallway thinking out loud to himself. "What a strange woman. 

(Hello everyone. I know this isn't the new chapter for "The Best Mom Ever" But in my defense when I finished the last chapter I was still determined to keep writing and when you have ADHD you know the best thing to do is follow the dopamine. Don't forget to check out "The Two of Us in This World..." by "DhmisManny" for the original version of this story.)