Tax Day
Carly Button
She sits on the sticky polyester couch with
a lump in her throat bigger than the
house in which she heard the word "goodbye"
one to many times and she swings her
feet forward and backward ignoring the
fact that she was five years old yes five years
old and her hair had not been cut in over
ten months and her throat hurt but she dare not
ask for someone to take care of her yes she
dare not ask because if she did she wouldn't be
sitting on the polyester couch waiting for
an answer to a question she had no desire
to ask but she would be simply a memory
in two evil peoples minds not potentially a new member
to a new family where she could actually eat
a meal and take a shower and potentially one day
hear three words she had never even heard before and her
feet kept swinging and her mind kept racing yes at five
years old she was thinking about what her parents were
saying as they had to tell the judge people that they
hurt her she bets they were crying and lying
like the always do and saying that they
"loved her" but she squinted her eyes and thought
about the last thing she saw on TV
and drifted into an artificial world in which she rode
a unicorn and was the princess to a kingdom of
all her favorite animals and she had a mom queen who
gave her gifts and a dad king who tucked her into
bed at night and they hugged her and kissed her like
other parents do to her friends at school and pick
them up in their SUV and ask about their day they
don't make their kids walk home from preschool
and learn how to make a peanut butter sandwich at
five years old yes no matter how hard she tried she
couldn't get them off her mind all she needed
was an answer to the question and she
could finally live her life and not fear for it and
with the twenty-second swing and the
fourth time she had to reposition herself because
the polyester was so sticky the big man
came out of the big room with a couple who was
smiling and she was confused but excited
as they slowly approached her and planted those two
big kisses on her forehead that she had dreamed
about for so long and they held her in their arms as she
cried and cried and cried for she didn't have to make
her own peanut butter sandwiches anymore yes
she didn't have to worry that she would be home
alone when she walked back from school
because she finally had something that she had
never known and now she could tell her
friends with a big bold smile on her young
face that she had a family and someone that
would pick her up from school in their SUV
and ask her about her day and give her presents
and she could tell her secrets too so she
wiped the tears from her eyes and held her
breath as the two people kissed her forehead
one more time and the lady whispered "I love you" into
her ear and she started to cry again.
