Ricky

Christmas, 1955

Linda took one of Ricky's presents out from the tree. This one came from her father. She could tell just from the wrapping itself. Ricky was sitting next to her, playing with the dreidel his father had given him on his second birthday. He's old enough to play with it, Bobby said.

"Here, son," she said, giving it to him. "Open it." Ricky's eyes widened. He took the present and immediately began to tear the wrapping off. He hadn't torn off the bulk of the wrapping when he took the box off and grabbed the present out. It was a storybook of fairy tales, and it had been the same one Linda had when she was a child.

"Do you want mommy to read it to you?" Linda asked in a tinkling voice as she pulled Ricky onto his lap. The book slipped out of his hands as she helped him sit, but she took it and opened it to her favourite: Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

"Once upon a time," Linda began. "There was a girl named Goldilocks, who was skipping through the woods. She came across a cottage that was empty. She knocked on the door but no one was there.

"So she went in. In front of her, there was a dining room with three chairs and three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry, so she took a bite out of the first bowl.

"'Too hot,' she said. So took a bite out of the next one. 'Too cold.' Then she took a bite out of the third one. 'Just right.'"

Linda flipped the page. Ricky was starting to grow restless. He was fidgeting around as though he wanted to get out of her lap and crawl around.

"Hey," she said gently. "Just one more page."

Suddenly, he grabbed her hair and began to pull it out. Linda put the book down. She made sure to fold the corner of the page they were on. 

"That hurts mommy," Linda whispered as she held Ricky up. "Do you want to play with your dreidel instead? We can read stories later." She set Ricky down and watched him spin his dreidel.

Or at least try.

"Do you want me to help you?" Linda took the dreidel and spun it. Ricky stared at it intensely.

"Goes round," he said, making a circle like motion with his fingers.

"Yes, it goes round like a circle." Linda copied his motion. She never even thought having a two year old could be so much fun. Just watching him explore the world on his own was already magical on its own.