Flash Fiction Friday: Tears and Heartaches
“My heart broke in two…” she sobbed and choked on the words as she buried her little face in my stomach.
“Oh lord.” I thought,“this wasn’t supposed to happen yet.”
I’d figured I’d have at least seven more years before she had her first real broken heart. I mean she was six for crying out loud. This kind of thing wasn’t supposed to happen until Maggie was a teenager, right? But here she was crying her little heart out over Anthony Carah.
Lilly Carah, Tony’s mom, and I knew this would happen one day. We’d even talked about how we’d deal with it. Maggie and Tony had been playpen pals. Hell, Lilly and I had been friends since grade school. We’d always said we’d be friends for life and our kids would marry each other. But we were realistic. We’d nursed each other through broken hearts aplenty.
It was unlikely that our two little angels would remain as devoted to each other as we hoped. One day, one of them was bound to break the other’s heart. Still we both secretly loved the fact that our two little ones had professed their undying love and devotion to each other since they were four.
Of course there’s a day when every impossible dream ends. And it looked like today was the day. Lilly came running in from outside in tears trailed by our three year old dachshund, Oscar Meyer. I could see little Tony through the window staring dejected into the garage. Damn him! My little girl’s heart was broken. He was six, but he was still a bastard. As if in agreement Oscar Meyer, Meyer for short, whined a protest and pawed at my leg.
No, no. I couldn’t let that side of me out.
“Oh honey, it’s gonna be okay,” I tried my best to comfort her. “You’re only six years old baby. It’s too early to know who your true love will be. You should try to get to know other boys too, you know. I mean just ‘cause Tony doesn’t want to marry you. I mean you’re gonna get bigger and become a woman and get all curvey and… no well, not that physical things should matter but you know boys will notice and … but you know you don’t need to define yourself by your body but… what mommy’s trying to say is…” (Jesus, I’m botching this Big Time). Meyer pawed at me again and barked.
“Down Meyer. Maggie, you’re a beautiful person and one day when you’re grown up, you’re gonna meet a man and he’s gonna love you for who you are and…”
“Mommy?”
“Yeah honey?”
“What are you talking about?”
“About Tony breaking up with you. Isn’t that what you’re crying about?”
“Nooooo, mommy!”
“What then?”
“I was trying to tell you that Meyer broke into the garage again and chewed on Daddy’s bicycle tires.”
“Huh?”
“Daddy said, ‘if Oscar Meyer chews on my bike again I’m gonna sell him to the Gypsies!’” and she whined and then collapsed into sobs anew. Meyer howled worriedly.
“Momma, don’t let Daddy sell Meyer to the Gypsies!!!”
“I won’t baby,” I said trying not to laugh, “I won’t.”
“Oh lord.” I thought,“this wasn’t supposed to happen yet.”
I’d figured I’d have at least seven more years before she had her first real broken heart. I mean she was six for crying out loud. This kind of thing wasn’t supposed to happen until Maggie was a teenager, right? But here she was crying her little heart out over Anthony Carah.
Lilly Carah, Tony’s mom, and I knew this would happen one day. We’d even talked about how we’d deal with it. Maggie and Tony had been playpen pals. Hell, Lilly and I had been friends since grade school. We’d always said we’d be friends for life and our kids would marry each other. But we were realistic. We’d nursed each other through broken hearts aplenty.
It was unlikely that our two little angels would remain as devoted to each other as we hoped. One day, one of them was bound to break the other’s heart. Still we both secretly loved the fact that our two little ones had professed their undying love and devotion to each other since they were four.
Of course there’s a day when every impossible dream ends. And it looked like today was the day. Lilly came running in from outside in tears trailed by our three year old dachshund, Oscar Meyer. I could see little Tony through the window staring dejected into the garage. Damn him! My little girl’s heart was broken. He was six, but he was still a bastard. As if in agreement Oscar Meyer, Meyer for short, whined a protest and pawed at my leg.
No, no. I couldn’t let that side of me out.
“Oh honey, it’s gonna be okay,” I tried my best to comfort her. “You’re only six years old baby. It’s too early to know who your true love will be. You should try to get to know other boys too, you know. I mean just ‘cause Tony doesn’t want to marry you. I mean you’re gonna get bigger and become a woman and get all curvey and… no well, not that physical things should matter but you know boys will notice and … but you know you don’t need to define yourself by your body but… what mommy’s trying to say is…” (Jesus, I’m botching this Big Time). Meyer pawed at me again and barked.
“Down Meyer. Maggie, you’re a beautiful person and one day when you’re grown up, you’re gonna meet a man and he’s gonna love you for who you are and…”
“Mommy?”
“Yeah honey?”
“What are you talking about?”
“About Tony breaking up with you. Isn’t that what you’re crying about?”
“Nooooo, mommy!”
“What then?”
“I was trying to tell you that Meyer broke into the garage again and chewed on Daddy’s bicycle tires.”
“Huh?”
“Daddy said, ‘if Oscar Meyer chews on my bike again I’m gonna sell him to the Gypsies!’” and she whined and then collapsed into sobs anew. Meyer howled worriedly.
“Momma, don’t let Daddy sell Meyer to the Gypsies!!!”
“I won’t baby,” I said trying not to laugh, “I won’t.”
posted by Girl With An Alibi at 12:36 AM
12 Comments:
Awwww...what a sweet story.
I really must thank JJ over at Purgatorian for hooking me up with so many talented writers. :)
this was gorgeous! it was an interesting take on the sentence... and since all our stories have been so sad and heavy this one was a nice change!
cute in it's own way...
I liked this. We can never assume what is going on in their little heads. I love that the narrator calls the six year old boy a "bastard".
whew; a few more years 'til the broken heart.
Giggle. Hee hee. I liked that. Now I want a dog.
I tell my nieces the same thing when they're naughty, is that bad? Great story.
The gypsies buy dogs for their gypsy soup.
Nice story.
A-typical story about a broken heart.
Cute ending.
I would have just shot the damn dog.
But that is just me.
Very nice. Very sweet.
Thanks for the great comments everyone. I felt I needed to lighten up as my last few were a bit dark.
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