-Don’t worry, I’ll help you to finish it later if you come with me.
He quickly released the coloured pencil and with a big smile he threw his arms around my neck and said,
-I love you mom.
This made me feel emotional again, the truth is that everything that a mother could wish was this, seeing my son happy and he telling me these beautiful things.
-Look, I said. Since you have been well behaved , I brought you something.
-What is it? He asked excitedly.
-Open the wrapper and you’ll see I said as I gave him the gift.
He did so quickly and found a cube of six faces, each one of a different colour and looking at all its sides he asked,
- And what is this for?
This put me in a difficult place, because although I had tried to solve it, I did not know what the instructions were or how it was solved, so if he asked me to do a demonstration I could not do it.
-Well …, this … -I said taking my time to find the right words-. Each side con-sists of of the cube having all the cells of the same colour.
My son looked at the sides again and after a moment he said,
-Mom, it has them already, look all the yellow cells are here and on this other side the red ones.
-Yes, right I said, laughing at the occurrence of my son. Wait a minute.
Picking up the cube, I turned the pieces around, I gave it back to him and said,
- Now you have to reorganise it.
He took it between his small hands trying to figure out how those pieces mo-ved and he realised he could only make horizontal or vertical movements, of a row or column. After trying several times and before his desperation I said,
-You can move several columns or rows at a time, that will make the work easier
He looked at me with a face of not being too convinced and started spinning the chips again. I knew that it was going take a good part of his afternoon, so I said,
-Well, leave that aside because we have to go, I’ll ask grandma if she wants to go down too.
I went towards the living room and before I said anything to my mother, my son called me and said,
-Mom, mom, look
I was surprised, because I left him only a few seconds ago , I turned around and to my surprise I saw in his hands the ordered cube and a big smile. I took it to look at every side and after checking that all the colours were well placed, I said,
-Very well done, son. -And I kissed him on the cheek as a reward-. Now take the jacket so you don’t catch a cold.
-Are you going out? My mother asked me, listening to what I had told her grandson.
-Yes, let’s go to the park for a while, they gave me the afternoon off.
- What have you done this time?
-Nothing mom, just that I’m the employee of the week.
-Really? She asked, getting up and opening her arms to give me a hug-. I’m so proud of you, she said putting her arms around me.
I had a strange feeling, we always fought so much and now it seemed she had a big heart, I smiled at her and asked,
- Do you want to go downstairs?
-No thanks, it’s too late for me, I don’t want to catch a cold.
-Okay, take a rest, we will not take more than half an hour.
-I’ll be here, I also want use this time to make dinner, I’m going prepare so-mething really good, you’ll see, it’s going to be very special, my girl is em-ployee of the week.
My son and I went out, there we were playing with a ball, it was rather for him to run and blow off steam, than my sporty interest in football.
I sat for a moment while he kicked against a wall, when a young girl came and sat next to me.
Is he your baby? She asked with a worried face.
-Yes, that’s right, why do you ask? I asked, surprised by her attitude.
-I do not know, does he give you many trouble? She asked again.
-No, well the normal one of his age -I answered with a smile
- What about at the beginning? She asked again uneasily.
-Well, he has always been very calm I barely had any trouble sleeping the first weeks after his birth, other mothers say this is what cost them the most after having their children.
-I’m pregnant, said the little girl, who should not be more than fourteen years.
- Congratulations, I said, giving her a hug.
She did not return the hug, she seemed somewhat self-conscious and I asked her,
-Are you okay?
-I don’t know how to tell my parents, she said fearfully.
-Do you love him? -I asked looking into her eyes.
-Him? Of course, she said with a broad smile.
-I mean your son, I pointed out.
