A Child’s War Story

PARENTAL ADVISORY: 

INTENDED AS A FICTIONAL CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK, THIS STORY MAY BE UNSUITABLE FOR YOUNG READERS.

COUNTING THE DAYS

* * *

They took Daddy and Mommy in the morning.

I was with Grandma and Grandpa for a sleepover,

so I didn’t see what happened.

Grandma and Grandpa couldn’t tell me.

“We were with you,” they said.

When I told them I wanted to go home, they said that I needed

to stay with them until Mommy and Daddy came back.

We counted the days. 

1 2 3 4…

Each day it got harder and harder.

7 8 9 10…

Grandma smiled and hugged me a lot.

Grandpa smiled and hugged me a lot, too.

15 16 17 18…

I didn’t go to school. 

I was too worried.

20 21 22 23

Grandma and I read a lot of books together.

We colored a lot, too.

“When are Mommy and Daddy coming home?” I asked her.

“Soon,” she told me. “Very soon,

She was wrong.

30 31 32 33 …

Grandpa and I took Mooshi for a lot of walks in the park.

“When are Mommy and Daddy coming home?” I asked him.

“Soon,” he said. “I hope very soon.”

Grandpa was wrong, too.

40 41 42 43…

My friends couldn’t go back to their homes, either.

I visited some of them in hotels.

I visited some of them at other people’s homes.

Some of them visited me at Grandma and Grandpa’s place.

50 51 52 53…

Grandma, Grandpa and I ate a lot of ice cream.

60 61 62 63…

We watched a lot of cartoons.

70 71 72 73…

Whenever we went outside

They tried to cover my eyes,

but there were so many pictures 

all over town that

I saw and I saw and I saw.

80 81 82 83…

We went to the beach and built sandcastles.

Some days I felt so mad and sad

all I wanted to do was smash them apart.

We waited… 

90 91 92 93…

and waited…

100 101 102 103…

and waited…

150 151 152 153…

At night I couldn’t sleep.

Grandma and Grandpa made a nest for me beside their bed.

Mooshi shared it with me

200 201 202 203…

and we talked a lot about Mommy and Daddy.

301 302 303 304…

One day, Mommy came home.

We laughed and we cried,

and we hugged so hard it almost hurt.

She and I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa 

while we  counted the days for Daddy.

401 402 403 404…

When Mommy said it was time to go home

Grandma and Grandpa came

to help us clean up and paint.

Friends helped, too.

I went back to school.

The chairs and desks had shrunk.

I had grown a lot while I was away counting the days.

I kept growing.

And I kept counting for Daddy.

500 501 502 503…

I grew bigger than Mooshi.

But Daddy didn’t come home.

Mommy said that he never will.

So  I stopped counting.

But I keep growing and growing

for Mommy,

Grandma and for Grandpa, 

and for him.