“Mum, I don’t want to go!!!” I screamed and struggled with her.
“Lily, you had better wear this dress now. You’ve been disturbing me for ages that you want to go to the amusement park. Now your uncle is offering to take you and you’re being stubborn,” as she said that, mum was still struggling to put the sky- blue shirt over my head. It was the one I liked. The one with the frills at the hem and the pink sparkles in front. But I didn’t want to wear it today.
“Mum, please. I don’t want to go. Let me spend time with you instead. We could play so many games together, I’ll even forget about the park.” Mum sighed then held my 8-year old shoulders and looked into my eyes.
“I would have really loved to play with you, sweetie. But you know Saturday is the only day I get to stay at home and clean the house. I’m always busy the rest of the week and Sunday is the day I get to rest. Go have fun with Uncle Mike. Then when you get back home, you’ll tell me all about the fun you had.”
“I won’t have fun, mummy.”
“Why won’t you have fun? It’s the amusement park. It was made just for fun… And maybe for a bit of extortion too.”
“I won’t have fun cos you won’t be with me…what’s the point of fun rides if you’ll not have them with me? I’d rather stay at home and clean up with you.” Mum didn’t reply for some seconds. She just kept staring at me. Then just when I was about to ask her if she was okay, she drew me close and hugged me.
“I love you so much, my Lily.”
“I love you too, mummy,” then when she drew back from the hug, I shone my teeth and asked her, “So where do we clean first?”
Mum and I spent the day cleaning the house. It was a whole lot of work and then some more. But I didn’t mind. I didn’t even care that Uncle Mike had left me and taken just my cousins, Peace and Victor to the park. I didn’t mind that they were probably having so much fun while I was busy carrying buckets of water for scrubbing the floor. I didn’t mind because I had got what I asked for. A day in my favourite place. Which was right beside my mum.