She sat on the bar, her eyes fixed on the clock, which was slowly edging towards 4 o'clock. She began to tap away on the top of the bar, praying time would speed up. She glanced to the booth at the back of the room. The couple there were still engaged in a heated conversation. The women was crying and trying to grab the man's hands, but he continued to push her away.
"Hey kid! Stop bonging on my bar. Your doing my head in."
"Sorry mister." She looked to her hands, she hadn't realised how loud she'd been. She looked to the floor and began to bite on her bottom lip.
"It's okay kid. Just don't do it again." He said playfully ruffling the little girls blonde curls. "Do you want a drink?"
"No. Me and Mama going to the park." She beamed.
"Yeah. Sounds fun. I wish I could come." He said before returning to a customer at the other end of the bar.
The little girl jumped off the bar, fixed her t-shirt and purposefully made her way down to the booth at the back.
"Mama, can we go now? If we don't go now it'll be dark and we won't go."
"Baby girl, I told you to wait over there. Mama will be done soon. Then we'll go to the park. I promise." The girl watched the women wipe away the tears from her eyes and then began to walk back to the bar as slowly as possible in order to hear what the two adults were talking about.
"Please John."
"No. I'll wait for you tomorrow. If you don't show, I'll be gone."
The girl hopped onto the bar top and watched them. Her mum was talking now, but he wasn't interested and minutes later he got up and left. The girl again hopped of the bar watched as her Mums head fell into her hands. The hesitated at the thought of approaching the booth again. When her Mum cried it was best to leave her alone. Then again, her Mum didn't usually cry when there were other people around. Then again if they stayed here they'd never get to the park.
"Mama, are you okay?"
"Yeah baby girl. Just give mama a minute. Then we'll go. You go wait at the bar."
"Okay. Don't cry Mama." The girl reached up her hand and wiped away the womens tears. "It'll be okay." She gave the women a big hug,
"I love you. You know Mama loves you" the women said before placing a kiss on the girl's messy curls.
"I love you too."
The girl sat on the floor playing with her new doll. She'd spent the rest of the day at the park with her Mum and they'd only left when it got dark. Then on the walk home her Mum had suggested they stop at the local shop. Her Mum had bought her a doll, which she had named Katie and a bag full of sweats.
"Mama. When are we going home? Katie wants to see my bedroom." She looked up to her Mum and Aunt Sarah. The smile from her face faded as noticed her Mum was once again crying and her Aunt Sarah didn't look far off shedding her own tears. The little girl rose to her feet and ran over to the coffee table where the two women were sitting. "Don't cry Mama. Why do you cry?"
"It's nothing baby. I was thinking we stay with Aunt Sarah tonight. She's got the spare room all ready for you."
The girl looked to her Aunt who nodded her head reassuringly. "I have some pyjamas in there for you. Why don't you go get into bed? It's late. I'll come read you a story."
"Do you know how to do the voices? Mama does voices."
"Aunt Sarah knows how to do the voices baby. She does them better than me."
"No one does them better than you, Mama. You're the best" The girl watched as her last comment caused her Mums tears to flow once more. Her Aunt Sarah just looked to the ceiling; the girl didn't know what to do. She couldn't understand what was wrong with her Mum. She crawled onto her knee and wrapped her arms around her Mums neck.
"I love you Mama. Please don't cry."
"I'm sorry. Why don't me and you go read that story." The women rose to her feet carrying her daughter. The girl smiled back and wriggled out of the women's grasp. She ran into the spare room.
"I'll pick." The women followed her knowing this would be the last time she would read her daughter a story.