The Mother She Never Knew
**Start
Flashback**
"Matt, do me a favor."
"Yes, dear?"
"Don't hide me from Miranda when I'm
gone. Oh, and read this paper."
"I promise. She will know who you are."
He took the piece of paper, folded it, and slipped it into his pocket.
"Goodbye, Matt." Were her last to
words to him.
"I love you, Sora."
**End
Flashback**
That was all in the past though. Just a memory. A memory that was barely intact anymore. Matt heaved a huge sigh and looked down at
the picture he had been gazing at for the past hour. It was a good thing his daughter was at school. Mother's Day was coming up in a few weeks. He still had no idea about what to get Mimi. There would be time for that later. Matt rose from his chair, put the picture of
Sora away in a drawer for safekeeping and proceeded to the cemetery. After a few minutes of searching, he found
the grave marked "Ishida".
"Hey, Sora." He said to headstone.
"It'll be Mother's Day in a few weeks.
I'll tell her then." He had put
off telling his daughter, Miranda, about her real mother. As far as she was concerned, Sora Takenouchi
had never existed and her mother was Mimi.
She looked so much like Sora, though.
Sooner or later she was going to find out. But he just hadn't been able to do it. The pain had kept him from revealing the truth. The pain of remembering. He had to tell her. After dinner on Mother's Day. He would do it then.
**Miranda's
P.O.V.**
Miranda walked home from school, deep
in thought. She had been thinking about
this particular subject more than ever lately.
Probably because Mother's Day was near.
But it still plagued her. The
ever-present question. Why was her
mother's hair brown, her father's blonde, and hers red? It was almost as if she had been
adopted. Miranda knew that wasn't true,
however. She had seen her birth
certificate. But who was the woman
named "Sora Takenouchi" on the certificate?
Maybe it was a midwife, or one of the nurses. But it sure wasn't her mother.
Miranda sighed and pushed those
thoughts out of her mind as she walked into her favorite Hallmark store. It was time to buy a Mother's Day
Present.
The shopkeeper was a fat, jolly man
who knew her very well.
"Hello, Miranda. The usual?" Miranda usually came in to buy
candy and magazines.
"Well, that too, but Albert, I need an
ideal present for Mother's Day. What
would you recommend?"
"I got just the thing!" Albert walked
to back of the store and came out a moment later with a box in his hands.
"What is it?" she asked curiously.
"Look." He opened the box and lifted
out an antique jewelry box. It was
china and was painted all over in a flower pattern. On the inside it was lined with pink silk and had 3 separate
compartments.
"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed. "How
much is it?"
"Well, normally it would be 100, but
for you I'll make it 75.99. And with
the price of your regular stuff, your total comes to…" he rung up all the items
on the cash register. "79 dollars even."
"Thank you so much!" Miranda opened
her wallet and paid for the jewelry box, candy, and magazines. Albert wrapped up the jewelry box and put it
back in its box.
"Don't let your mom see it." he said
with a wink.
"Oh don't worry, I won't. Thanks again, Albert!" she said, hurrying
out the door.
Upon arriving home, Miranda found the
house empty. She took her purchases up
to her room and hid the box in her closet.
After doing what little homework she had [A/N-A three-day weekend was
coming up], Miranda went up to the attic.
It was very dark and dusty up there.
Not to mention stuffy. After a
bit of searching, she found an old picture album with the words "Prom Pictures"
written in gold on the cover. Miranda
opened the album and flipped through it.
Sure enough, there was her dad.
But who was that other woman with him?
She looked a lot like Miranda.
They were both skinny and had red hair.
On closer inspection, Miranda saw that she even had her soft, amber
eyes. It was so strange. Upon looking further through the album,
Miranda saw that the strange woman was in all of the pictures with her
father. She also found the remainders
of a red rose with a scarlet ribbon wrapped around the stem.
Miranda was upstairs with the albums
until nearly 7 o'clock. Miranda
checked her watch and gasped. She
closed the albums and got up. She would
come back tomorrow. She hurried down
the attic steps, brushing dust off herself.
Miranda walked into her room and opened the book she was currently
reading, "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott, to wait for dinner.
[3 days before Mother's Day]
Miranda took a deep breath and walked into the
living room where her father was watching TV.
She had to ask about the strange woman in all the pictures. She hoped it wasn't anything he didn't want
to remember, but she just so darn curious.
She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.
"Dad," she began "can I ask you a
question?"
He shut off the TV. "Sure, Miranda,
what is it?" he looked right at her.
"Well, I've been going through some
old photo albums lately and I've seen your old prom pictures and stuff, but there
was this other woman with you, not mom.
Who was the woman?"
**Author's
P.O.V.**
Matt took a deep breath. This was NOT the way he had intended for
Miranda to find out. Sora would want
her to know, he told himself.
"The woman in the pictures is your real
mother." He said finally.
Miranda's mouth fell open. "But…I…how?"
He continued, tears in his eyes. "Long
before you were born, before I married Mimi, I had another wife. Her name was Sora Takenouchi. She died when you were an infant. She was my only real love."
"How did she die?"
"It was brain cancer. Before she died, she wrote something to me
on a piece of paper. I've never read it,
but I will now." He walked to the closet, took out the old piece of paper Sora
had given him so many years ago, and began to read. First there was a verse from a book.
My baby, my blood, my honest truth. Beseech me not to leave thee. Whither thou goest, I will go. Where I lodge, we lodge together. Where I die, you'll be buried at last.
Then there was an unfinished poem underneath it.
My dear sweet Yamato
Though I must
leave you behind me
There is
always a place where you can find me
When the wind
blows your hair, that's my hand on your face
When a tree
gives you shade, that's my loving embrace
When the sun
gives you freckles, that's me tickling my boy.
When the rain
wets your hair, those are my tears of joy.
When the long
grass enfold you, that's me holding you tight.
It ended there. She must have been too weak to finish it. Damn cancer. Damn it! Damn it! He thought bitterly through the tears. Matt took a deep breath, wiped his eyes and returned
to the lving room, where Miranda was still sitting, looking confused and sad at
the same time.
"Dad," she said shakily. "Why didn't
you tell me about her before?"
"I guess it was the pain. I didn't want to relive all the pain I went
through when she died."
"You could have told me." She said,
her voice no longer shaky. "I heard this quote on Oprah once. Pain is
inevitable; suffering is optional. You've
been letting yourself suffer. Suffer with
the pain of carrying her inside all your life since she died. Open up.
You can talk to me. I'll be seventeen
in June, Dad. You can talk to me about
things like this."
"Thank you Miranda. There's something I want you to have." He got
up, went back to the closet, and picked up a picture in a gold frame. It was his favorite picture of Sora. It had been taken on the ir prom night when
they were doing singles. She was wearing
a crimson silk gown with spaghetti straps and looked absolutely beautiful. He walked back to the living room and handed
the picture to Miranda.
"That picture was taken on our prom
night. She was about your age when that
was taken."
"Thank you, Dad. I'm glad I know who Sora is now. You don't have to hide her from me any more."
The End
A/N-The poem is
what I could remember of the one part of the Rugrats Mother's Day special. The quote is from The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara
Kingsolver.
A
Dedication: To all those who have lost their lives or a loved one to cancer. We just had a student die at my school who
was in 6th grade. It turns
out she died of a brain tumor. This story
is also dedicated to her. Her name was
Hannah Miller.
