Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
Poor
Jackie was sitting on the floor playing with the kids.
"Karlie Lou, don't wake your baby brother." Jackie told her as she noticed the little girl was patting Sloan's arm as he lay sleeping in his swing.
Karlie looked at Jackie and grinned mischievously at her.
"No no." Jackie told her with a shake of her head.
That one is a stinker Jackie thought to herself.
Karlie sat down and started coloring in her book, more like scribbling but she was getting a little better at staying in the lines.
Jasmine suddenly plopped down on Jackie's lap.
"Hi sweetheart." Jackie told her.
"Mommy, are we poor?" Jasmine asked her.
Jackie was taken aback for a moment.
"Kiddo do you even know what poor means?" Jackie asked her.
"Yeah, it means we have no monies." Jasmine said.
"That's right, that is what that means, and no sweetie, we aren't poor. Why would you think we were?" Jackie asked her.
"Abby asked me if we had no monies because our house is no big like her house, but its ok mommy because Abby said she still be my friend." Jasmine explained innocently.
Jackie loved the way Jasmine talked, it was so cute.
Jackie thought this conversation would come up sooner or later because where Jackie taught and now where Jasmine went to school was in a very wealthy neighborhood and most of the children at the school came from families that had more money then they knew what to do with.
Recently Jackie had held a play date at the Stokes' house and Abby who is in Jasmine's class had been one of the little girls that had come to the play date.
Jackie remembered one night when she herself was a little girl, right around Jasmine's age when she had awoken in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and she had overheard her parents discussing getting a new car, she remembered she heard her father mention a type of car and her mother had said we can't afford that, Jackie knew that meant that they didn't have the money but being a little girl Jackie didn't understand that just because her parents couldn't afford a certain type of car didn't mean that they were poor. Jackie was so terrified that her family didn't have any money that for the next three days at school Jackie went hungry at lunch because she didn't want to spend the lunch money her mother gave her. Finally after not eating for three days at school she went home and asked her mom if she could spend the lunch money and get lunch the next day at school because she was starving by the end of the day. Her mother was shocked to discover that she hadn't eaten lunch and she was more shocked of the reason Jackie gave her. Her mother had felt terrible, and she explained to her that they were not at all poor and she told her that she shouldn't worry about money because that wasn't something a little girl should worry about. She explained to Jackie that as a little girl her job was to go to school and have fun and from then on Jackie never again went hungry at school.
Even now as an adult Jackie remembered what she felt like worrying about her family being poor and feeling like she had to starve herself to save her money and she didn't want Jasmine to go through the same thing, especially when it wasn't even close to true.
Nick and Jackie were by no means rich, but they were doing just fine, in fact the couple had discussed recently moving to a bigger house, obviously they couldn't afford one in the neighborhood where she taught but they could afford to get a bigger and a little bit more pricey of a house but they ultimately decided against it because their house is where their kids were comfortable, it's the only house they'd ever known and thanks to the fact that they finished the attic before Karlie was born they had enough room for the new addition so moving was unnecessary.
Jasmine smiled as she got Jackie's lap, happy that they weren't poor. She got back to playing with her toys without a care in the world which as far as Jackie was concerned is how it is supposed to be!
The End!