Difficult Questions
-
The Talk is a dreaded inevitability for all parents once a child reaches a certain age. However… that age is usually between 11 and 14.
"Papa, where do babies come from?"
Cherie was four-years-old.
I was at a loss. The guidebook Madame Christmas had provided as a spoof first birthday present had been aimed at teenagers, not toddlers. What was I to tell her? A lie? Certainly not the truth! I was just about to call her mother into the room when suddenly it hit me.
"Cherie, every baby comes from somewhere different."
Nice, Roy. Give the kid a vague end-of-story sort of answer and quickly change the subject—
"But where do I come from, daddy?"
—Or not…
What would Riza say??
"You were a gift, sweetie. A lovely gift, all nicely wrapped with a big pink bow!!" I exclaimed, maybe a little too quickly. Cherie seemed to take this in seriously.
"From who?" she asked and I baulked. Why was my child so intelligent? So inquisitive??
…Oh yeah, She was Riza's child too…
"From, ahh, from…"
"From Uncle Hughes, sweetie," came the angelic, clearly amused, voice of my wife and saviour as she entered the room. "Because Uncle Hughes knew that a baby was what we wanted more than anything in the world, even though we didn't."
Cherie seemed content with that, and I kissed Riza in relief as she sat down on the couch beside me. Thank God! There was a short silence then, as Cherie continued with her Maisy Mouse jigsaw puzzle, and just as I thought we'd won, she spoke again: "Daddy…?"
"Yes, Cherie?" I answered cautiously.
"Will you get me a baby for my birthday?"
Fin