Names

Samson was growing up a small, fragile boy. He was just on the side of too short, a little too skinner and definitely a little more frail and breakable looking than the other kids his age. Diana knew that he wasn't being fed enough, but even with herself and Alex working full time there just never seemed to be enough after they tried to pay the bills. Diana was herself losing the ability to brush off other peoples' concerns with 'naturally thin' when she knew that looking too closely revealed her ribs.

Sammy was a very serious little boy, as well. Another thing she desperately wished she could change. He had to go through things other children his age didn't, after all. Not many of the kids at his school had their parents yelling and screaming every night: throwing things in fits of anger or hitting each other until one, usually Diana, screamed and sobbed. They didn't learn to count by helping their mum's count the small amount of money they had left for food after paying for their run down, broken apartment. But little Sammy was smart, oh so smart. Much smarter than his mother had been at this age, a tender 2, and he picked up on everything his mother simply wished he'd forget. He was already speaking very well structured sentences and Senor and Senora Michaels next door, who babysitted for her whenever she needed to work, chatted to him in Spanish so often he was starting to chatter back in kind. Diana tried so hard to nurture his mind but their situation didn't allow for much.

Diana was still the only one that had anything to do with the poor child, and she had been right, she did come to love him fiercely, as a mother should. His bright green eyes and mess of curly brown hair was endearing and when he gripped her legs and called 'mummy' as he tottered about on his little legs it made her heart leap with joy and made everything seem a little more worth it. He brought life into her otherwise grey world and every moment she spent with him made her heart a little lighter.

Today, they were at the park. Diana had a few hours break before she was due at her job at the diner and she always made sure to use what little time she had with Sammy. It wasn't fair, to him or to the Michaels, to not take him, not that she'd have it any other way. Sure, the extra sleep would have been lovely, but seeing her son's bright smile was better than any nap could ever feel. Originally, she'd felt uncomfortable being around him and everything he did seemed to frustrate her to the point of tears (Senora Michaels found her crying in the hallway one day with a crying Sammy next to her and rushed her into her own family's apartment to make her tea and feed her a little. She explained to her what Post-Natal Depression was and helped her through it. Sometimes Diana felt like the only reason Sammy and her were alive was because Senora Michaels found them that day. God knows Alex didn't notice anything). But now she smiled as she looked over to where Sammy was squatting and digging through the sand. Now, she couldn't imagine anything being different. She loved this little ball of sunshine more than anything in her bleak world and she would move heaven and earth for him.

She glanced over to where Sammy was running around after what looked to be a butterfly, its shining, green wings glowed as the sun hit it just right and Sammy was amazed. He was laughing and giggling as he chased after the insect, scrambling over logs and running around the little bushes in his was. Diana smiled as she pushed herself up from the park chair, sneaking over behind him and lifting him up into the air. Sammy squealed and laughed as Diana blew on his tummy and threw him upwards, catching his too-light body and spinning him around.

'Look a' the pwetty bu'erfly, Mama!' He grinned, his eyes shining as he looked up through his mop of curls.

Diana cuddled him close and turned to look at where the butterfly was now resting upon a flower, lazily drifting its wings open and shut. 'I saw! I think you wore that little butterfly out with all that zigging and zagging you were doing around here! It's amazing he didn't get caught! One day, I bet you'll be fast enough to catch him.'

Ziggy grinned, wrapping his small arms around her neck and rest his cheek on her collarbone. 'Ziggy zaggy…' he murmured as he started to doze.

'Yes, my little Ziggy,' Diana smiled gently as she pressed a feather-light kiss upon the top of his forehead and clutched him close, starting the walk home.

XOXOXOX

Alex frowned as he watched the brat running around. 'What the hell did you do with him at the park to get him so riled up?' he asked Diana angrily, glaring at the small child rushing around their too small apartment.

'Ziggy zaggy!' Sammy proclaimed, laughing as he ran around the small space.

'Little Ziggy here was chasing butterflies, weren't you, darling boy?' Diana grinned from the small kitchenette as she watched him enjoying himself.

'He better not break anything, or it's on your head.' Alex warned as Diana looked at him sideways and nodded carefully as he left for the nightshift.

'Mama! Mama! Up!' Ziggy called as he tugged on her pants.

'What is it, baby?' Diana asked as she pulled him up and helped him swing around. 'You're going to have to piggy back, Mummy has to do some work.'

Sammy nodded solemnly, 'Why call Ziggy?' he asked , worrying his lip.

'Why did I call you Ziggy?' Diana clarified, feeling him nod against her neck as he peered over to watch her making the watery soup. 'Well, when someone loves you very much, sometimes they take a thing you do or a thing you remind them of…or even just shorten your real name, and they call you by it instead of your real name! Like how I sometimes call you Sammy, remember? It's called a nickname, baby.'

Sammy frowned a little, 'Wha' abou' the names Daddy calls you? Are they nicknames?'

Diana flinched slightly at the reminder of the man, 'No, definitely not, and I never want to hear you use the kind of language your father uses, ever. Understand?'

Sammy nodded solemnly. 'So, because I wan weally weally fast, you decided tha' a good name would be Ziggy? Because I ziggy zaggy all the time.'

Diana held back a laugh, 'Yes! The best thing about a nickname, is that you can keep it between two people, or a small group of people, or you can have everybody call you it, if you prefer it to your real name.'

'So, if I don' weally like Samson, I can get people t' call me Ziggy instead?' He questioned. Diana closed her eyes and a sad expression crossed her face as she remembered that each time Alex came home drunk or just angry he always screamed at Sammy using his full name.

'Exactly! See, you got that rather quick. You're one very smart man, little Ziggy.' Diana twisted her neck and kissed his cheek as he giggled and cuddled closer.

'Can you always call me Ziggy, mama?' He asked quietly.

'If that's what you want, baby. I'll call you whatever you want me too.'

'I'd really like tha'.' He whispered.

'Well then, Ziggy, while I'm cooking, how about you go practice your letters? Just like I showed you, sweetie.' She squatted a little so he could jump to the floor and watched as he ran off to get the battered notebook she'd filled with the letters of the alphabet for him to trace and copy.

Ziggy Gardener did have a bit more of a ring to it anyway, she thought as she smiled gently, watching him poke out his tongue as he traced over the letters ever so carefully with a stub of a pencil.