Story Three: Terri's Happiness
The Things Kids Say
Terri walked into her home, hands full of shopping bags and luggage. Her daughter, Ashley, skipped ahead of her leaving the door open. She settled on the couch, which was located in the family room, with her Barbie doll in her hand and picked up the remote to turn the television on.
"Put the remote down," Terri said firmly. She closed the door that laid opened, with her elbow, and set the bags down next to the couch. She left the luggage by the door.
Ashley set the remote down on the coffee table that was in front of the couch. "But Mommy..." She threw the doll on a smaller couch that was adjacent to the one she was sitting on.
She held up her hand to stop the begging that came from her child's lips. "Homework?"
"It's all done," she said. "I promise; I did it all when I was waiting on you to pick me up from school." Ashley picked up a fashion magazine and thumbed through it in an uninterested manner. She knew how her mother was so she expected to be interrogated by her for the next five to ten minutes.
She decided to drop the subject. "Okay, I believe you," Terri said while digging through her shopping bags. "But, I thought you wanted the surprise that I got for you when I was out of town."
Ashley's jaded expression was awakened by her mother's remembrance of the surprise she possessed for her. "I almost forgot," she exclaimed. She bounced up and down on the couch anticipating what the gift was.
"I noticed," she said. She along with Ivory, Trish, and Lita went to the 2003 Divas photo shoot in Hawaii. Every time she went some where, she would bring home a gift for Ashley.
"So did you have fun?" Ashley asked. "The Hawaiian Islands are a very exotic place... the birds, the plants, the beach, the clothes, the boys..."
Terri looked at her daughter strangely. "You are ten years old. How would you know? And I'm mainly talking about 'the boys' part."
She clasped her hand over her mouth and giggled. "Well, I did stay with Dad the past week."
"Oh god," Terri said as she rolled her eyes. She left the bags on the floor and settled on the couch next to her daughter. "What did you guys do?"
She shrugged her shoulders and tried to not look into her mother's eyes.
"Ash?" she urged her to tell her the truth. "I knew I should have let you stay Stephanie." Despite the problems she was having with her husband, Hunter; they have always enjoyed Ashley's presence around their home.
"Actually... Dad did let me stay with Aunt Stephanie for a couple of hours," she confessed.
"What?" Terri said. She ruffled her blonde hair with her hand that was adorned with a bracelet.
Ashley nodded her head. "Yep, Aunt Stephanie dropped by the house and asked if she could take me out to lunch. Dad didn't care... so he let me go."
"Well," Terri said, "that was nice of him. I hope you thanked both of them."
She rolled her eyes. "You know I did."
Terri snickered at her child. "Steph told you about Hawaii?"
"Yeah, she told me about all the things that you and the others would be doing."
"Like what?" Terri probed. She wanted to know what things her friend filled her daughter's head with.
Ashley smiled slyly. She pulled at her blonde hair that was, at the moment, was in a pony tail. "Well... I want my surprise first."
Terri reached over the couch and picked up a small plastic bag that was on the floor. "Okay... I know you'll love this. When I first saw it, I thought of you." She pulled out a medium size necklace that was made out of dendrobium orchids, carnations, and plumerias which are native flowers of the Hawaiian Islands.
"Oooh," Ashley cooed. "Aunt Stephanie told me about this."
"She did?" Terri questioned. She straightened the necklace and put it over her daughter's head.
"Yep," she said. Ashley admired the colors and texture of the flowers. "And you know what she told me to ask you... when you put it on me?"
"No," Terri said with curiosity.
"How many times did you get a lay?" she asked with an innocent look. "Not lay... I meant laid."
Terri fell down on the floor and laughed. "The things kids say," she managed to say in between her laugher. "It's a lei... l-e-i. Not lay... l-a-y or laid, l-a-i-d."
"It sounds the same to me," Ashley said as she shrugged her shoulders up and down.
"Hmm," Terri said as her laugher decreased to a chuckle, "I guess it does."
"Mommy, what was so funny before?" Ashley asked. "What does it mean? Because when Aunt Stephanie told me to say it, but I didn't really understand why she wanted me to say it."
"Oh my," she said as she stopped laughing slowly, "don't even listen to Aunt Stephanie again... she's crazy."
"But Mommy..."