"Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work"
Rita Mae Brown
Sara and Sadie began to search the kitchen. Even though they had gone grocery shopping with Catherine and Lindsey, neither of them could decide on what to eat. Finally they decided on peanut butter and jelly. As Sara handed Sadie a sandwich, Sara's phone began to ring.
"Sidle"
"Hey Sara, it's Greg, is it still ok if I stop by before shift?"
"Yeah sure, come on by." Sara replied. She had almost forgotten Greg mentioned he wanted to stop by but she was pleased knowing Greg was always true to his word. Quirky and strange but true to his word.
Sadie helped clean up the dishes they had used for the peanut butter and jelly. Sara was amazed at how proficient Sadie was at cleaning. Sara didn't know a whole lot about kids, but she knew 5-year-olds shouldn't know how to clean so well. A knock on the door interrupted Sara's thoughts. Sara walked over to open the door and was surprised to feel Sadie hide behind her legs.
"Hey guys! I brought a pizza! I hope you guys are hungry! And I brought over one of my DVD's, I thought Sadie might enjoy it." Greg came bounding through the door.
"Is it appropriate?" Knowing Greg's taste in music, Sara couldn't help but be slightly scared. "We just had some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I can grab you a plate." Sara motioned for Greg to set the pizza on the table. She noticed that Sadie had come out from behind her legs to stand idly next to Greg. But it wasn't Greg that Sadie seemed interested in, as much as it was the pizza.
"Hey Sadie, are you still hungry? Do you want some pizza?" Sara asked. The little girl looked at her slightly scared. "It's ok to have some pizza if you're still hungry."
"But… but you already gave me food. It's bad to want more. I don't want to be punished." Sadie spoke just loud enough for Sara and Greg to hear. Sara and Greg looked at each other stunned. The little girl was very much underweight, and they were becoming painfully aware of why.
"Sadie, kiddo, it's ok to be hungry. I've got lots of food here. If you're hungry, let me know and I'll make you something. I promise." Sara crouched down and gave the girl a hug trying to comfort her. "How about I get you a plate so you and Greg can dig into that pizza." The little girl nodded and climbed back into her seat at the table. Greg just stood there, pizza in hand, shocked from hearing the little girl speak, and what she said, but also shocked to see Sara willingly comfort the girl.
As Sara set three plates on the table, Greg helped her dish out a piece of pizza to each of them. Sara and Greg joined Sadie sitting at the table.
"Hey Sadie, I almost forgot, I brought one of my DVD's for you. I thought you might enjoy it." Greg handed the little girl a blue box. "It's 'Finding Nemo' and it's one of my favorites! Maybe you and Sara can watch it later." Sadie looked back at Greg and gave him a smile with a mouth full of pizza.
Sara nervously looked over at the DVD. It looked like a cartoon and harmless, but she was still a little weary. Greg just smiled and nodded at Sara, trying to relax her nerves.
Soon the pizza was long gone, and the conversation was starting to lull. Greg checked his watch and noticed that he still had an hour till he had to be at the lab. Not wanting to start watching the movie and half way through having to leave, Greg suggested they go a park.
"That sounds fun, but where is there one?" Sara asked. She had lived in Vegas for years, but didn't know much of the area other than what she saw at crime scenes.
"There's one on the way to the lab. Nice, it's real big with a playground and soccer fields. I can take my car, and you can take yours and I'll just head out when I need to be back at the lab."
Sara looked at Greg for a moment with slight confusion, "There's a park on the way to the lab? I never noticed." Greg just laughed.
Sara followed Greg to the park. She had been surprised that the little dirt road about two miles from her apartment led into such a nice place. Kids were playing soccer on the numerous fields, and there was a large playground that catered to kids of all ages. Sara saw families with kids in every direction.
More excited than any child there, was Greg. He was practically jumping up in down waiting for Sara to struggle with the booster seat so that he could go 'play'. Sara just laughed and followed Sadie and Greg as they ran to the playground. Sara couldn't remember the last time she had gone down a slide at a playground, but she did it numerous times tiring out at first to please Sadie and Greg, but eventually it was all on her own free will. Sara went over to sit on the swings to sit and relax. A few minuets later a woman about the same age as Sara sat down next to her. The women had on a bright blue sweatshirt that said 'Soccer Mom- And proud of it!' Sara tried not to meet eyes with the woman. She had heard stories about "Soccer Moms" and didn't want to find out. The woman wasn't so observant and willingly introduced herself.
"Hi, I'm Debbie! Matty and Johnny are mine." The woman said as if Sara would know whom she was talking about. "You must be new to the area, I haven't see you around, and with both my boys playing on the travel team, we're here practically every day!" Sara just nodded with a forced smile.
Sadie came rushing over dragging Greg. "Did you see me? I made it all the way across the monkey bars!" Sadie beamed at Sara. Sadie, noticing the lady staring at her and Sara, let go of Greg's hand and rushed over to Sara. Sara picked up Sadie and held her protectively in her lap.
"Wow, you daughter looks so much like your wife!" Debbie exclaimed. Both Greg's and Sara's faces mirrored a mixture of shock and horror. Debbie missed this as she got off the swing yelling.
"Matthew Jacob, stop hitting your brother right now! You have till the count of three! 1… I'm not kidding mister…… 2." Debbie looked over at Sara and Greg whom were still stunned, "Well I'll see you guys around, you should think about getting your daughter in to soccer." Debbie ran off shouting fractions to her son in attempts to get him to behave.
"Umm, well, yeah, I should probably be getting to the lab." Greg mumbled afraid to look Sara in the face.
"Yeah, we should probably get home too." Sara mumbled a reply. They walked out to their respective cars and Sara turned to Greg. "This was really fun, well most of it," Greg smirked. "Maybe we could do it again sometime, there's got to be other parks in this town, right?"
Greg thoroughly picked up on Sara's worry, but had also seen how fun the all had, had so he willingly agreed.
"Thanks for the pizza, and the movie, and the park idea. Have fun at work." Sara said.
"Bye Greg!" Sadie waved as Sara was buckling her into the booster seat. Sara was finally starting to get a hang of the booster seat and was silently proud of herself.
As they walked back into the apartment, Sadie asked.
"Can we watch the movie?"
Sara was still a little worried about the movie, but figured she'd give it a chance. "Why don't we put on our pajamas and then watch the movie." Sadie agreed and marveled at the new pajamas that Sara had bought her that morning. Sara put the movie in and sat back down on the couch. Sadie sat down and snuggled right up to Sara. Sara put her arm around Sadie as they began to watch the movie. Less than an hour into the movie, both were asleep cuddled together on the couch.
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