My 8 year old cousin looks at my room with grave interest. It seems like she is making an evaluation. I watch her, waiting for her to pass judgement with.. I think the word I want to use here is trepidation. She is eight. She will not tactfully phrase her sentence, but tell me I live like a pig if that is what she thinks.
I spent the half the day cleaning and hiding things to make my room appropriately PG-13 in honour of this visit.
"Hmm." She looks at me and points at the wall where I have put all my post cards that friends sent me, stubs from train tickets and boarding passes, a picture of a dinosaur. "Who is that?". There is only one picture of a person on the wall. But stalling for time, I go,"Which one?". She points and looks at me calmly. My question is too stupid to even dignify with a response. There is, after all, only one picture of a person on the wall. "It's my friend," I say. And then, because that doesn't really explain anything, I continue.
Why would I have a picture of only one friend pinned up. I do have more than one friend. Why is the picture printed not on glossy photo paper but on what looks suspiciously like newsprint. Why am I taking so long to answer.
If she is old enough to be thinking these questions, she is probably old enough for the truth. And in this world we are living in, I cannot protect her from these truths. I sigh inside.
"She was a good friend of mine. She was killed in a terrorist attack."
I spent the half the day cleaning and hiding things to make my room appropriately PG-13 in honour of this visit.
"Hmm." She looks at me and points at the wall where I have put all my post cards that friends sent me, stubs from train tickets and boarding passes, a picture of a dinosaur. "Who is that?". There is only one picture of a person on the wall. But stalling for time, I go,"Which one?". She points and looks at me calmly. My question is too stupid to even dignify with a response. There is, after all, only one picture of a person on the wall. "It's my friend," I say. And then, because that doesn't really explain anything, I continue.
Why would I have a picture of only one friend pinned up. I do have more than one friend. Why is the picture printed not on glossy photo paper but on what looks suspiciously like newsprint. Why am I taking so long to answer.
If she is old enough to be thinking these questions, she is probably old enough for the truth. And in this world we are living in, I cannot protect her from these truths. I sigh inside.
"She was a good friend of mine. She was killed in a terrorist attack."
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