Raising The Child
Flash/ Creative Nonfiction
Rodney had lived with his grandmother for as long as he could remember. His mother’s family had looked after him when he was a baby - so he was told - but he didn’t recall that time.
During his five years of life, Rodney remembered meeting his mother once, when she visited during the holidays last year. She had stayed for a few days, cooked foods that were strange to him, and then left again. She existed as a person on the periphery of his life. Rodney’s heart belonged to his grandmother, the woman who had raised him.
Rodney was better-acquainted with his father than his mother. His father visited four or five times every year, taking him out to eat pizza, going to the trampoline place, and getting haircuts together. Rodney missed his father after he left, and he was prone to getting into trouble in his kindergarten class for several weeks after his father’s visits.
Ever since he could remember, Rodney had heard his grandmother say, “They’ll have to come get him some time.” He hadn’t given much thought at first to who “they” might be. Rodney wasn’t the kind of child who spent much time thinking about adults’ conversation. Lately, he’d begun to pay more attention.
“She said she’d come get him, after she finished her nursing program,” his grandmother said. “Now she wants to get another degree. If you ask me, she has no interest in raising a child.”
“I can’t tell if they’re together,” his aunt said. “They’ve lived in different states for the past five years.”
“I wouldn’t mind if they came and got him,” Rodney’s grandmother said. “If I could be sure they wouldn’t send him over to his mother’s people. He wouldn’t even know the language. I know that would break him.”
Rodney couldn’t help paying attention to this part of the conversation.
Soon after, Rodney’s grandmother told him she had a surprise for him. His father was coming to visit, and Rodney would be leaving with him, going out of state to stay with his father for summer vacation. Rodney was too young to wonder whether he would return in time for first grade. It was enough to think about the summer.
Rodney’s grandmother sounded excited when she told him about their plan, but Rodney had mixed feelings. As always, he looked forward to seeing his father, but something felt different this time. He clung closer to his grandmother as summer approached, sensing that his grandmother had mixed feelings as well.
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