Can I Have a Banana?

My head throbbed, and I felt like banging it against the wall. But instead, I put it into my pillow.  Nasty, nasty headache.  I was trying to parent from my bed this particular afternoon, at least until the medication kicked in.

“Mum, can I have a banana?”  My 9-year-old daughter appeared at my bedside sometime later.  I think it was her dimpled smile that gave me the sudden lift.

“Give me the banana,” I said with a sparkle in my eye.

She hesitated.

“Just give it to me.”  I smiled then.

I put the banana up to my ear.

“Yep, yep.  Yes, she’s here.”  I looked up at my daughter.  “Yes, her dimple is still there I think.”

I paused, and put my hand on the banana where the mouthpiece would be on a phone.

“Smile for me. I just need to check.” I directed this at my daughter.

She was already smiling but then I saw her teeth.

“Muuuum.”

“Yep, the dimple is still there. Yep…”  I nodded.  “Yes, yes…right.”

I handed the banana back to my daughter and said, “Yes, it’s okay, you may have a banana.”

Sometimes you need to slice into a yuk afternoon with a bit of craziness. Yes?