New Words

“Daddy! Daddy! Come quick! Look what I found! What kind of bug is this?!” he squealed as he ran towards his father, insect in hand. However, with a quick misstep at the foot of the stairs, the boy fell forward with a loud “oof!” His hands that held the insect close by was now flat against the floors. He had caught himself from smashing his face onto the hard wood, but he had lost the bug in the process. Tears started to well in his eyes as he stared at the squashed bug. He was so proud to have caught it, and now he couldn’t even show his father. He just wanted to learn about the bug.

The tall man had gotten up from his desk and walked over at the sound of the minor fall and picked up the small child still splayed out on the floor.

“Buddy, what happened?” he asked as he rested the child against his hip, checking for any injuries.

“The bug… I caught it…but…I don’t know what bug it is…and..” the child started but then he glanced at his hands. Tears began to pour out as his wail echoed through the large house. The man let him cry for a moment before his eyes fell onto the clock. His eyes widened and carried the boy towards his pastel green and blue room.

“Felix, hush now,” the man said to the child as he brushed the remnants of the insect off his small hands. “We have to get ready quickly. We see Mommy soon, remember? We’ve been waiting for this day.” At the mention of her, the eyes of the child lit up.

“Mommy! We go see Mommy now!” he pipped cheerfully.

“That’s right. So, let’s go get changed now. You get to wear this fancy suit today. It’s a very formal event, my son,” the father continued.

“What does ‘formal’ mean?” Felix asked, his small eyebrow raising and his head tilting in curiosity.

“It means something very proper…we have to behave our very best,” he explained. Felix only continued to stare questioningly at his father, who sighed and shook his head. “Let’s get that suit on.”

After the long struggle of getting ready, Felix was pulled out the door, guided by the hand of his father. He stumbled past the flower garden his mother worked on day after day. A smile swept across his face as he remembered that he was going to see her once more.

Before he knew it, Felix was being lifted into his car seat and buckled in. His father tossed in his shoes haphazardly before closing the car door and rushing to jump into the driver’s seat, tie swinging back and forth as he moved. “Daddy what does buckle mean? You say it every time we go in the vroom vroom.”

“It means to put together…or well…in this case it means to put on your seat-belt.”

“What’s a seat-belt?”

“The thing that’s holding you to your seat,” he replied calmly. Today is a day he wouldn’t get angry for the questions.

As they moved, Felix watched the outside world whoosh by. At a stop light, he spotted some more flowers and smiled. He suddenly thought about what his mother told him before. About a special day where Mommy and Daddy will have a party and even kiss! He chuckled to himself at the idea. With his eyes wandering away from the window, he turned to his father.

“Daddy,” he called out.

“Yes?”

“Are we going to a webings?”

“A what?”

“Webings! Mommy said it’s a party where you kiss!”

“What ar- do you mean wedding?”

“Webings! Are you and Mommy going to kiss?!”

“Bud it’s ‘wedding’”

“Webings webings! Webbings? Wedins? Weeeeeedins!” he screeched with joy.

His father let out a small sigh and smiled. Felix had always been stubborn but he’s bright and learns fast. As he watched his son in his rear-view mirror, he noticed the way his eyes glistened and was full of life.

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK

Immediately his feet hit the brakes the car screeched to a halt as a large truck drove by at lightning speed. His heart raced and his palms filled with sweat. Looking back at Felix, he saw a doe-eyes boy staring back.

“Are you okay, Buddy?” his voice asked shakily. The boy broke out into a smile.

“Webings! We going to see Mommy!”

A sense of relief filled him. Cars behind him had begun honking at him but he couldn’t get his hands to move steadily. Taking a deep breath, he released the brake and continued their journey. That was too close for comfort.

Soon they pulled into a large building with many people walking in. Felix was carried down from the car and immediately he took to a sprint towards the crowd of family and friends. He had spotted his cousin not too far and had made a mad dash.

Felix watched the adults go up to his father and talk to him but his attention was easily taken back to the toy cars his cousin had handed him.

“So, then Mommy said that you have to share!” the other boy stated.

“What is ‘share’?” Felix asked.

The other boy was about to speak when suddenly someone called out for him. He watched him quickly get up and run towards the door.

“Felix,” his father called him from the other doorway. Dropping everything, Felix got up and ran towards him. “It’s time to go and see Mommy.”

“Yay! Where is Mommy?”

Without a reply from his father, he followed behind closely, with his small hand enveloped in the larger. Soon he was picked up and carried down a long hallway and past the endless rows of pews. When his father walked past all of them and out the door, he couldn’t help but ask.

“Where’s Mommy? You said we are going to see her. Why are we leaving?”

“Mommy is at another place. You will see her soon, I promise. Can you hold onto this flower? You can give it to Mommy when we get there,” his father promised, placing him carefully back into the car seat.

“What does ‘promise’ mean?” Felix questioned, taking hold of the pretty flower he was sure his mother will love. His father didn’t answer but that was okay. He was excited to see his mother!

The drive was much shorter this time. The endless green he saw from his window made him happy because it’s his favorite color—the same as his mothers.

They arrived in a field of green with patches of flowers here and there. “Mommy would love those flowers,” Felix whispered to himself. He was about to run off to grab some he spotted nearby but was held still by his father. Soon more and more people showed up, all holding flowers just like he was.

“We’re finally here,” Felix heard his father say quietly.

“We finally get to see Mommy!?” Felix exclaimed cheerfully. His father nodded.

“You’ve waited long enough. We will see her soon,” his father continued, his voice suddenly solemn.

They were guided to another part of the wide field and stood before a large hole in the ground.

Felix looked up at his father who now had tears in his eyes as he gazed into the Earth.

“Daddy? Daddy why are you sad?” he asked, tugging at the pants of his father. “We get to see Mommy now, remember?”

The desperate attempts to make his father happy just seemed to make him even more sad. He didn’t know why. Was he doing something wrong? Where’s Mommy?

His aunt suddenly came up next to his father and placed a hand on his shoulder. She whispered something to him, and his father fell to his knees.

Everything seemed to happen so fast. People were crying and looking into the hole. Carefully peeking in, Felix noticed a pretty white box in the center. People began tossing flowers in, startling him into stepping back just a tad. Cries could be heard left and right, but nothing made sense to him. Why was everyone sad? Why is Daddy crying? He hasn’t cried before. Where’s Mommy?

He watched some flowers hit the box and bounce off, tumbling down the side, falling deeper into the dark abyss. He wanted to save the flowers. His Mommy would love them because they are pretty. Remembering the flower in his own hands, he held onto them tight. Refusing to ever let them fall like the others. He would wait for Mommy to give them to her.

On that day, he learned a new word from his mother for the very last time.

Funeral

[ˈfyo͞on(ə)rəl]

Noun; the ceremonies honoring a dead person, typically involving burial or cremation

Synonyms: burial; burying; entombment