Kayla and Her Many Secrets

It was the day after Thanksgiving, and I was over to my sister's house spending some time with her and her family. While there, my 5-year-old niece and I decided to have a tea party upstairs in her playroom. She was dressed in her favorite pink princess costume, and I wore a pink, long-sleeve cashmere dress with one of her silver toy crowns sitting on the top of my head. As for party guests, we had 3 of her favorite dolls in attendance sitting around the table: Molly Cabbage Patch, Henry the Tiger, and Gabby Baby Alive. The party was going great, and we were all having the time of our lives drinking invisible tea and chatting with each other when Kayla, my niece, asked me out the blue, “Auntie, can you keep a secret?”

The way she asked me that question with such seriousness immediately made me feel a bit concerned. I started thinking What is this little girl about to tell me? She’s only 5. What secret could she possibly be holding?

Then I started thinking Oh Lord, don’t let her tell me nothing bad. I won’t be able to handle it if someone has hurt her in some way.

She then said “Auntie, I know who Santa Claus is.”

Whew! I thought to myself. Now that type of secret, I can handle.

I said to her, “Really? Who is Santa Claus?”

“Ken”.

“Who?”, I said looking bewildered.

She then frowned up at me as if I was slow or something and as if I should already know the answer.

She shouted, “Ken!” and then held up her Ken doll. I laughed so hard. She got me with that one. I asked, “Kayla, why do you think that Ken is Santa Claus?”

“Because last year I told him everything that I wanted for Christmas, and I got it! I wrote him a letter and left it on the kitchen table in his house. See!”. She then pointed to her pink Barbie dollhouse and got up out of her seat to show me exactly where she left her letter. “I am going to write him one this year too.”, she said.

Kids can be so innocent and cute sometimes. Christmas was only a month away, and she was going to make sure that Santa (Ken) knew what she wanted. I swear she’s super smart to be a 5-year-old. She came back and sat down drinking some more invisible tea and said, “Susie isn’t going to get anything this year. She’s been bad.”

Okay here we go again. I have to ask her questions like I’m a police detective just to get the full story.

I asked, “Who’s Susie, and what did she do?”

“Susie took my pencil the other day and wouldn’t give it back to me AND she also hit Carrie on the arm with a ruler. She got into trouble, and Santa doesn’t give you presents if you are bad.”

Once again, she had me laughing. Susie, I took it, was her classmate, and my niece was like the preschool gossiper telling me everything. I had to laugh at myself too because I was sitting there eagerly waiting to hear the rest of the latest news.

Kayla then said “Tyler’s been bad too. He’s not going to get anything from Santa either.”

“Now why Tyler? What has your brother done?”, I asked.

She stopped, put down her teacup, and looked at me with her big, brown eyes wide open and her head tilted to the side “Auntie, do I have to tell you everything?” I laughed. This little niece of mine is going to be a character when she grows up.

I said to her “Yes, you do! Now, tell me, what did he do?”

She smirked and then said, “He got a kid.” At first, I was surprised but then I smiled. My nephew, Tyler, who is 15, had just adopted a baby German Shepherd about 2 weeks prior. The dog was already the love of his life. So, I figured she must be talking about his dog.

I told her “Sammie isn’t a kid. Kayla, he’s a dog. Even though some people do sometimes treat their dogs like their own kids.”

She laughed and said, “I know he’s a dog, 'silly'.” That must have tickled her funny bone because she leaned straight back in her chair and laughed hysterically for a few seconds.

She then sat back up straight. I told her “I think you are a dog.” She giggled some more and then said to me “No, you are a dog!" We both laughed and continued to play teatime and dolls until my sis came and grabbed me. I got up and left, and my niece continued to stay there and play.

I walked downstairs and into the kitchen with my sis. I told her all about my date the night before. “Sis, Alex took me to a live jazz concert last night at that popular jazz club downtown, C-Notes. It was nice! I really enjoyed it!”

“Cool! Sounds like you all had a good time!”

“Yes. We did! We have a date tomorrow night too…..pause.…So, what’s been up with you? I already got an earful from Kayla about her life.”

“What? That little girl is always talking about something. What did she tell you now?”

“She told me all about how her Ken doll is actually Santa Claus and how Tyler and Susie, another little girl at her school, are not going to get anything for Christmas because they both have been bad this year.”

“What?” my sis laughed. “That child of mine.”

“Right? She almost gave me a heart attack when she said Tyler has a kid. Then I thought about it and told her Sammie was a dog, not a kid. Do you know she called me ‘silly’?”

My sis said “What?

“Right! That’s what I said. What in the world?”

I continued laughing but noticed that my sis had stopped. She looked at me and said “She must have heard us talking the other day and picked up part of the conversation. Your little niece is super smart. Well, Christine, yes Tyler IS going to have a baby. We found out yesterday. He got his girlfriend pregnant.”

I almost choked on the apple I was eating. “What? Get out of here! Tyler’s only 15 and ain’t ready for no baby. He still wet behind the ears.”

“I know right. When him and his girlfriend, Cameron, told us, I was so angry. Louis had to calm me down. We told them we were not happy and that they are too young to have a baby. We also said that even though we were disappointed that we would be here for them with whatever decision they make.”

I got up and hugged my sis. She started crying. As parents, you always want the best for your kids but they’re human like everyone else. They make mistakes too.

It was at that moment my niece came sashaying into the kitchen. She is 5 but already has a model walk that is better than half of the adult models you see on TV to-date. I told my sis that we would talk more later about Tyler. I then turned around, picked up my niece, and sat her up on the kitchen counter’s bar stool. She said “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

Her Mom said, “Kayla, you just ate about an hour ago. Let me get you some fruit to snack on.”

I asked Kayla, “What are you up to now Miss Lady? You have more to tell me?”

She leaned in and said “Yes.” Honestly, I didn’t even know why I asked because I didn’t want to know anything else. I was still trying to process the information about Tyler and his baby to be.

She said “Paw Paw Buddy said you are going to be just fine. The right one will come when it’s time.”

She then started eating her apple slices as if what she just said was normal.

I said, “Excuse me.” Her Mom and I stopped what we were doing.

She said “Paw Paw Buddy is here and said it’s going to be okay. He says he loves you too.”

Wait a minute. How in the world? Where was this coming from? I thought to myself. Paw Paw Buddy was my Dad. We called him Buddy because everybody considered him their friend. He was loved by all that he met and didn’t have any enemies. As for Kayla, she was born after he had died. She never met him, so it was shocking to hear her speak of him now.

“Kayla, what are you talking about?”, her Mom asked. “And what do you mean he’s here?”

“Mommy he’s standing right next to you.”

My sis said “What?” and looked over to her left. She moved a little closer to me as if she really believed that our Dad was standing right next to her. She asked Kayla, “What does he look like?” I thought this was a great question so we could see if Kayla was really telling the truth or not.

Without any hesitation, she answered “He’s tall and has on blue overalls with a white T-shirt, red socks, and brown boots.”

Okay now this is creepy. She got the outfit that he used to wear all the time down to a ‘T’. My sis looked at me. I looked at her. She looked at me. I looked at her. We were in complete silence.

Then suddenly, Louis, my sis’ husband, came out from around the corner laughing hysterically. It was at this moment I realized that Kayla and him has the exact same laugh. Like father, like daughter in that department. My sis and I looked at him and together asked in unison, “What’s so funny?”

He yelled “Gotcha.”

We said “What!” He continued, “It’s a joke. I set Kayla up to come down here and to say that she see Buddy.” My sis yelled at him “That is not funny Louis. Why would you do that?”

He said, “Cause ya’ll talk and gossip way too much. Ya’ll even got my baby doing it.”

I couldn’t help but to laugh. He was right. That Kayla be having you going with her news. We all laughed and talked for a few more minutes and then left and went into their den to watch some TV. The final score that day

Kayla: 1

The adults: 0

It was clear that Kayla had won the battle. Being the adults, we learned an important lesson; that we must watch what we say and what we do around kids because kids, especially ones like Kayla, PICK UP EVERYTHING!