A Tiny Promise

“Cabin fever, that’s what this is”, thinks Jessie. She feels like little bugs will hundreds of tiny little legs are crawling up and down her skin. Her mind will not slow down, a little like a roller coaster rolling quickly from one thought and to another. Jessie likes roller coasters, but this is seriously messed up. The weather outside is a balmy forty-five degrees with the sun blazing away in the sky and she is having an awful time getting settled. Jess crawled out of bed that morning at 7:30 to have a fresh hot pot of coffee ready for her mom when she arrives home from the hospital. The strong aroma of the coffee is one of Jessies favorite morning scents. Then she crawls back into bed to slowly wake her little sister Jem. Jem is four and she is absolutely not a morning person at all. Jess has to get creative every morning and call in the tickle monster and the smoochy goons to wake her sister. Jem loved the smoochy goons, especially on her tiny tummy. This morning is no different than any other and when Jem is awake, she throws her arms around her sister and says; “I love you Jess”. Jess gives her a kiss on the forehead and says: “I love you too, little sis”. This happy, active, morning arrangement adds giggles and screeches to their special family sunrise activities. Sometimes the girl’s mom will even get in on the laughter with them.   

When both girls are up and dressed in jeans and sweaters, they have breakfast, family style, before Mom, yawning and stretching the stiffness from her shoulders, crawls into bed to get some sleep after working all night. Piling all of the dirty dishes into the dishwasher and turning it to the strongest, hottest cycle Jess can find, she pushes the go button and lets it run. She then leaves the dishes set until ready to put them away after supper. Once the kitchen is back in shape Jess vacuums the carpets throughout the rest of the house. This keeps the carpets clean so that Jem can play. While Jem builds palaces and fairytale lands with her large colorful Legos and barbie dolls, Jessie reads. The most awesome experiences of Jessies life are when she can let her imagination run free while reading a good book. The amazing lands she visits and the extraordinary people she introduces herself to, allow her to imagine herself as part of the complete story. Reading is something that Jess does just for herself and for two hours a day, adventure is all hers. 

On this day, however, Jess is having a tough time getting her mind to settle in order for her to hunker down and let the book take her where it will. It must be the weather she thinks, the sun is shining brightly in the sky and she can feel the strengthening warmth as it shines through the picture window sitting behind and above the back of the faded and worn sofa. She lets her mind wander and takes a cat nap in the sun as Jem plays on the floor in front of her.   

At two thirty Jess opens her eyes and realizes that it is her sisters nap time, so she reads a book about a rad little surfing turtle to Jem and then she tucks her little body into their shared bed to nap. Now is the time to rouse her sleeping mom and get her to eat a bite of lunch so that she can get ready to go to work. Jessies mom has a second job from three to six thirty at a shelter for abused women. She leaves directly from there to go to the hospital. Today Jessie realizes that mom is a little grumpy, so Jessie teases her, “Mom do I need to call in the smoochy goons to help?” she says. Mom just smiles and says; “Honey, I wouldn’t try that on me, because paybacks are not kind”.   

Jess watches as her mom puts on her uniform and gets ready to leave for the night. Watching her mom get ready is one of those occurrences' that Jessie thinks of as special. “Make sure that you lock the door after I go.” mom says. “Mom you know I always lock the door, right?” Jessie says. “I think that I want to spend some time outside this afternoon if that’s ok?” “For a short time, I just need to breath in the fresh air.”  “I will just walk around the house, get some sun and then come back in.” “That’s fine Jess” says her mom. “I think that the sun is showing us the promise of a gorgeous spring”. Then mom heads off to work. 

Jessie doesn’t leave, not with her little sister still napping in the bedroom they shared in the back of the little mobile home. Instead, she walks around and checks out the silly looking piles of snow that are half melted. In her mind the sun has created funny creatures that resemble some of the fantastical characters in some of the more imaginative of her books. She wanders through the area around their home and begins to imagine the things that she and Jem will do when summer arrives. Spring and then summer all seem so very far away. Jessie gets a feeling that it will never really get here so they can walk to the pool or start a small garden behind the house. As she is thinking and dreaming those very dreary thoughts, Jessie catches a glimpse of something bright yellow and green, right up next to the porch at the side of the mobile home. She steps up very close so she can see what it is, and there, almost buried in a patch of snow, is the tiniest little flower she has ever seen. It is very delicate and Jessie wonders how such a beautiful little plant can survive with the snow still sitting around. As she thinks about it, she realizes, that this perfect little yellow jewel is a promise from the earth that the spring that she is waiting for is much closer than she thinks.