An ABC lesson.

Chapter 1
A lesson in ABC

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Chapter Description: A chance meeting in the mall leads to a dream fulfilled. (Anyway, it didn't do me any harm to have a Chinese Mom!)

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The mall was overflowing with people, and I had chosen just the wrong time to rent a tux for my sister’s wedding. I was running late and it seemed a good idea at the time to grab a bit eo eat at the food court. The lines were enormous, some reaching right into the central walkway of the mall. Which to choose? Maybe the shorter of the long lines was for Panda Express, so I joined it. The frantic serving crew were doing a fine job of loading trays faster than anyone. A moment after I joined the line, a stroller came up behind me.

The woman pushing it was a well-to-do looking Asian with wide-set big almond eyes from a perfect light olive complexion and a mane of blue-black hair to her shoulders. She was of middle hight, a little rounded and smiled easily. She wore a sleeveless pinafore blue denim full-length dress with a line of buttons all the way up the front, over a bright yellow long-sleeved blouse. A deep-golden chain held a small jade from her neck and an expensive light green jade bacelet rode on the left wrist. This was a very attractive Mom in her late twenties. The young man, maybe two, was in a quality stroller. He had a matching blue denim romper, yellow tee, white socks, and his dark button eyes sparkled from under a powder-blue wool hat.

"Hi!" said the youngster.

"Hi!" I said, with a smile to his proud Mom. "Fine young man you have."

"Yes, "she said, "I’m very proud of him."

"Play?" said the boy.

"How old is he?" I asked.

"Coming up to eighteen months, but good for his age." The line moved at a snails pace. We slowly shuffled forward.

"Play?" tried the persistent young man again. He was awful cute and it was a great temptation, but I really didn’t know the family at all.

"I’d like to play, but perhaps you need more than an another uncle?

"He doesn’t have anyone, just Mom." Mom explained.

"Surely Dad plays with him?" I suggested.

"His dad went to China at the beginning of the SARS outbreak and died. So that is why we are two this morning."

"I am sorry. I had no idea..."I tried to mend the harm.

"No need to be sorry. It is time past and I have a good feeling he will have a playmate soon," Mom seemed sure.

"Excuse me," I said, "Might I know your names? I’m Lenny."

"This is Peter and I’m Xiao-Hua, but most Americans call me Penny."

"I’m delighted to meet you." It was no lie. Penny was enchanting, and young Peter was quite the character.

"Next!" came the summons to place my order.

"Next!" called Penny to choose. She chose quickly and then turned to me and asked, "Would you join us. I usually choose a quiet table behind the evergreen tree, near the restroom for Peter. It’s a special day so I’ll treat you!"

"You are very kind. This has quite cheered my day."

Penny then placed Peter one side of her and me the other.

"You are so kind. I almost feel like Peter’s twin."

"I’m so happy you joined us today," she said. "I think you will be happy too. It’s even better that you feel like his twin. I was always hoping to meet someone who said that."

We ate and talked and Peter skilfully applied a good part of his meal to his face and bib, depite Penny’s best efforts. She wanted to know if I was married and what I did for a living, and then announced that I felt like her family already. Peter thought so too. It was a tempting proposition; she was a beautiful and cultured Mom who seemed on the lookout. I should be careful.

Nearly at the end of the meal, I felt uncomfortable, like sliding from my chair, and then my insides felt unsure. A chill set in.

"I don’t feel so good." I mumbled, addding, "I feel cold and different."

"Here," Penny slipped a white fleece hoodie from her bag, and had it all zipped up on me. "That’ll feel better. Now stand up and let’s take a look at you."

"It’s OK, Sweetheart." she said.

"Sweetheart?" I enquired.

"Of course! You’re Peter’s twin!" she explained with a grin.

"Thank you, but I’m a little big for him, don’t you think?" I said with a chuckle.

"Oh no. You’ll do fine. You are nearly finished, and then you’ll be perfect!"

The white hoodie hung like a dress over my outsize tee.

"Finished?" I wanted to know, but Penny had already loaded Peter into the stroller, slung the big bag onto it and was towing me towards the restroom. As we went round the tree, my pants fell around my ankles and I stepped out of my shoes. Nothing felt the right size suddenly.

Penny calmly gathered up pants and shoes and socks and put them in her bag, putting some small socks of hers on my feet. She next took a hairbrush and mirror from the bag, and brushed my hair.

"Hurry up Sweetheart. We don’t want a youngster with no pants hanging round the mall." Peter thought the notion of no pants hilariously funny. The options were to stay put in increasing states of undress and embarrassment or go with Penny.

In the Women’s restroom -I’d never seen the inside of the Girls Room before- Penny hurried us into a big Disabled cubicle.

"Sit." she said with an encouraging smile.

"I stand." I said.

"Girls sit." she said definitively.

"But I’m a.."

"Girl." she completed, with a satisfied smile

The strange conversation didn’t go any further as a torrent of material released from my troubled insides. More and more; with each successive instalment it appeared that I shrank some more. It was warming work sitting and passing so much of my substance into the water. Mercifully the condition eased up and I began to feel a chill.

"Look." said Peter. "Like me now!"

The process took a minute or two more to cease completely. The Penny wrapped her hoodie sweatshirt around me and took us outside.

I don’t remember the last time I was on a changing table but this time was short indeed. A quick and thorough clean, powder and diaper, was followed by a Peter’s yellow tee, matching romper and a pink hat like his. Peter was changed next and just as fast, and we were on our way in the mall. Peter sat in the stroller, and I sat on Penny’s hip.

The next stop was Babies R Us, where Penny took several items from racks and held them to me for size, selecting some and putting back others. We went to a fitting room, and in a jiffy I’d lost Peter’s shirt and a long tee was over the head and arms in, instead. The surprise came to find that a few fasteners up between the legs and I was securely in a yellow onesie, with a romper like Peter’s over it. The outfit was topped off with a hat like Peter, but pink, white socks and red shoes. Peter said he thought it all looked very good. He was in an identical outfit I was too sure I had adjusted to being snapped in over a diaper and then buttoned into a pink denim romper. Anyway Peter and I played while the adults exclaimed,

"Aren’t they just adorable!" and "She’s the cutest little button ever!"

"What’s her name?"

"Lindy", said Penny, "twins, nearly eighteen months."

A two-seater umbrella stroller was selected and we were soon both sitting side by side, identically dressed in our blue and pink denim rompers and yellow tees.

The bill was paid, little blue and pink ring pacifiers were slipped in, and we were off to the mall again. Riding in the stroller was like a fun ride, but you have to stay in until you arrive. Peter seemed excited to have a companion; then he went to sleep.

Time to go home, so we all went through the mall, to the parking lot, past the food court, where a tux package still lay on a table. Nobody cared.

We were strapped into an enormous white Escalade and Mom drove us to a neat house in the suburbs.

"Welcome home, little Lindy" she said and gave a hug. It felt so good.

We lost our shoes and the rug felt comforting. Walking was difficult now, but the art seemed to be to hold onto something and not to get distracted,

"A long day!" Penny proclaimed and swung me up to lie in her lap. She looked thoughtful for a moment and then said,

"I expect you’ve been dreaming of this..", and unbuttoned her blouse. Her gentle touch, the warm breast and then the flow of warm fragrant milk... She was right, this felt all soo good!

Swiftly a clean, a change and then into a warm sleeper. Lying in my pink sleeper, beside Peter in blue, I looked up one last time into those big beautiful eyes..

"Tomorrow is a new day, and yesterday will have gone forever. While I was trying to ponder this, her lullaby became a stream of unintelligible soothing sounds, making no sense of words, as a became more and more sleepy.

"I love you, little ones.." and a tear rolled down her cheek.

 

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