Becky, I love Becky and I can love you, if you give me a chance.”
Charlotte felt a little weird talking to the empty spaces of Becky's room, but she had to finish what she came to say, or she may never get the nerve to do it again.
“You’re welcome here for as long as you’d like to stay and I want you to feel at home. So, Becky and I brought you a present,” she said, holding out the doll and placing it on the window sill. “There’s only one thing that I ask of you, and that’s for you to stop with the mischief and tricks.”
Unsure of what else to say or whether she was making a fool of herself, Charlotte finished by wishing Samantha a good night.
“Mommy, Mommy!!” Becky hollered with excitement as she ran into her mother’s room the next morning. “Samantha loved her doll. And she says she’s sorry for the scrape on your head and the broken perfume.”
For the next few weeks it was pretty quiet around the McDougall Estate. Charlotte finished the unpacking and started the long task of renovating the old house. Becky still talked about her friend Samantha, but there was no more crying late into the night and no more pranks or mischief.
Becky’s fifth birthday was coming up and because she was new to the community she hadn’t been around long enough to make friends with the neighbourhood kids. Charlotte suggested that they have a very special party to celebrate both Becky’s and Samantha’s birthdays. Becky jumped at the idea and was anxious to start setting up decorations. Together they blew up balloons and hung them from the walls and ceiling. Above the door, they hung a large colourful sign that read, ‘Happy Birthday Becky and Samantha!’
The party was a hit with Becky and she surprised Charlotte when she ran to her room and returned with a small wrapped gift for Samantha. Becky made a show of opening that present, which was a small box filled with many of Becky’s favourite hair ribbons and barrettes. After Becky opened her own presents, Charlotte brought out a cake that had both Becky’s and Samantha’s names printed on it in blue icing. With their bellies full of cake, Charlotte took Becky up to bed and tucked her in with the new doll that she had received for her birthday.
“That was the best party ever,” Becky exclaimed.
“I’m glad you had fun, now to bed with you. And no playing around tonight,”
“Goodnight Birthday Girls,” Charlotte said.
“See you later Alligator.”
“In a while Crocodile.”
A couple of nights after the party, Charlotte woke to the sound of crying coming from Becky’s room. She sat up in bed anticipating that it would be Samantha again, but this time she recognized Becky’s distinctive cry. She rushed to see what was causing the commotion and found the door to Becky’s room closed. Charlotte was about to burst through the door into Becky’s room when she heard soft talking on the other side. At first Charlotte had difficulty distinguishing the softly spoken words. Eventually she realized that the only voice she heard was that of her daughter.
“See you later alligator,” she heard Becky say.
Then after a short pause she heard Becky’s voice again. “I’m going to miss you, Samantha, and I think Mommy’s going to miss you too. She says she really likes you.”
Charlotte entered the room to find Becky sitting on her bed crying softly. “What’s wrong, Honey?”
“Mommy,” Becky said, jumping out of bed and running to hug her mother. “Samantha says that it’s time for her to leave.”
“I’m sure she’ll be back, Honey,” Charlotte said encouragingly.
“No, Mommy,” Becky said between sobs. “She said she wasn’t sad anymore and she’s going to the other place. She really liked her party and she said she loves you for having it for her. She thinks I’m pretty lucky to have a mommy like you.”
“Well, I’m pretty lucky to have a special daughter like you, and a special friend like Samantha.”
“Mommy, what did she mean by the other place?”
Charlotte had to think about this for a minute before answering. “Samantha had a very sad life and now it’s time for her to go to a place where she will always be happy. It will be very nice there. I wouldn’t worry about her too much.”
“I’m not. It’s just that I’m really going to miss her.”
“Well tomorrow we’ll go say a special goodbye,” Charlotte suggested. “But for now you have to go to bed. Do you think you want to sleep with me tonight?”
“That would be nice!” Becky said, taking her mother’s hand.
Morning came way too soon after being up so late. With Becky’s help, Charlotte made a big breakfast of pancakes and bacon before heading out to a local flower shop where they picked out a bright bundle of flowers. Next, Charlotte took a chance on the location of Samantha’s grave and drove to the cemetery that backed onto the McDougall Estate. Immediately after entering the cemetery’s wrought iron gates, Charlotte saw the maintenance shed with a caretaker milling around outside. The caretaker was all too familiar with the graves and was easily able to point out Samantha’s small grave site.
Hand in hand, Charlotte and Becky walked through the freshly fallen leaves to the area pointed out by the caretaker. In a row of tiny graves, Samantha’s was the second headstone that they looked at, and Charlotte read aloud the inscription for her daughter.
Lost Innocence
Here Lies a Child of God
Samantha McDougall
September 27, 1936 - September 25, 1941
They stood facing the headstone for some time before Becky laid the flowers down and said, “See you later Alligator.”
###
About the Author
Steve Van Bakel lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his beautiful daughter Grace. He is the publisher at The Write Adventure which specializes in adventure and travel writing. You can visit his site online at https://www.thewriteadventure.com.
Steve has spent ten years as a medic in the Canadian Army where he served as a peacekeeper in war-torn Bosnia. He spent four months working as a medic on an expedition ship in the Antarctic where four of those days were spent being held hostage by the Russian Mafia. He’s run medical clinics in third world parts of Mexico where he treated those who had no access to medical care. For fourteen years he's worked the streets of Calgary as a paramedic with nine of those being spent as a paramedic on the Police TAC/SWAT team.
Title 1 - Being Dad, Fathering after Separation or Divorce
Lost Innocence Page 6