picture taken with Easter Bunny

Trifextra Weekend Challenge + Easter = Today’s post

The rules this weekend are a little different. All entries must be between 33 and 333 words and need to include the following three words in the order provided:

cacophony
soap
insects

I based my entry this week on a single photograph. And I’m dedicating it to the child in that photograph.

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The Waiting is the Hardest Part

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The cacophony of children could be heard throughout the mall. Melissa approached the intimidating line. “Maybe it won’t take that long,” she thought. “And I’ll be glad to have this picture when he’s older.”

She parked her stroller in the designated area and stepped into the line. It snaked back and forth through a maze leading up to the Great Rabbit. “Please make it move fast,” she thought, content that her son was distracted by all the festivity. She trudged along mindlessly until she heard the first whimper.

“Alright, buddy. Let’s see what Mommy has in her bag,” she said, trying to sound upbeat. “Ooh, look!” She pulled out the brightly-colored soap set she’d just purchased at the department store. They looked like six-legged insects. She knew they were just the thing to make bath time fun for her little man and his bug obsession.

Excitedly, he took one and examined each of its legs, antennae and wings, passing it from one hand to the other. Moving through the line, Melissa reveled in her ingenuity … until he put it in his mouth. And his face went immediately sour.

She knew she had about ten seconds before the crying started. So she tossed him his sippy cup, mercifully filled with apple juice, and began searching frantically for another distraction in her bag of tricks.

Then, she struck gold.

His orange pan. His Bear in the Big Blue House pan. He took it everywhere. He’d given it to her at lunch and must have forgotten about it. “Ta-da!” Melissa announced triumphantly.

His face broke into a huge smile that ran from one adorable cheek to the other. “Pan!” he shouted.

She handed it to him, puffed with pride at her quick action, until he asked for its accompanying ‘patula,’ which she remembered seeing on the kitchen floor as they ran out the door that morning.

“Well, crap,” she thought, surrendering her now crying child to the stupid bunny.

Click! went the camera.

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