All But What's Left by Carrie Mumford

Author:Carrie Mumford [Mumford, Carrie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781775318217
Publisher: Carrie Mumford

23

May 1981

* * *

Momma gives me a cup with red Kool-Aid and a bendy paper plate with a hot dog in a bun. “Go find Radek.” She smiles and pats my hair. My momma is the prettiest momma at the party. Her dress is blue like the sky and has white buttons down the front and white lace at the top. She let me brush her hair today in her bedroom, and then she gave me two squirts of perfume.

Radek is sitting at the kids’ picnic table. “You smell like an old lady,” he says. I stick my tongue out at him. All the other kids are done eating. Their plates and cups are all over the table. I don’t want to get Kool-Aid on my dress so I sip carefully.

The grown-ups sing to Mrs. Bailey: “Happpppy birthdaaaay to yoooouuu.” When we’re done hot dogs, we wait in line to get cake. Momma and Daddy stand with the other grown-ups. The cake has white icing and blue letters. Mrs. Bailey puts a slice on my plate. “A sweet piece of cake for a sweet little girl,” she says, and tickles my belly.

“How old is your momma?” I ask Radek when we get back to the table.

“Older than your momma,” Radek says.

The sky is getting black now. The grown-ups are louder and a few are dancing and they are all drinking out of red cups but I don’t think it’s Kool-Aid. Radek and Brandon Morton and I play cops and robbers. I am the cop and they are the robbers. They rob my pretend store and I pretend I’m in a police car and I vrrroooom after them. Radek heads away from the people and behind the barn, yelling, “Catch me if you can, copper!” I make my legs go fast.

“Hannah!” Momma yells as I zoom by. “You scared me!” She is standing with a man behind the barn—the RCMP man I saw on the lawn. He’s the real police.

“I’m a pretend police,” I say. “Radek’s the robber.” I point to where Radek ran off, towards the water troughs. “I gotta find him.”

“Well he’s not back here, kiddo,” the man says, leaning against the barn. Momma’s face is all red, but not like a crying red.

“Look at your party dress,” she says. “Mud everywhere.”

Momma brushes at the stains. I had to do a slide to catch the robbers the last time they robbed my store. I pull away from Momma. The man tugs at his moustache and then reaches into his back pocket.

“You want to look like a real police officer?”

I glance at Momma and then nod.

He hands me a metal badge attached to a wallet, like the ones the police have on TV. “You be careful with this—I need it back.” Momma smiles at him, a big smile with her crooked tooth showing. I only see Momma smile like this when she gets a letter from England.

Momma pats my bum. “Well you’d better go catch those robbers.”

I hold the badge in my hand and walk to the water troughs.

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