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Young Robbie needs a little help to manage the transition between his separated parents' homes.
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It was almost 7:00 o'clock. "Time to go downstairs to watch for Robbie", thought Nana. She put her keys into her pocket and took the elevator down to the lobby. She peered out into the darkness- no sign of the car yet.
She sat down on the bench by the door and watched people come and go. The lady down the hall came in with her tiny dog, who jumped all over Nana's feet in excitement at seeing her again. A pizza delivery man arrived and buzzed his customer to come down for the pizza he was carrying in a big, insulated bag. A mother, father and three children trooped out of the elevator and set off for an evening's shopping. Finally, a familiar car pulled up outside the door.
Nana hurried out to meet Margaret, Robbie's other grandmother. "Hello, Beth," called Margaret. "How are you?"
"I'm just fine, thanks. How are you?"
"Oh, I'm all right."
"And how's our little one tonight?" asked Nana, as she bent over to look inside the car. Robbie didn't look very happy.
"He's a little tearful," said Margaret. "We've been having a long talk."
"I see," said Nana. "Well, let's go in, my sweetheart. I'm very glad to see you."
Nana lifted Robbie out of his car seat, took his backpack from Margaret, and waited while he hugged Margaret good-bye. Robbie took Nana's hand and they started toward the building.
"Nana," said Robbie, "which balcony is ours?"
"Well, let's count. We're on the seventh floor, so we need to start from the lobby floor."
Together they counted, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven."
"Now look over that way," said Nana, pointing to the left. "That's our balcony."
"Nana, can we tie one of our balloons on the balcony railing so I can see it every time I come?"
"That's a wonderful idea, Robbie. When we go up tonight, that's just what we'll do and after this you'll always be able to tell which one is ours."
"Okay", said Robbie, and he helped to open the heavy door, then ran to push the UP button. "Look, Nana, I don't have to stand on my tippy-toes to push the button any more!"
"Wow! You're really getting big, aren't you, sweetheart?"
When the door opened on the seventh floor, Robbie ran down the hall to # 710 and pulled the door open. "Daddy!!" he shouted, and ran right into Daddy's arms. Daddy lifted him up and sat him on his lap in front of the computer.
"How's my boy?", asked Daddy.
"Well, I was crying," said Robbie.
"Were you? Why were you crying?"
"I don't know. I'm not crying now," said Robbie.
Nana said, "I think maybe you find the in-between times hard, don't you, sweetheart? You're happy to be at Mommy's and you're happy to be at Daddy's, but when you're in between houses you feel sad. Is that the way it is?"
"Uh-huh", said Robbie, giving his dad a big bear hug. "But I'm not sad now."
"No, I can feel that!" laughed Daddy. "Maybe later we can think about what we can do so you don't feel so sad in the in-between times. But right now, let's play a computer game together."
"Yeah, let's play Tournament!" yelled Robbie.
So they did. And who do you think won?
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| Reviewed by Christy Keyes |
3/7/2007 |
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With all that is written and reported about kids and divorced parents, I have never known anyone to mentioned the inbetween feeling.
Very perceptive Susan. |
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| Reviewed by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado |
3/3/2007 |
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| Wonderful story, Susan; very well done! :) |
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| Reviewed by Susan Bain |
3/2/2007 |
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| I wrote this story with the idea that it could be a starting point for discussion in a family or classroom setting. I also added comprehension and discussion questions and used it with my adult literacy students, as many of them were dealing with similar situations. |
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