Nathanael Steven Smith
In the manner only very little boys and girls appear to be able, seven-year-old Alex asked me (in the cafeteria line) why Nathanael doesn’t have a mommy.
Second grade boys don’t expect men to cry and so I don’t think the child saw the tear I could feel forming.
In that moment I’d have found Pythagoras easier to explain.
It was not that Nathanael does not have a mother that provoked my emotions. I am quite used to that.
It was something anguished in the boy’s tone that did it. It was a contorting of his face, a look of total puzzlement which suggested that not having a mother was indeed a thought too frightful and painful for Alex to even begin to contemplate.
difficultrelationships.com 