Baby-Sitting Musings

by E.Y. Kwee

I'm baby-sitting and I'm bored and it's the second time in this house. It's the second time that the two boys are in the bathroom, brushing their teeth and doing their business while I'm waiting outside for them to finish. While I wait, I examine the pictures on the wall. Last time, the older one explained them to me: "That's my grandma, that's my grandpa, that's my mom when she was young, that's my dad with his family." The grandma and her uninhibited giddy smile, the grandpa and the shorts that were too tight, too short, and showed off his knobby knees, the mom with her slightly mannish haircut, the dad with his smiling siblings and one unsmiling sister. I feel like I know these pictures like the back of my hand and even though the inhabitants of the house walk past them every day, I wonder if they know them like I do.

6S

E.Y. Kwee is unfortunately college-bound, but would otherwise spend the rest of her life walking on the beach.