“No. I just looked at him. I didn’t have the guts.” She takes after me in some things; there’s no doubt about it.
“How did you get closer?”
“Once, during recess, I was reading on the steps of the school and he was playing soccer with his friends; the ball went out of bounds, he asked me to throw it to him so I kicked it, and he complimented me on the shot.”
“I don’t want to keep you isolated, bent over your books all the time. I want you to have a full social life, friends, because these years pass quickly and you’ll never get them back, but I also want to protect you from what happened to me, from someone taking advantage of you and making you suffer.”
“Will Michael make you suffer?”
“I hope not,” I say with a sigh.
“Do you like him?”
“Very much.”
“But weren’t you friends?”
“Sometimes friends grow into something more.”
“So are you a couple now?”
“Not exactly.” I wish everything could be so black and white.
“Are you going to have sex?”
Maybe, God willing! “Love, why are you so focused on the issue of sex?” I ask in a cynical attempt to shift her curiosity.
“Because I can’t understand if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. If it’s bad, why does everyone do it? And if it’s good, why can’t I do it?”
I have to be very careful about my answer. “It’s a good thing when you do it with the right person.”
“So how do you know when it’s the right person?”
Kids with their questions. “It takes a while.”
“But if my father wasn’t the right person, does that mean it was a bad thing?”
“It was bad not being able to give you the united family you deserved, but it’s wonderful to have had you.” I hope the sex questions are over. “Can you tell me why I found Tappo in the garbage?” I ask her, holding out the bear.
“I don’t want him anymore. I’m too old to sleep with a stuffie.”
I look at Tappo’s little face, with his crooked eyes, sewn up a thousand times. “So you want to throw him away? He was your friend; he never left you even when you were sick. Do you remember when you had that stomach virus and you held him so close you vomited all over him?”
“Ew, disgusting.”
“It was. But he didn’t leave you. And he never complained about all the times you sucked on his ears,” I remind her, placing Tappo on her pillow.
“I just didn’t want Alice, Valentina, and Laura to see my room and make fun of me.”
“So you threw away poor Tappo?” I ask.
Linda sniffs, grabs the battered bear, and hugs him to her chest. “Thanks for saving him.”
“You know, you don’t have to keep him on the bed. We can find him a nice box with a little blanket. Tappo won’t be offended if you don’t want him on your bed, but if you ever want to say good night to him, you’ll know where he is, and he will be happy.”
“I’ll keep him for tonight,” she says, tucking him under her chin. Linda yawns, curling up in a fetal position, ready to fall into Morpheus’s arms.
“Good night, Little Cub,” I say, kissing the tip of her nose.
