Chapter 14

“Lyla, come eat, darling,” her mother beckoned her over.

“Coming, nyewwwwwwww!” she whistled, as she came flying into the dining room with her toy train and landed it turbulently onto the dining table… and into the rice.

“Lyla!” her mother snatched her toy train and placed it on the tallest shelf, away from young Lyla’s reach.

“Sorry…” she squeaked, hands now clasped between her thighs.

“What did I tell you about toys and food?” her mother asserted before gently laying a plate on the dining table for Lyla.

In Lyla’s attempt to avert her mother’s eyes, she noticed her mother’s callused hands.

Have they always been so wrinkly too? She pondered.

She never quite noticed her mother’s thin frame and hunchback. She struggled to reach the top shelves as much as she struggled to stoop to the lower drawers.

“Mum, come eat with me, I’m lonely,” Lyla whispered quietly, hopeful that her mum would join her, but wary that her mother was busy tidying, taking tottering steps around the kitchen.

“Later, Lyla,” her mother responded wearily, as she continued to plough through the cleaning.