Accomplices
All day long they are up to their usual urgent business. They play and argue, but mostly play. They eat and play and snack and play, color with crayons and paint with brushes. They negotiate rules; disagreement and accusation ensue, but they soon realize that circumstances demand they be more or less simpatico. For a while they drift apart: Mason pretends to be a knight or chef, or loses himself in a box of Legos; Nora becomes a ballerina or princess, or sometimes a drooling crawling baby named Chi Chi Molly Macintosh Plumber — a persona Madeline invented for her. But Madeline retreats to her room with greater frequency, or finds friends her own age to talk and play with, so the youngest two must become accomplices. They unpack all the toys, art supplies, books, and food. At night, thank goodness, they sleep.
This is so wonderful. I LOVE “Chi Chi Molly Macintosh Plumber” Ha!
The other day I found a little side note I’d left myself, from a post you’d made a while ago. It makes me laugh to even think about it.
“Mason keeps singing “Bang bang, boom boom, Daddy is a cuckoo head!”
This is beautiful. . .the picture and the words you wrote.