When I was a child, I had a friend with Down syndrome. Robin taught me a lot of things. "Playing with Robin" is a tribute to her memory.
Playing With Robin
I'm playing outside when Robin rides up on the bike; she calls her horse. "My cat had kittens; want to see?"
Of course, I do.
"Follow me," she calls. Robin rides away really fast because her legs are so long. She looks like a grown-up, but she's a lot more fun.
I'm out of breath when we reach Robin's house.
The kittens are in a cozy box in Robin's bedroom. "Look with your eyes," Robin tells me. "If you promise to be gentle, I'll give you one."
"I promise," I say.
She picks up a tiny kitten and hands it to me.
Its fur is so soft and... "Oh, she's so cute. Can I keep her?"
"No." Robin takes the kitten. "It belongs with its mom."
Robin takes a box down from a shelf. Inside are stamps and different colours of ink: pink and green and blue and purple and... Robin uses a cat stamp to put a picture on her paper. She does it again and again and again. Now the paper is full of cats. "You try," she tells me.
I pick a stamp that looks like a paw print. I press it onto the ink and then onto the paper, but it doesn't look like a paw print.
"You have to press hard. Here, I'll help you." Robin puts her hand on top of mine, and we press the stamp really hard onto the purple ink pad. Now I can see all the paw prints. Robin shows me how to clean the stamp so that I can add other colours. I add blue, green, and pink ink. It looks like a cat walked on a rainbow and then onto my paper. "You can take that picture home." Robin smiles at me.
Robin takes a small black box off a shelf. "Want to see something really cool?" She finds a jar of coins and holds it so I can take one. "Put the penny on there." When I do, a hand slides out of the box and takes the penny. "Don't be scared," Robin says. "It's not a real hand. It's just for pretend." She gives me another penny, the hand comes out again, and we laugh.
"Where does the money go?" I ask, and Robin says, "In the box. Someday I'm going to get a hammer to break the box, and then I'll be rich."
The kittens...the toys...she's already rich.
"Snack time," Robin's mom calls.
Orange juice and cookies wait for us on the kitchen table.
I finish my cookie and look out the window. My brother is coming to take me home.
"My boyfriend," Robin cheers.
I hope she marries my brother so we can play together forever.
photo by ldyck
