Gone to Catch the Butterfly

If Lee-lee hadn’t chased the butterfly she’d be home by now. Mommy was going to yell at her. She was a big girl now. Now she was in 2nd grade. Daddy wasn’t coming home anymore and she had to find a way to stop Mommy’s tears. Some days she felt like crying herself, but she had to be grown up now. Be just like her mommy. Someday she’d wear the heels; Still sizes to big on her little feet. She’d dress in Mommy’s pretty Sunday dresses while she cleaned and cared for her own child− her baby doll named Lisabeth. She blinked again before she remembered she couldn’t have a baby doll anymore. She was all grown up, and Daddy wasn’t ever coming back from the war. Teardrops dribbled down her cheeks as she continued to walk closer to home. For a split second she thought the butterfly was just like her daddy; A thing so perfect that you just couldn’t catch it anymore and that it needed to fly away to a happier place. Her muddy shoes clambered up the stairs to her doorstep and her tears halted. Her mother was waiting at the door worriedly looking out at the darkening sky. With a spirit Lee-lee ran at her. Her small little body cooed over her making sure she was okay. As her mother carried her inside Lee-lee forgot all about growing up and simply let her child self survive for another single second.