I carried my bony fluffy-haired man on my hip.
“Thank you for looking after Chicky for the past three years, you’ve done an amazing job.”
I gave Linney a kiss on the cheek as she started to cry.
“You have fun at big school next year, make sure you come back so I can see you in your uniform.”
Chick leaned out of my arms and kissed her quietly on the cheek.
I put him in the car and my littlest man was pensive for most of the night. He was going to miss his pre-school teacher and he knew change was coming. I empathised with him.
Speaking wasn’t a function that early summer evening, it was a chore. He was in good company. I let him lie on my lap as I rubbed his head.
I arrived at the house at 7.30am and the place was in full swing. The crickets were in octave-smashing orchestration, the air was dense and the heat was tangible under a refulgent mid-summer sky.
Chick jumped off his chair and gave me a high five, returning to his Vegemite soldiers. Beau was glued grinning to the television watching Spongebob.
I lifted up Chick’s new school shirt. It was tiny, a little light-blue shirt with a polite but attention-seeking red cross on the pocket.
“Please let me get one picture Chick. Stand still and smile. Beau, stop punching him and stand next to him. Guys, I just want one photo!”
Asking the UN to establish world peace would be easier some days.
We walked up the pathway of the school. There were kids everywhere, parents anxious, some excited, some experienced and calm.
Chicky grabbed my hand and I pumped his palm gently to reassure him. Beau ran off and then backtracked to show his little brother where to put his bag.
For one moment Chick became disoriented and was standing alone in the quadrangle. He looked like all the kids there at one stage, like we’ve all felt at one point in our lives — alone. The dull noise and movement around you, yet you feel like you’re in complete silence.
I grabbed him and put him into his class line and blew him a kiss. His eyebrows were gently furrowed, and his lips pursed.
I watched as a little friend walked past him. He smiled and kept his eyes downward as he and his mates marched off to class.
