“Mommy, mommy!” Little Becca yelled over the adjacent grocery store aisle. “Look over here!”
“What is it my little darling?”
“Look at this purple box I found! Isn’t it pretty? Can I have it, please? Please?”
Carissa walked around to confront her three-foot-tall monster.
“Honey, what purple box? All of the boxes in this row are black.”
“It’s not black… it’s purple.” Little Becca said meekly, a little embarrassed.
“Oh no. Are you having trouble with your colors again?” Carissa felt parental frustration rise up through her. She is nearly four years old, and she still has trouble with even the most basic colors. But it’s not her fault that she’s black-purple colorblind. It’s really her deadbeat father’s fault. She would have never had a one-night stand with the guy had she known he could only see gray, no matter how cute he was.
“Yes, my little pastel songbird. This is black—more precisely it’s heather gray. And if we take this heather gray box and walk for a wink, then we find ourselves in the purple aisle. See? This is purple, but that was black.”
“I’m sorry, Mommy.”
“Sorry? What could you possibly be sorry for? My little amber chameleon, you don’t need to be sorry. You did nothing wrong.”
“But I messed up my colors again. And Anna says that I’ll never get to be a grown-up if I mix up my colors.”
“Anna? Anna who? From school Anna?”
Little Becca nodded her head gently. That little cunt needs to keep her mouth shut. I mean, yes, Carissa did worry about the color problem. It’s hard to get into a community college if you mix up blacks and purples, much less a real university where you’re expected to distinguish forest green and slimy green like it’s child’s play. Because it is. Oh fuck, maybe that little cunt of a runt—or is it runt of a cunt?—Anna is right.
“Oh don’t listen to her, my pearl. Didn’t you once tell me that she can’t even touch her toes? And look at you over here, able to do both types of splits willy-nilly. That’ll take you much further than colors. I promise—and I’m a grown-up, so I know these things. Now let’s go home.”