L&T The Backpack

hapter 2 Continued: The Backpack

Emily came back.

Just like she said she would.

And then she came back again.

Sometimes she brought dinner. Sometimes groceries. Once, she showed up with sidewalk chalk and spent nearly an hour outside drawing crooked flowers and giant rainbows with Lily while Tobin toddled through their pictures.

Nothing about it seemed particularly remarkable.

Except that she kept coming back.

Lily started watching for her.

She learned which day Emily usually came. She recognized the sound of her car pulling into the driveway. And somewhere along the way, “I'll see you next month” stopped sounding like a promise Lily needed to wonder about.

It became something she could count on.

Then, one afternoon, Emily noticed Lily's backpack.

The zipper was broken.

One strap was beginning to separate from the bag, and Lily had tied it back together in a knot.

“Does that still work okay?” Emily asked.

Lily shrugged.

“It's fine.”

She had gotten very good at fine.

Fine meant you didn't ask Grandma for something when money was tight.

Fine meant you figured it out.

Fine meant you didn't need anyone to worry about you.

Emily didn't make a big deal about it.

But the next time she came, she had something with her.

A backpack.

Not just a backpack. A new backpack in Lily's favorite color and animal print hearts... with two working straps and a zipper that didn't catch.

Lily stared at it.

“Is that for me?”

Emily smiled.

“Of course it is.”

Lily slipped both arms through the straps and walked around the living room wearing it, even though there was nowhere to go. She loved animal print but had no clue that anyone else knew that.

Tobin laughed and tried to grab it.

Grandma smiled - both happy for Lily and relieved, too. With Emily covering the backpack, she could stretch things a little further and make sure there were a few extra snacks in the house that week.

She was grateful for Emily and her friendship. She wasn't really sure how or when it happened but somehow - Emily became her confidant, her voice of reason and her laughter on hard days. She was glad to know her.

Emily probably thought she had simply noticed something a little girl needed.

But Lily was learning something much bigger.

Someone had noticed, remembered and had come back.

Again.

For a child who had learned not to expect too much from the adults around her, a backpack wasn't just a backpack.

It was evidence.

Evidence that maybe she didn't always have to say she was fine.

Evidence that someone was paying attention.

Evidence that she mattered enough to be remembered.

And slowly, almost imperceptibly, Lily began to expect Emily.

Not the things she brought.

Her.

To be continued...