What Do You See?

“I’m… just… so… bored, mummy.”

Sky Alton
Writer, Gryffindor

Tamsin stomped in from the garden where she'd spent a very sweaty and frustrating few minutes chasing the dog, trying to retrieve the (formally clean) washing he'd pranced off with. She found Mae sitting in the middle of the floor, hitting a pan with a spoon. The five year old had a face of thunder. Tamsin paused a second in the doorway, gathering herself.
“You playing drums, honey?”
“No.”
“Having fun there?” Tamsin asked, trying to pretend that the noise wasn’t beating on her last nerve. It had been a very long day.
“No,” Mae said, giving the pot an extra loud bash.

Tamsin searched through her frazzled brain for a better response than ‘then why?’ but came up short. Luckily, Mae had finally had enough and threw both things away from her. She flopped back on the carpet.
“I’m… just… so… bored, mummy.”

Tamsin opened her mouth, prepared to give the usual speech about how Mae could always go colour, read a book or play with any of the many toys she’d strewn about the place. It died on her tongue. Instead, she went and lay down beside her daughter, staring at the ceiling.
“Mummy?” Mae asked after a long moment.
“I’m bored too,” Tamsin told her, “And tired.”
“Then… what can we do?” Mae asked, with all the immense gravity that a five year old can muster.

Tamsin thought about it for a moment. She sat up.
“What do you see?” she asked, gesturing around at the lounge.
“The chairs,” Mae guessed. “The TV? The shelves? Jack?” she pointed to the dog who had come quietly in to lay with them.
“Well,” Tamsin said, pointing to the sofa, “I see a castle… or an iceberg… or a pirate ship.”

Mae made a disbelieving sound, her eyes straying back towards the pan.
“Over there are mountains,” Tamsin said, “Or really tall buildings in a city where elves live. And that,” she nodded to Jack, “That is a fierce but friendly ice dragon who lets us pet him. And on ocasion steals our best blouses.”
“Really?” Mae asked slowly.
“Of course,” Tamsin said, nodding with all the gravity that an exhausted thirty year old could muster.
“Can we go explore the mountains? And the city? And the iceberg?” Mae asked, bouncing to her feet.
“You know?” Tamsin said with a smile, “I think we should.”