T he man calling me baby isn’t Jack. That’s not his voice. I’ve never heard it before. No, I can’t meet him. That’s like a big spoiler for the movie of my life. I don’t want to know the man I am going to marry. I don’t mind my children. They are the blood that runs in my veins. I don’t mind meeting them now. But not the boy who will become the man I will fall in love with. I will have a boring love life this way when I get back.
“Listen.” I kneel down. “How about we make it a surprise to Dad, the fact that I am making you breakfast? Let’s not see him now.”
“What do you want us to do?” Tiger says.
“Let’s leave through the back stairs. Get into my car. I have a car, right?”
“If you call your fancy rabbit-looking vehicle a car.” Tiger rolls his eyes.
“Okay.” I nod. “I will drive you to school, buy breakfast on the way, and then I’ll come back and meet Dad. Then I will cook you the best dinner you can gorge on when you come back.”
“I want marshmallow tarts,” Lily says.
“I can do that.” I have no idea what that is.
“Laughing Jelly Sticks, too?” Lily adds.
“Of course.”
“You’re the best, Mum.” She hugs me again.
“You want something special, Tiger?” I say.
“I just want to see you cook, for real,” he says. “That’d make my day.”
“Awesome.”
“Awesome?” Tiger squints as if he’s starting to suspect I’m not his mother. “Who says awesome anymore?”
“What should I say?”
“Frabjous,” Lily squeaks.
“Ah.” I forgot we won the Wonderland War. “Frabjous. Now any idea how we could sneak out without Dad seeing us?”
“You’re the boss, Mum,” he says. “That’s your problem.”
“Of course,” I say, unsure what my next move will be.
There is a man who calls me baby climbing up the stairs. My eyes veer toward the window again. Then to the bedsheets. Then back to my children. “How about we climb out the window?”
“Wow!” Tiger says. “You’re seriously the coolest mum in the Great Republic of Wonderland.”