Baby Steps

If only he could open the door.

He was curious about the park that his brothers always went to. He wanted to see why they always came back tired, sweaty but happy from that place. What did it look like?

He was also curious about the place called school. What did that look like? His brothers always seemed tired when they came from that place. He could not understand the words they were saying, but he understood the emotion. They also always rushed to put their backpacks down and run to their rooms as soon as they came in. As if somebody was chasing them.

There was also a place called the restaurant. Sometimes, his mom and dad went there, leaving him alone with his brothers. His brothers took good care of him when mom and dad were gone, because they had a big responsibility now. He liked playing with them. But that did not help with his curiosity. He wanted to know what that place that drew his mom and dad to itself looked like.

Sometimes, he tried to reach out to the door to be able to open it. He tried many times, but to no avail. He was not sure if there was another way of getting rid of this annoying barrier between him and the interesting things that were waiting for him on the other side of it.

He sat in the middle of the living room and watched the door. He carefully inspected everything around the door. Especially the couch that sat just next to the door. He tried to understand how close enough it was to the door and if he could use it as a tool to open the door.

In the meantime, his younger brothers were running in the house and one even slapped him in the back of his head as he was passing him. He got annoyed but did not cry. He was too busy inspecting the door. His oldest brother had gone to his room to find his book. So he would come back soon. He better hurried.

He started crawling to the door. Rather, to the couch next to it. He had never tried to climb on that couch but today he thought he would maybe do it. That could be his way out.

His first seven attempts did not yield any results. He failed miserably. He fell to the ground. It hurt.

On his eighth attempt, though, he managed to do it. Now, there was one more step to be completed.

But before that, he checked to see if any of his brothers were here and could see him.

But everything was clear. So, he went ahead. He stood up as straight as he could and reached out for the handle of the door. His mom would always lock the door but his brothers were not as careful.

He pressed the handle down with all of his strength and the door opened. His brothers had forgotten to lock the door! That was great news! So, he did not complain about that at all. To make the best use of this opportunity, he quickly went down the couch and started crawling to the door.

Finally, he was out. He felt happy. Finally, he would see the park and the school. Maybe he would even visit the restaurant and get the good food that his parents sometimes brought.

So, he started crawling fast to the garden gate. That one had big empty parts, so he knew he could squeeze himself in between somewhere and get out. He was hopeful.

As he was still crawling in excitement, he heard some noise:

‘Oh, there he is!’, his oldest brother was saying.

He was disappointed. Disappointed not to have made it to the park. But he thought he also liked the warmth of his brother’s arms as he was going back home with him. That is why he was not bothered too much.

 

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