Chapter One
Aisling picked up the book on the coffee table, and brought it closer to her body. It was a thin book, and the cover was made of cardboard. There was a huge ladybug on it, and when she brushed her fingers against it, the fur was soft. She smiled as she stared at the bold letters above the ladybug, and flipped the book open. She read a few lines, then sighed. She put the book back onto the coffee table.
Looking at the rest of the table, many other similar books were also lying around, but she wasn’t interested in any of them. There was one about a truck, another about the zoo, and yet another about school. She had read those same few books for countless times, and she knew what happened by heart. She could even recite some of the lines by heart. She wanted to read, but not these books.
Yawning, she turned her head around to stare at the front door. It was locked, and a chain was attached to it. She pouted, then turned around to look at the furniture in her home. There was a television right in front of her, and on both sides were display cabinets. There were trophies inside, and some other toys that her father collected. They were locked and she couldn’t take them out to play. Yawning once more, she realised how bored she was.
“Aisling, baby,” a soft voice from behind her said.
Energy burst in her body, and she twisted around to get on her knees on the couch. She pushed herself higher up the backrest of the couch, and a bright smile covered her face when she saw her mother approaching her. She rounded the couch, and Aisling rushed to the end of the couch to sit down as her mother bent down near that end.
Her mother was the most important person of her life. She always looked at her tenderly, and treated her well. She loved her mother, just as much as her mother loved her. With a gentle smile, her mother tucked a medium blonde strand of hair behind her ear and touched Aisling’s head.
“Are you bored, my dear?” her mother asked.
Aisling nodded her head fervently.
Her mother laughed. She straightened herself, then went to a room in the corner of the living room. She came back out with a large, round basket. Bringing it to Aisling, she set it on the floor.
“Get into this,” her mother said and Aisling did as she was told. Aisling grabbed the rim of the basket as her mother went to the television, and switched it on. She used the remote control and flicked through the apps until she opened Youtube. She entered a few words and played a video.
The screen flashed to moving pictures. There was a line of tracks in the middle, and at the bottom of the screen, you could see the front of the roller coaster. Aisling gave a yell of joy as her mother came back to her and lifted the basket off the floor with her in it.
Aisling gripped the rim of the basket as her mother tilted the basket’s front up, and Aisling felt like she was in the front seat of the roller coaster as she saw the images of the train ascending the tracks. She ducked her head, and imagined herself moving faster up the tracks. The train got higher, and higher until it came to a slow at the top of the slope.
And the roller coaster took a plunge in the video.
Her mother tilted the basket down as she shook it to simulate the ride, and Aisling cried out in joy. Her eyes were all lit up, and her mother dropped the right side of the basket as the roller coaster in the images took a right turn, and she did the opposite when the ride took the left turn. Aisling put her hands up in the air, until the video came to an end.
“Again! Again!” Aisling said.
Her mother laughed. “Okay, let me replay the video,” she said, then picked up the remote control to start the video again.
“Faster!” Aisling said, and her mother rushed back to the area behind her to pick her up in the basket again. They repeated the same actions earlier.
Soon, Aisling’s mother set her down, and as she faced her mother, she could see her chest rising and falling from the workout. Aisling smiled, and wrapped her arms around her mother in an embrace.
“I love you, Ma,” Aisling said. She meant every word.
“I love you too,” her mother said. “One day, you’ll grow up and you’ll have a daughter like you too. You must love her like this too, okay?”
Aisling parted from her mother. “I will.”
“Be a good mother to her, like the good person you are.”
Aisling nodded. “Like you, Ma?”
Her mother grinned and ruffled her hair.
“Are you a good person, Ma?” Aisling said.
“Yes, I am.”
Aisling laughed. “Yes, Ma, you are.” She knew that in her heart.
Her mother glanced at the clock.
“What about Pa? Is Pa a good person, Ma?” Aisling said.
And the smile vanished from her mother’s face. She pulled Aisling closer.
“Aisling,” she said. “Your father is a very good man. There is no flaw in him, and he is skilled in everything. He has won many awards in sports, and is very intelligent. Anything he sets out to do, he accomplishes. There is nothing that is too difficult for him. He is perfect. Do you understand?”
Aisling watched her mother with a blank expression.
“Do you understand? If he asks you that question, that is what you will say.”
Aisling blinked, and began to nod.
“Your father is a very good man, Aisling,” her mother repeated. Aisling continued to stare at her mother. She had always said this in the past, but for the first time, Aisling was noticing something new. The words that came out of her mother’s mouth were all saying one thing.
But her eyes told a different story.
