Summer in Grand Central Station

I have been keeping this one for myself, but I'm going to share it now as part of my effort to be more mindful of gentleness. This is a story about Summer being careful of my feelings. She breaks my heart and sews it back up so fast, it pretty much encapsulates what it's like to be a parent. 

As I have written before, I'm always trying to find books that I read when I was a kid, and share them with Summer. There's a short story I remember, but I have no idea what it's called. It's about a girl who lives in an apartment and dreams about horses. She wins a pony in a cereal box contest. Her family convinces her to take a cash payout instead, so they can use the money to get someone out of Russia. At the end someone gives her a kitten to console her--probably a more appropriate pet for an apartment dweller. The kitten has huge green eyes. He's in a paper bag, and the paper bag is wet from kitten pee. (I will never find this story.) 

Several weeks ago, Summer and I traveled to New Jersey for a bar mitzvah. It was rare girl time for us. The day after the bar mitzvah, we took the train to Manhattan and got in line at tkts for discount theater tickets. One of our relatives was appearing in Follies, but I thought Follies was a bit dark for a nine-year-old. We got good seats to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, starring Daniel Radcliffe, the Harry Potter of the silver screen. I'd seen it years ago with Matthew Broderick, but I didn't mind.

After the show, I decided to go meet up with our Follies relative so she could take us to her dressing room and onto the stage. But because I have no filter, I made the mistake of mentioning that we could wait at the stage door of How to Succeed to get Daniel Radcliffe's autograph (like I have Ferris's, above). With a short window in which to catch the train, we only had time to do one or the other. Summer wanted Harry Potter's John Hancock. I decided that it would be a better memory to go backstage with a real Broadway star than to get a Sharpie scribble from a movie star. 

(No offense to Daniel Radcliffe or John Laroquette, who both performed gamely. Real stage pros have MAD PIPES. Ellen Harvey, a theater vet who plays the boss's secretary, OWNED that show with just one number.)

We dashed down the block to the Marquis, where we hooked up with a mom and her college-student daughter that we'd met in line at tkts. Kailey, the daughter, is a musical theater major at Rider University (my mom's alma mater), and her mother Denise was visiting from California; They saw Follies that day and were thrilled to get backstage and meet our phenomenal Tony-nominated, Drama Desk Award-winning cousin Jan. Kailey took this picture of Summer and Jan. 

Then we sprinted to the subway in Times Square, which we rode to Grand Central. We stopped for a slice of pizza before our train out of the city. A dad in line at the pizza counter told us he'd just taken his 11-year-old son and friends to see How to Succeed as a birthday gift. "We got Daniel Radcliffe's autograph," he said, pulling his signed Playbill out of his jacket pocket to show us. Summer's eyes lit up. "You're so lucky!" she said. I could see that even with the American Girl store, even with M&M World, and Chinese food for lunch, I might have made a mistake. I might have faltered in my frantic attempt to achieve the best ever girls' day out in New York. 

We sat at a table for two. "Mom," said Summer as she chewed on her black olive pizza (the only kind of pizza she eats). "Did you ever feel like you got the kitten in the wet paper bag?"

I was confused for a minute. Then I must have looked crushed, because just like I don't have a filter, I don't have a poker face. I said, "Do you mean like in the story I read when I was a kid?"

"Yeah," she said. Then she said, "Mom, tell me about a time when you felt like you got the pony."

"Well," I said, "I think when we got the new house I felt like I'd won the pony."

"Hm," she said. "Can you think of a time when I got the pony?" 

I said, "Well, maybe when we met up with Lauren"--her best friend--"on vacation."

"You know when I think I won the pony?" she said, going all dreamy. "When I got to stand on that real Broadway stage."

And of COURSE, dear reader, as you KNOW, that's when I started to cry. Because even though she kind of felt like she'd gotten the kitten in the wet paper bag, she knew her mom wanted her to feel like she'd won the pony. 

Comments

[Swiss Jon]

Precious! Thanks for sharing.

[Paula]

One of my favorite posts EVER!

[Heather Z.]

I had Hayley read this. Such a lovely daughter you have.

[julie]

that almost made me cry

[Emily]

okay, this totally made me cry. at the office. such sweetness. and you are a fabulous mom.

[Joyce]

I just read it and it made me cry. How lucky were you to have such a wonderful day with such a special daughter. I know!!

[Jill]

Bwah ha ha ha! My evil plan has succeeded-I have made you all cry! And now, the best part. Today I received in the mail a package addressed to me and to Summer from Alibris--"Books you thought you'd never find." Inside: a book called Becky's Horse by Winifred Madison. This is the book with the horse and the kitten in the wet paper bag! Well played, Mystery Reader, well played.