Lost Mothers
“......Hey Anne,can I ask you something?”
“Sure,What is it?”
“......What was your mom like?”
Anne sat up,looking down at Sprig,who was looking up at the sky,watching as the clouds flew over the sun and cast shadows upon the fields.
Anne didn’t know why Sprig had just asked her this question…..or what to say to answer it. The eleven year old had no memory of her mother,considering she’d spent the first six years of her life at a foster care facility prior to being transported to Amphibia. However, She’d been told that she was a year old when she’d been left at the children’s home…..Which had kind of weighed on her mind all her life.
Why keep her for a year and then abandon her?
What had she done to make her mother want to leave her?
“.....No...I...I don’t remember her.”
”....Did she pass away?”
”...I dunno….when I was a year old she left me at a foster home...which I guess is like an orphanage…..No one ever told me why…..” she sighed.
”.....Why are you asking?”
Sprig looked away from her,then sighed.
”.......My mom...I’ve been thinking about her a lot….Hop Pop told me I look a lot like her the other day and….I dunno….”
Sprig took his hat off, running a hand through his hair. It had, admittedly, taken Anne a small while for her to get used to frogs having hair….it was very….gross and weird….but now it wasn’t too bad, she didn’t cringe seeing Sprig mess with his hair anymore.
“What happened to her?” Anne asked softly.She hadn’t been around when Anne had first come to Amphibia….
“....She and my dad both….. died…..A while ago,shortly before you came along…..wasn’t long after Polly was born…Heron attack….They….they hid me and Polly in the basement….But then they went out to help the others that were trying to run away….and unfortunately they weren’t fast enough to….well…..Hop Pop was out traveling...when he came back….He….He was….”
He sighed, sitting up, hugging his knees to his chest and looking away.
”.......Hop Pop rarely ever talks about them...especially mom...she was his only kid...Before we came along, she was all he had.....He doesn’t have any photos of her either,he said its cuz it hurts too much to see her now….I don’t remember her….I mean,I kinda do but…..I don’t remember her voice that well….Or what she looked like……”
He laid back down, staring up at the sky again.
”....Is it…is it possible to miss someone you never actually knew…?”
Anne slowly laid beside him,inhaling softly.
”........Yeah….I….I understand how you feel…”
Sprig looked at her.”....You do…?”
“Yeah….I mean….Sometimes I miss my mom….I don’t really remember her either….any of her...besides….well…..This one memory….”
She sighed,closing her eyes,allowing her mind to replay the faint memory that she had both held onto and tried to forget.
“.....She was talking to me…..I don’t...even remember the words….maybe it was a whole other language…..but she…...she kept stroking my hair,I think maybe…..maybe she was crying…..and then she said one more thing and…..left….just left me…..and everything after that is the children’s home…but….I miss her….I don’t even know her yet I miss her…..but…”
“...But what..?”
Anne sighed,turning onto her side.
”....I hate her too..”
“Anne,don’t say that-“
Sprig put a hand on her shoulder,only for Anne to shrug it off.
”Why not? She LEFT me.I was only one, I didn’t know what was going on,I needed her….and she left me…..why was I one whole year old when she left me? Couldn’t she have given me up right after having me? Did she just have a kid,realize that She didn’t want kids, or realize that I was gonna be a fuck up and then left me before I could bother her further??”
Anne was shaking,tears suddenly beading in her eyes as emotions and thoughts she’d kept buried deep inside her now bubbled up and shot out of her like a geyser.
Sprig sat up,concerned by Anne’s sudden outburst.
”...Anne….I’m sure she..”
“She WHAT??” Anne turned to him,breathing heavily,eyes leaking tears.
”.....Anne...you’re not a fuck up...don’t think that…..what happened wasn’t your fault….but I don’t think your mom meant to leave you.”
“What do you know….”
Anne turned away from him.She regretted ever answering his question.
Sprig sighed,laying back down. Neither of them spoke for a bit,the only sound being the wind through the trees and the faint sounds of the bustling town nearby.
”.....Anne….I’m sorry….I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories…..but…..what I’m saying is…..maybe your mom didn’t want to give you up,but had to.You see,we haven’t always had…..good harvests,as you know. Some years it’s so bad that people have to move away just so they don’t starve…...During these bad times...a lot of ladies end up giving their tadpoles and eggs to other families to care for,or they abandon them in villages with better harvests because they just can’t care for them….they don’t want their babies to die,so they give them up so they can live…..maybe that’s what your mom did for you...and she was telling you she loved you and was gonna really miss you…..”
Anne didn’t speak.She just laid there,watching the grass blow in the wind.
She didn’t really think of that.
All she thought of was that she wanted her mom.
All those nights in the foster home when she woke up from a nightmare,or when she scraped her knee, or got picked on or yelled at by one of the workers…..she’d wanted her mom.
She’d cried for her.
She’dd yelled for her.
But she never came.
Why did she leave her?
Why?
“.....Maybe someday you can use that box you came here with and go back home and find her….” Sprig suggested, scooting closer.
Anne suddenly remembered the box-the strange gilded music box that had transported her out of the hell that had been her world,and into the strange,scary yet beautiful land that was now her world.
``Oh yeah….Yeah thats right!......Whatever happened to the box? I gave it to Hop Pop last I remember…”
She’d given it to Hop Pop around the fourth night she’d been at the Plantar’s house, and he said he’d look around in his study library to see if he had any books that mentioned it or something like it….And she hadn’t seen it since….
She’d completely forgotten about it up until then if she was being honest…
“I think it’s in his study somewhere...but….maybe…..maybe one day you can figure it out and go back to your world….and find your mom….”
”....Maybe….” If she was still alive...If she’d even want to see her…
“....Sprig….if I do find a way to go back...will you go back with me?”
“Go back with you?”
“Yeah...I can show you around my world….maybe I’ll find my friend Maggie….I can introduce you two….we can explore it together...and…..if I do find my mom….and she wants me…..we can share her,if you want…..she’ll be your mom too…”
Sprig’s eyes widened a little.
”....You mean it…?”
“Yeah….I promise…” She smiled at him softly,sighing.
”I’m sorry I snapped at you….And I’m sorry about your mom…”
“It’s okay…..we all gotta crack sometimes….”
Anne smiled at him.She….she was glad she’d found that box.
Glad she’d come to this strange frog-world and had found a family of frog hillbillies to take her in…..HER family of frig hillbillies.
Maybe she didn’t have a mother…..But she would always have them.
And as far as Anne was concerned, they were all the family she needed.