541 – Handles

I’m not sure I posted this before, but it comes from a dear friend, who passed on some years ago. She was a police officer in the Southern MidWest. Her name was Lisanne.

....walking down the pet-food aisle of my local supermarket...stocking up on food for the monsters...and preparing to head to the produce section for some fruit...too hot here (still in the triple-digits) to eat much of anything else...

....wearing a pair of jean-shorts and a white t-shirt with ''POLICE'' in huge blue letters on the back....and a replica of our Department's shield on the front...my hair pulled up in a ponytail, which swings from the opening on the back of my white ball-cap style hat....

....looking back over my shoulder as I feel a tug-tug on the leg of my shorts....and hear a small voice say...

"handles..."

...turning around and smiling at a little imp...all of two years old is my guess...

....crouching down to his eye-level...finding two bright gorgeous blues (rimmed in impossibly-long black lashes) staring wide-eyed back at me....his tousled golden curls shaking slightly as he nods at me and says again...

"handles..." (with the appropriate tug to my shorts once more...)

"Hi sweetie. Where's your Mommy?"

"handles..." (tug-tug)

"Handles?"

"handles!..."

...looking around for his Mother and seeing her walk toward us....only a few steps away....her angel never out of her sight.....the baby's back to her so he doesn't see her...

...giving her a little ''wait a sec'' look and a smile as she stops and smiles....and allows us to continue....

"handles!!!..." (tug-tug...those heartbreakingly beautiful blue eyes beginning to well with tears of frustration...)

"Okay, honey....Uhmmmm...Can you show me what it is you want?" ...reaching my hand out to his and feeling his strong little grip as I stand and let him lead me off....a quick smile back over my shoulder to his Mom - who follows silently behind us...our grocery carts left mid-aisle....

And lead me he did....chubby little legs flying over the tiled floor of the Supermarket....down the pet-food aisle...a sharp turn to the right...past the end-caps promoting the specials of the week...on and on...his head a golden halo of bouncing curls...past the dairy case....another sharp right....to the frozen-food cases....

"handles!!!..." (this time emphasized with squeals of delight as he spots the treasure he seeks...and he points....)"handles!!!..."

...looking up at the frozen-food case and its contents...the glass doors only slightly hazed with frost....then smiling down at this adorable little tyke....as realization takes hold in my mind...

"Ahhhh....*handles!*...."

...opening the door to the food case....reaching in and withdrawing a box of assorted Popsicles....tearing open the top of the box and finding a red one....carefully snapping it into two sections....then removing the outer wrapper and placing the cherished 'handle' in his tiny hand...plump baby fingers curling tightly around the smooth wooden stick....keeping the other half for myself...

...unable to resist tousling those silken curls as his mouth engulfs the tip of the frozen confection....and handing the remainder of the box to his Mother...(who, by this time, is laughing at her precocious and resourceful little son...)

...he turns to the sound of his Mother's laugh....his little cupids-bow of a mouth smiling happily around the Popsicle....not *too* many drips down the front of his pristine white t-shirt...and runs the few steps necessary to reach her...

"mama...handles!!!"

...stepping silently away...munching on my half of the Popsicle....not too many drips down the front of *my* pristine white t-shirt....reaching into the case for a box of 'handles' for myself....and adding them to my cart of dog-food when I reach it....

....paying out at the check-out stand....explaining quickly and asking the cashier to ring the box twice....my treat for the little golden-haired angel who reminded me that sometimes we all need help in obtaining our 'handles', whatever they might be....that often we only have to ask for what we want or need...that wide-eyed trust and innocence are too soon gone in our lives....and that simple pleasures are often the best...