Mud Pies

When Maria was four years old, she loved to be outdoors.

Sometimes her father would take her for walks around the farm. She would reach up her arm and grab hold of his pinky, wrapping her little fingers around it as they walked. He would point at things for her to see like the fruit in the tree or a bird flying over head. Sometimes he would carry her on his shoulders and she felt she could touch the sky. Maria would watch her father at whatever he would do whether it was fixing a piece of fence or looking at the corn.

Other times, Maria would play outdoors with her little brother, Tomas. They would run around the grass playing chase. They would explore the gardens. They would pet the dogs and cats. They would go into the chicken and duck pen to play in the water trough. Most of all, they loved to play in the sandbox. The sandbox was shaped like a boat and even had benches in it. It was in between an apple and a pear tree and the leaves always provided a dappled shade over the sandbox.

One day, as they played in the sand, Maria had an idea. She poured some water from a pail into the sand. She picked up some of the wet sand with her hands and placed it onto a plastic plate. She smoothed it across the plate until it was covered with the mud. Then she placed the plate in front of Tomas and said, "Tomas, here is your mud pie."

Tomas looked at the pie and then took a bite. He spit it out and yelled, "Hey - that's dirt!"

Maria said, "Yeah, it's a mud pie."

Tomas ran into the house calling, "Mommy! Maria made me eat a mud pie!"

Maria's mother scolded Maria, "Do not feed your brother mud pies."

Then she scolded Maria's brother, "Do not eat Maria's mud pies."

Staircase at Night

When Maria was very tiny, she shared a large attic room with her two older sisters, Katrina and Juanita. The door to their room was at the top of a long narrow staircase. Maria mostly liked her room, but was a little scared of the stairs, because she was so tiny.

Sometimes at night, Maria would wake up from a bad dream. She would go to each of her sisters' beds, but they would not wake up. She really wanted to be with her mother, but her mother's bedroom was downstairs.

Maria gathered up her blanket (it was soft yellow with satin trim) and hugged it to her little body. Then she gathered her courage and opened the bedroom door to the dark staircase.

Maria sat on the top step and stared down the stairs. It was so dark and so far down. She hugged her blanket again and scooted her bottom down to the first step.

Now the hard part came - she stood up, turned around and stretched her hand to the doorknob. She wrapped her fingers around it and pulled the door towards her until it closed all of the way. Then she pressed her body to the door as she slowly turned her body around on the narrow top step. With her back now to the door, she slid back down onto her bottom.

Maria took a deep breath. She slowly bumped her way down the stairs on her bottom - one at a time. When she reached the end of the staircase, Maria stood up on the black and red checked linoleum floor in her bare feet. She scampered down the hallway to her parents' bedroom, dragging her yellow blanket behind her.

Maria stood at the door and called, "Mommy?" But there was no answer.

Maria lifted her little fist and tapped on the door with her knuckles. Maria's mother's voice came through the wood of the door, "Who is it?"

Maria answered softly, "Maria...I had a bad dream."

Maria's mother opened the door and scooped Maria up in her arms. She gave her a big hug. Then she lay down in her bed, with Maria right next to her. She pulled the covers up and snuggled Maria to her. Maria squeezed her cold little feet and tiny toes in between her mother's warm legs and fell asleep - safe and happy - sweet as an angel.