Mummy

Written for https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/category/what-do-you-see/

‘Mummy can I have an ice-cream?’

‘Sure, there are plenty in the freezer. I went shopping earlier.’

‘But I want a witches hat from the ice-cream man. It’s only one pound fifty. It is so hot, and it is all I fancy,’ Carol pleaded.

Anne opened up her purse, almost expecting to find moths fly out. Instead she found two pounds. It was a couple of days until she got her wages. Would it hurt to treat her daughter to her favourite combination of a strawberry lolly, and soft swirling coolness.

‘Okay, but make sure you get the change this time,’ she said, and passed the last of her money over.

She could hear the bells twinkling their tune, even as it turned the corner.

Her daughter opened the door, and her best friend Sheila joined her. One was holding the lolly, the other crunching on the wafer base. That was something she was proud of – her daughter always shared the smiles.