i promise
MONIQUE GERMAIN WOO EDITORIAL
He stands over the grate in the concrete, staring,
The Boy’s bottom lip quivers, but it is all done now.
wishing it had been shut. The Boy has never been
There is no point to it, no point at all to feeling
clumsy before and he’ll never be clumsy again - he
misery- for what is done has been done and he must
promises- but damages cannot be undone. There
stand now and take responsibility.
would be no more use in thinking of it.
The boy steps forward then, thinking of home, and slips himself down through the open grate.
He wouldn’t get his keys back, but it will be ok. He will flow down the long, winding pipes and meet His mother told him once, “If you lose yourself, our
the ocean one day. There - I promise you reader,
spare sits under the front door’s rug,” and The Boy
for I’d never tell a lie - he will meet the other little
remembers her words, and he knows that the spare is
children who float down the sewers on their backs.
still there, and that the spare is still safe.
Little Boys with sunken eyes, clutching broken dishware. Little Girls with dull cheeks, with thoughts
There is no way the spare will be dropped or lost,
of missed curfews and calls.
because he knows that the stone beneath it is firm, and it is whole, and it is shut. There are no grates
Their families will have spares under their rugs - so it
under its rug and there is no clumsiness- the spare
will be ok. The children will not come back, but that is
will have its chance to see the light. They’d be all the
to be expected. They will never be clumsy again, and
better for it.
the spares will learn never to be clumsy at all.
The Boy takes a deep breath and looks up towards
If they are, and if they too become lost - it will be
the sky.
ok. There is always another spare, and there is always another family, and there is endless space
He wishes that the grate had been shut. In fact, he
underground for all the Boys and Girls whose parents
wishes that the grate had never existed at all- but
strive for perfection.
it will be ok. He reminds himself that it will be ok because there is a spare. There is always a spare.
The spares will be ok. They will not lie, they will not break, they will not speak. The stone beneath them is
The Boy reminds himself that his mother said to
very firm, and it is very whole, and they are very safe.
never tell a lie. The Boy reminds himself that it is
I promise.
better to be truthful and to accept what has been lost than to dwell on what could have been. He’d tell her.
There is no more use in thinking of it. There is no
He has to tell her.
more use in thinking of them at all.