Listen

A standard wall of the dining room adjacent to the kitchen of a 1980’s house might seem inconsequential to most people. They would pass by it without a second thought but to a little girl she swore she would whisper to the wall and hear it speak. When she saw it spattered with her spaghetti she went over to the wall and felt as if it was laughing with her. How fun spaghetti was, as she felt her mom’s big belly laugh too. Her mom would often lean against it when she was tired, which it seemed like she became more and more tired lately. The little girl would lean against the wall too and she felt wall’s happiness. It loved being recognized and seen. She would often put things against the wall and see if she could climb it, the wall worried she might fall. She would try to draw on it when she was bored, which the wall seemed to like as the sun had shown brightly, though moms belly was big by then and mom sighed upset as she tried to clean the wall. But the little girl felt the wall loved it and she tried to stop her mom, who only showed annoyance at the little girl. The little girl cried against the wall, and it soaked up her tears, with its strong presence telling her, it was ok to cry. Her mom apologized and hugged the little girl against the wall, asking for the wall’s support as well. In the dark of the night the little girl came out of the room and realized her Aunt was there, sitting at the kitchen table across from her wall. She saw her paintings hung up on the wall and she went over to sit on her cushion next to it. She was confused about where her mom was but the wall reassured her that her mom would be home soon. She fell asleep on the cushion and woke up to her mom home with a little person in her arms. Mom bent down and sat next to the little girl with this new little person. The wall thought the little person was the cutest in the world, and so did the little girl. They instantly fell in love with the little person. The little person was mostly next to the wall now, their bassinet right up against the wall. The little girl loved to get on her tippy toes to peek at the little person, the wall liked to see the little person too. However, both were annoyed with the loud sounds the little person made, but their cute yawns and coos made up for it. As the little person grew, so did the little girl. She started to play with the little person more and more and soon, she forgot about the wall until one day. One day, the little person put their ear up against the wall. The little girl was now older and didn’t have time for nonsense as she did her homework at the school table.

“Listen” said the little person and the girl rolled her eyes and walked over to the wall to placate the little person. When she did, memories flooded of her time with the wall and she started to tear up.

“You are sad?” said the little person and the girl wiped her tears.

“Yes, but happy because you reminded me that the wall can talk. If you just listen closely.”

“It can?” and the little person put their ear up to the wall and heard the rumble of the pipes - or was it a laugh? “The wall is laughing!”The little person screamed and laughed and the little girl tickled the little person and then laid against the wall, who was content again.

“I love you” whispered the girl to the wall.

“I love you too,” the wall whispered back.