Tax Day.

She sits on the sticky polyester couch with

a lump in her throat bigger than the

house in which she heard the word “goodbye”

one to many times and she swings her

feet forward and backward ignoring the

fact that she was five years old yes five years

old and her hair had not been cut in over

ten months and her throat hurt but she dare not

ask for someone to take care of her yes she

dare not ask because if she did she wouldn't be

sitting on the polyester couch waiting for

an answer to a question she had no desire

to ask but she would be simply a memory

in two evil peoples minds not potentially a new member

to a new family where she could actually eat

a meal and take a shower and potentially one day

hear three words she had never even heard before and her

feet kept swinging and her mind kept racing yes at five

years old she was thinking about what her parents were

saying as they had to tell the judge people that they

hurt her she bets they were crying and lying

like the always do and saying that they

“loved her” but she squinted her eyes and thought

about the last thing she saw on TV

and drifted into an artificial world in which she rode

a unicorn and was the princess to a kingdom of

all her favorite animals and she had a mom queen who

gave her gifts and a dad king who tucked her into

bed at night and they hugged her and kissed her like

other parents do to her friends at school and pick

them up in their SUV and ask about their day they

don’t make their kids walk home from preschool

and learn how to make a peanut butter sandwich at

five years old yes no matter how hard she tried she

couldn’t get them off her mind all she needed

was an answer to the question and she

could finally live her life and not fear for it and

with the twenty-second swing and the

fourth time she had to reposition herself because

the polyester was so sticky the big man

came out of the big room with a couple who was

smiling and she was confused but excited

as they slowly approached her and planted those two

big kisses on her forehead that she had dreamed

about for so long and they held her in their arms as she

cried and cried and cried for she didn’t have to make

her own peanut butter sandwiches anymore yes

she didn’t have to worry that she would be home

alone when she walked back from school

because she finally had something that she had

never known and now she could tell her

friends with a big bold smile on her young

face that she had a family and someone that

would pick her up from school in their SUV

and ask her about her day and give her presents

and she could tell her secrets too so she

wiped the tears from her eyes and held her

breath as the two people kissed her forehead

one more time and the lady whispered “I love you” into her ear and

she started to cry again.