S I B L I N G S
Doan Kim Khanh
Like other children, Maya and Zayn lived with their parents and were happy to be Mommy’s girl and boy and Daddy’s girl and boy. Unlike other Asian children, they had no grandparents on either side keeping extra loving eyes on them. From a distant state, their Asian maternal grandmother grieved over that “disadvantage” of theirs, but they might not necessarily agree. They had each other. Wasn’t that enough?
The first day the siblings were sent to kindergarten, they both broke into tears when realizing that Mommy and Daddy had quietly slipped out of their sight without saying good bye. The teachers, though overwhelmed by the expected dramatic howling scenes of the first day at kindergarten, were quick at detecting a tearful girl (Maya) holding a tearful boy (Zayn) in her tiny arms, saying repeatedly “That’s OK, Zayn! That’s OK, Zayn.” The teachers who witnessed that scene found Maya’s efforts to play the role of a “grown-up” sister both amusing and touching.
One year later, the siblings made no more scenes of tears at school, but were still dependent on each other’s presence. They had the same break time but different playgrounds, separated by a fence. Once more, the teachers were amused and touched at the sight of the siblings spending the break time together, each on one side of the fence. What were they doing? Well, all those common things that kids usually did: talking, playing, singing, as long as they were together.
At home, their working parents made them eat together, take baths together, sleep together. They were given similar toys and goodies on similar occasions. Like other sibling kids, they had occasional fights for toys, for goodies, for Mommy and Daddy’s attention… However, the fights did not usually last long, for Maya was always the one to yield.
Maya was more than just a generous sister to Zayn.
Each time Zayn turned naughty and got scolded by Mommy, Maya approached her with a frown:
- Mommy, don’t say that to Zayn.
As Mommy ignored the warning from the protective sister to pursue the scolding, Maya repeated her warning more insistently:
- MOMMY! Don’t say that to Zayn. That’s not nice. He’s a good boy,
She even said to Mommy in a commanding tone:
- You should go and say “sorry” to Zayn.
As Zayn grew up more, he started taking sides with Maya the same way she did with him. Once Dad was too persistent in teasing Maya, and found himself sternly scolded by his little boy.
- Stop! Don’t you see that Maya doesn’t like it?
They certainly were very loyal allies. There were exceptions, though, when Zayn was getting really naughty. Once, Mom and Dad were surprised at Maya’s scolding tone to Zayn:
"Uh oh, you are going to be stuck at 3 years old and Isaac is going to be older than you by his next birthday, you have to be the second oldest after me”.
Actually, she just copied Mom and Dad’s words, but from her mouth, they seemed to be more effective:
Otherwise, they were also the most caring allies. If Mom offered Maya a cookie, she always took two and brought the extra to Zayn. One day, the siblings were watching TV together when Dad came with a bag of snacks. Zayn immediately asked for some. Dad teasingly said:
“Let me watch my program and you’ll have the cookies.”
Zayn hurriedly left the television for his favorite goodies but Maya’s eyes remained stuck to the screen. She said “I’m OK”, leaving Dad little chance for a channel change. Didn’t she want a cookie, too? Zayn solved the problem: he took one which he immediately started eating and another which he brought to Maya, who absentmindedly ate it while watching TV.
Mommy, who followed the scene from the kitchen, quietly commented to herself: “That’s a win-win case. The kids now have both their TV program and the cookies. Poor Daddy is a total loser.”
Anyway, who would care about losing or winning? At bed time, they would all crowd onto their master bed, two little angels in between and their guardians on each side.
Doãn Kim Khánh (Jan 2019)
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