Writing Exercise--Disrupted Setting

As mentioned in my previous post, I am working through some writing exercises as part of the Neil Gaiman Masterclass. The most recent prompt my writing group tackled is as follows (paraphrased): 

Take one of the simple settings below and write a page about it, trying to undermine the reader’s

 expectations. ..Try to lead the reader in a different direction by not revealing the desire up front or by  

revealing a  surprising motivation.

The setting I chose: 

-Child raking a sandbox next to his nanny (mother).

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Modern Motherhood

It was happening again—all of the other children were leaving the sandbox, one by one, leaving her child to dig alone. He didn’t seem to mind or even notice that he was now playing by himself. Ever since she had adopted Frankie and entered into the exhaustive duties of a mother, Sharon had been anxious. Was he eating enough? Was he sleeping enough? Was she feeding him a well-balanced diet? Why didn’t he have any friends? The doctor had rolled his eyes at her frequent visits as if questioning whether or she was some kind of hypochondriac helicopter parent. She admitted to being a bit of a hypochondriac, but Frankie did show a propensity for vomiting. Sometimes she was convinced he did it on purpose. That was a ridiculous thought, she knew, but the smirk on his face after spewing out an especially delectable dish and walking away as if to say “have fun cleaning that up, peasant’ did make her feel suspicious. But he was a sweet baby. It had been a long few months getting adjusted to motherhood. For example, so many judgmental ‘internet moms’ had criticized her for co-sleeping with her baby when he was just weeks old, but he only seemed truly happy if he was nuzzled up to her, or sleeping on her face, or scratching at her while she tried to sleep. She knew that’s what a good mother did; whatever she needed to do to keep her baby happy. And now he was growing into such a big boy, and so advanced. She watched him crawl around the sandbox nonchalantly, burying various toys, abandoned by the children who had turned their noses up at her darling child. She wiped a few stray tears from her eyes. She knew that Frankie was a little different than other children, but she was convinced that it was really just the jealousy of the other mother’s who kept their children away. Frankie had done everything early: eaten solid foods, crawled and even made intelligible noises. Now, at 8 months, he could actually run quite fast. The other moms in her internet due date group were so judgmental, saying shit like “Of course he’s running.” She could almost feel their eyes rolling at her across the interweb. Was it because he was adopted? She didn’t know why they all treated her with such scorn. Wasn’t she just doing her best just like any other single mom?

Just as she felt her depressed thoughts spiraling out of her control, she saw one family coming towards the sandbox. There was a little girl with lovely black curls running, really running towards the sandbox. She looked absolutely elated and Sharon found herself choking back tears of joy. She had just been preparing the tiny stroller to take Frankie home, but this little girl really looked like she wanted to play with her son. Sharon settled back down on the bench, and nonchalantly pulled her magazine back out to peruse, secretly watching to see what would happen. The little girl jumped into the sandbox and began talking to Frankie. She grabbed a shovel and continued to chatter merrily in her toddler babble while she filled a bucket. Huffing and puffing, her mother arrived on the scene a minute later, pushing an unwieldy double stroller. Sharon smiled at the other mother, “Wow, you’ve got your hands full! “ The other mother smiled, and then glanced into the sandbox. She looked back at Sharon. She looked back at the sandbox. “Honey” she addressed her daughter, “Honey, I’m so sorry, but we have to keep going. You’re allergic to cats.”

via GIPHY