Why?

“Why?”

I look at her hard.  She know my answer; she just won’t give to me!

She watching that road again, back and forth, back and forth.

She looks at me, “What, baby?”

I soooo exasperated with her lately!  But, I was feeling gracious.  “Ugg, I said why?”

“Oh, well, I don’t know. I really don’t know him.”

That making no sense and that not real answer.  I gotta come from a different angle to get somewhere on this situation.

Momma driving me to school.  Such a loooong drive, but I pretty good about it. I help her out to make the time past.  Tell her funny stories, yell out once in awhile make sure she still there and occasionally I get hungry and feed me a nose goodie.  But come on!  Momma! Pouring rain and once again you all crazy and silly goosey rushing to get some gas in this big truck.  But look, a man! He walking in rain! Look! Why? 

So, again, I say,

“Momma, why?”

I can see she decided too, I old enough to know now. I four, after all. 

“Well, baby.  He probably had to get something at the store and doesn’t have car.”

Ok! What?  She holding back and really, this is getting crazy- just explain to me already.  I sweating to death back here, because Momma always turns the hot air on and forgets how high it is blowing on me. I been in the car for ever, ever and ever. So long waiting! I hungry! And now there’s a guy in the rain! And what did he buy? Why he not have a car? Why? 

“Why?!”

“I don’t know”

“But why he walking? Why he buy? Why is him car gone?”  Come on, Mom! Work with me.

“Baby, I just don’t know, I don’t know him.”

Really?  Again, with the irrelevant and not useful information. She always doing this, you know. I see this world, I see how old she is, I look around and see a lot happening here. And that a problem, I don’t get it.  She gets it.  She has what I need; The story!

“But him car is gone. Him wet.  Him sister died?”  I grasping here, Lady. I trying to work out the details, problem solve this one. This just not clicking here. Why there be  man in rain. What he buyed at store? Chocolate? May he likes plane and bought plane? I like planes. I have black ones. Sometimes they zoom fast and sometimes they crash.

“Why him crash his black plane?”

“What?”

Wait. “What?”

“No, Zach. You said something, what?”

“What, mom?  Silly goose.”

She smiles at me. She is a silly goose.  “Ok, Zachie. We’re almost to school, ok, Baby?”

NO! The man in the rain. He walking. What happened to him car?

“But mommy, car all gone. He go in store? Why? Why he in the rain? Did his sister die?”  Maybe she did.

Nothing.

“Why?”

“Did his sister die? I don’t know, hun, I don’t know if he had a sister.  Sometimes people walk in the rain and not everyone has a car.  Cars are special gifts.”

I have idea! “You give him your car?”

“No, hunny, we need our car.”

“Why?”

“Ok, Zachie.”

I can tell! This is it! Finally the answer!

“You see that man. His name is Bob. He was living with his sister, Jane. But she got sick and died. He didn’t have a lot of money and needed money, so he sold the car for money.  So, now he had money but no car and he needs food. So he was going to walk to get food. On the way to get food it started to rain. So that’s why Bob’s in the rain.”

“Ohhhhh! Ok, mommy.” She such a silly goose, why not just tell me to begin with.  She makes so hard on herself sometimes, she knows I four and I can know things now!  His name Bob.

“Why?”

“What, huh?”

“Why he name Bob?”

“I don’t know, Zach.”

Really, Momma.  Here we go again.