Innocence

"I want to live here," I said as I sat at the back of my father's old Vespa. 

"Can we move here please?" I asked my father in earnest while pointing to the four-storey walk-up apartments that had just been built. 

They've got walls built around the apartments grounds. I haven't got walls built around the flats where I lived. I'm sure there were flowers and plants around the walled garden. 

"Sure. Go home and tell mummy to pack all our clothes. We'll move here tomorrow," he replied. 

I couldn't see his face but he said yes and that's all that mattered. 

We're moving! He's going to buy an apartment where I want to live. 

I came home that afternoon and told my mum,"You can pack all our clothes up. We're moving to an apartment that has a walled garden. Daddy said we can move there tomorrow." 

I was excited to see the garden. I was excited that my father agreed to move to a place where I wanted to live. I'm such a lucky girl, I thought. 

Tomorrow came and went. We did not move. Mummy didn't pack our clothes. 

For the next few days, I said the same thing to my father and got the same reply. I would come home from school and told my mum the same thing and still she didn't pack our clothes. 

If only she'd pack our clothes, we could move. My simple mind only understood that. My father said we could move there but mum had to pack our clothes up. She didn't pack our clothes so we can't move. 

After a few days, I realized my mum didn't want to move and that's why she didn't pack our clothes up. I was resigned to living in our flat which didn't have a nice walled garden. 

"If only mummy would pack our clothes," I thought, "Then we'll be able to live in that apartment."