ななこが二泊三日で泊りに来ました。
次女（中3）のお弁当におにぎりのリクエストがあり、ななこと私で朝６時から、せっせと握りました。ななこは、用意しておいたフリフリおにぎり器を使って作りました。私がブンブン振ってもどうも上手く作れません。「貸して」とななこ。クルクルと横回転をして、開けてみると、あらまあ、とてもきれいな球型のおにぎりが完成していました。
「どうして作り方を知っているの？」と聞くと、お母さんと一緒に作ったことがある、との事。
素敵な思い出あるんだ、とほっとするのもつかの間、ななこの表情はどこか硬い。
児童相談所から「お母さんとは連絡がまったく取れない。」ときっちり説明を受けているななこ…。お母さんを信じたい気持ちと現実との狭間で苦しんでいるのかもしれません。
Foster child Nanako came to our house to
spend 2 nights/3 days with us.
Since our 2nd daughter (3rd grader in junior high) requested Onigiri (or rice-ball) for her bento-lunch, I, with help of Nanako, tried to make them one by one. As for Nanako, she made rice-balls
using flip-flop onigiri molder which I prepared for her in advance. I couldn't make rice-balls well enough out of this gadget even though I tried to flip-flop it. Nanako saw me fighting with it,
and she said to me "Let me handle it"...
It rolled up sideway, and....wow.. to my surprise, a beautiful globe-like onigiri was completed in front of us.
I asked her..."Why do you know how to use it and make onigiri ?" She somehow mentioned that she made with her own mother before.
While I was relieved to know she has a good memory of her mother, I somehow found her face got stiffened instantly. As she has to take deep in her heart a clear explanation from the child-care
consultation center that so far they can't get hold of her mother, she must be struggling in an emotional conflict...a dilenmma between her trust over her own mother and the fact of her absence
in reality.