Six Years Old

I was sitting on the sunporch with Nana. I had been crying and she was tending to me. Actually she was blindfolding me, but she was patient and loving. "Bend your head forward my darling," she said it softly and it sounded like ma-dullie. "That's it, there you go". I could smell her perfume and Salem cigarettes and, for once, I wasn't worried about anything. She had a small pillowcase that she had filled with random objects and she took my hand and guided it inside, "No peeking," she said.

"Okay," I whispered. I kicked one leg against the sofa and pulled something out.

"Do you know what that is?"
I held the object and circled my fingers around it. I knew what it was but I didn't want the game to go by quickly so I kept touching it. "A shell?" I said finally.
"Good one!" she said, "You're going to be good at this".

I could hear her sifting her fingers through the bag. I could hear the loud ticking clock and a lawnmower outside down the big hill.  "Why isn't my Dad coming?" I asked her.
"He really wants too"she said quickly.
"Oh," I said after a while, "I thought he was".
"I know my sweetie" she put her arm around me. I couldn't see much with the blindfold on except for a line across the bottom, wood floor, rug, my knees. Nana pulled me closer to her and rested her chin on the top of my head. She took a deep breath, and after a while I pulled away slowly.

"Here, you want to try another one?" she said. She handed me a shoe horn. I knew what it was right away but I held onto it.
"I'm not sure," I said. I touched it with my fingers.
"Just feel it," she said, "I know you can figure it out".