The Pick-Up Sword

I could be on the topic of my sister’s death for a while. I’m ready to talk about it. So you may want to come back in a year or two if you’re in an up phase and don’t want to be brought low.

I was doing the dishes one day recently and became aware that Millie, who is three and was sitting at her place at the kitchen table having a snack or drawing or something, had begun saying something interesting about her imaginary friend.

“My friend knows how to get people out of heaven. She has a pick-up sword,” she said in that off-hand way that kids have of saying things when they are also peeling crayons or grapes.

“What is a pick-up sword?” I asked, suddenly alert.

“It’s a sword that you use to pick people up and throw them over into the life,” she replied. “To where life is.”

Setting out for heaven? Painting by Kaia (www.kaia.ca) used by kind permission.

I didn’t say anything for a long minute, during which Millie’s discourse wandered off into the realm of sports…or gardening — I wasn’t quite sure. “My friend was telling me  — he was calling the little red thing that was red and round, he called it a baseball tomato.”

I said, “I wish I could use the pick-up sword to bring my sister back to life.”

“It has to be special,” Millie said. “To pick up people. Pick-up swords are super special that you can’t even touch them. Well, you can try to touch them but you have to be super special.”

I wish I were super special.