Mary’s Secret

By Ashley Murrell

Children’s laughter and screams of joy drifted through the air around the playground on a warm spring day. Little hands flew up into the sky, expressing their hopes and dreams of the game that was most important that day. Lilly, the teacher chosen to supervise the kids’ outside time sighed as she circled around the playground for Larchway After School Enrichment Rooms. Keeping an eye on thirty children was never an easy thing to do. But today was her day to open the outside to assure the kids wouldn’t explode from not digging into the woodchips or bouncing the basketball off the hoop in attempt to hit her car.

“So how’s your day going?” David, her boss, called as he sauntered over to where she was standing.

“It’s fine as always David, how about you?” She asked, never letting her eyes wander away from the playground.

“Good. I’ve been working on one of my paintings and have been so inspired that I can’t sleep much.” His low laugh rolled like a ball down a hill. “So I’ve been hearing some plans from your portable.” He continued, ending with a smirk.

“Oh?” Lilly replied distracted. There were always plans going on in their room. Her head teacher Daisy never let a day go unplanned. To do so was asking for utter chaos from the first and second graders.

“I went in to speak with Daisy about the summer and saw Mary and Alexa creating something secretly, they giggled the entire time and when I went over to see what they were doing, they fought to hide it.” He laughed recalling the scene. Lilly couldn’t help but smile herself, if there was one child in their whole center who loved to torture her with their love, no one had more than Mary.

“I wonder what they are going to do this time.” Her grin getting wider, giving David a knowing look of appreciation to be prepared for whatever the girls had planned this time. The past few weeks Mary with her best friend, Alexa had taken to finding pictures of ugly things, such as a dead mummy, or a gross insect and would paste it onto a piece of paper with big black letters written, ‘THIS IS LILLY’ or ‘LILLY’S STRANGE!’. Then while Lilly was out of their classroom, Mary and Alexa would put the pictures in her cubby, and wait eagerly by the front door for her return to discover their sign of devotion.

Normally Lilly had many friends who teased her in such a way, even David would continually bug her about her love of MacGyver, but with Mary it was innocent and translated directly into unspoken appreciation. Mary would never cross the line and intentionally want to hurt her feelings, whereas some of her adult friends would misjudge and end up doing as adults often do.

“She’s really taken too you.” David stated; Lilly could only smile. There were no words to describe Mary. Their teacher to kid bond had grown into something else; it was very unique, more like family. She looked up to Lilly like an older sister, and called her that to as many of her non-L.A.S.E.R friends whenever she could. With both of them having blonde hair and light eyes, Mary’s friends assumed she was right.

Before Lilly could say anything the both of them heard cries from her classroom’s porch.

“Lilly! Lilly!” Mary and Alexa screamed with great urgency that bordered on hysterical laughter. “There’s something in your cubby! You have to see it right away!” Their voices rang with the demand for attention to be paid now.

“I better go see what’s in my cubby.” Lilly said to David as she headed toward her portable. “I’m coming girls! Is it a pony?” She called back to them jokingly.

“No!” Mary and Alexa yelled with looks on their faces as if Lilly had said the strangest thing in the world. They then squealed with laughter as she approached the porch, and went back in to watch her reaction at what they had made.

As Lilly stepped into the portable she looked at Daisy sitting at the table, helping teach some of their kids to knit. She smiled when she saw her.

“They’ve been working really hard on making something for you.” She laughed, as Lilly finally turned and saw what was in her cubby.

It was a black widow spider, made out of construction paper, and drawn with crayola markers. A black piece of yarn was taped to the back and taped inside her cubby, swinging gently in the breeze. The likeness was so perfect; Lilly was so impressed she almost forgot to pretend to be afraid.

“Oh no! There’s a spider in my cubby!” She cried with fear, Mary and Alexa burst into laughter that made them fall to the floor. “Whatever am I going to do? Now I can’t drive home because there’s a spider in my cubby and I am so scared of spiders that I can’t get my car keys!” She continued, even Daisy and some of the other children had joined in on the laughter. Lilly smiled, maybe other children would remember that she was terrified of spiders, but no one other than Mary would put so much hard work into making one and actually try to scare her.

Lilly beamed and laughed at the paper spider.

“Are you scared?” Mary asked with great excitement.

“I am so scared that I am never going home and now I will live at L.A.S.E.R. forever!” Lilly cried throwing her head back and making a face of complete despair before turning to head back outside.

“You’re weird!” Mary and Alexa shouted as they ran past Lilly heading outside to think of another way to torture her.

She returned to where David was standing with a content smile on her face. Moments like that are priceless she thought, and she would never trade them for anything in the world.

“So what was in your cubby?” David asked while he danced in his surveillance spot, it was impossible for him to stand still for he was in much suspense.

“A paper black widow spider.” She answered, sending David into waves of laughter. Lilly couldn’t help but laugh as well. Her greatest fear had turned into something that given her one of her greatest memories.

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