It was already nine in the evening, and I was still hunched over a report — deadlines were pressing, management was tense, and I had to stay late. My daughter had stayed with my husband. I was sure they were having a good time… until the phone rang.
On the screen — my husband’s number. I answered, expecting his usual, “So, where are you?” but instead, a small trembling voice replied:
— “Mom, it’s me…”
— “Yes, sweetie, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you sleeping? And where is dad?”
— “Mom, he’s in the bathroom. I don’t have much time…”
A shiver ran down my spine.
— “Not much time for what? What’s happening?”
— “Mom, please, come home quickly. Dad is hurting me. Please… save me.”
I jumped up in a hurry, one hand closing a bag, the other searching for my keys.
— “Can you tell me exactly what he did?”
— “Yes…”
She took a deep breath, as if about to recount the most terrible horror. And then my daughter said something that left me completely stunned.
— “Mom… he made me eat broccoli… You know how much I hate broccoli! I drank five glasses of water so I wouldn’t taste that awful flavor!”
I froze. Then… I couldn’t hold it in.
The laugh just escaped me.
— “Oh, my poor girl… What has this ‘monster’ of a dad done to you now?”
— “He made me take a bath! Take a bath, Mom! And I don’t want to take a bath!”
— “What an unfortunate child you are,” I said, laughing.
— “And… he said I had to go to sleep. But I don’t want to sleep until you come back.”
I nearly fell off my chair laughing. In my mind, I pictured the “traumatized child” wrapped in a blanket as if she had just survived some global tragedy.
And suddenly, footsteps were heard in the background.
— “Who are you talking to?” — my husband’s voice.
— “Nobody!” — my daughter yelled, then hung up.
After that dramatic scene, all that was left for me was to go home and “rescue” my little one from… broccoli, the bath, and going to bed too early.
Sometimes I think she has a real talent for theater. Sometimes — that she inherited my sense of drama.
But honestly, I went home with a smile from ear to ear.
