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“Well mother, the doctor’s recommendation is that you do some puzzles. It will help with your memory. He did say crosswords, but until then improvising is the name of the game…” With these words she placed a box full of Leah’s alphabet beads in front of me.

“Leah’s going to cry until she gets these back.”

“How she feels is not pertinent. She was prancing around playing princess of the castle, scattering everything about. As queen of the castle I made her a deal; I get to annex the beads for a day and she doesn’t have to clean up her room until then. Every princess knows that agreements must be honoured, so she wont ask for it. At least not today. Which mean, as queen mother, you get to use them.

Now let’s see… ah, how about you spell out our family tree. Daddy and you, below that Micky and I, our spouses, children, etc. And then you build the tree upwards with grandma and grandpa’s families. Tell you what, you should use the empty room. More floor-space.”

So, there I sat, hours on end, doing nothing, because today of all days, I just wasn’t sure of her daddy’s name.

Photo credit: Morguefile.

Written for Roger Shipp’s Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practitioner using words from the prompts:

Ragtag Daily Prompt (empty room), Your Daily Word Prompt (annex), The Daily Spur (recommendation), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (pertinent), and Word of the Day Challenge (improvizing).