Mom, don’t drink from that glass! The new dad PUT SOMETHING IN IT. Mary was in shock hearing these words from her daughter and decided to SWITCH the glasses. What she saw made her hair STAND ON END…..

It was already dark outside, and she had just finished grading her fifth-graders’ essays. Twenty-three years of teaching English language and literature in school had taught her to save time, but today her thoughts were scattered, and the work dragged on. The quiet creak of the floorboards gave away her daughter’s presence even before she appeared in the kitchen doorway.

«Mom, you promised we’d watch Short Circuit today,» Sophie stood leaning against the doorframe, in an old T-shirt with a picture of Mickey Mouse, which Mary herself had once worn. Her mother had brought that T-shirt from a trip to Boston in the eighties. «Sorry, sweetie,» I got totally bogged down with these essays, Mary smiled guiltily.

«Come here.» Sophie approached her mother, and she hugged the girl, inhaling the familiar scent of baby shampoo. Ten years.

How quickly she grows. It seems like just yesterday Alex was holding a tiny bundle in his arms at the maternity hospital, and now she’s already an independent person, with her own character and views on life. Dad loved that movie, right? Asked Sophie, climbing onto her mother’s lap, though at 10 years old she was already quite big for such affections.

Yes, Mary involuntarily glanced at the framed photo standing on the sideboard, inherited from her grandmother. He always said you look like the girl from there, like Ally. And I remember how we watched it together when we went to the cabin, and he grilled barbecue, then sang songs with his guitar.

Sophie spoke calmly, without tears, but Mary felt her daughter’s shoulders tense. Three years had passed since Alex didn’t return from his business trip. A senseless accident on I-90 from Boston to Chicago cut his life short at 38, leaving Mary alone with a 7-year-old daughter, a mortgage, and an old Chevy that he never got to replace with something newer.

Let’s put on the kettle, and then watch at least one part, suggested Mary, trying to distract both her daughter and herself from sad thoughts. We still have some cookies that grandma baked, remember? The ones with raisins? Sophie perked up. Exactly, Mary nodded, turning on the electric kettle, bought with her first salary after maternity leave…

Get the cups, just not the fancy ones from the set, the regular ones. While the kettle boiled, Mary watched her daughter arranging cookies on plates. Carefully, trying to pick cookies of the same size.

Just as pedantic as her father. Alex always loved order in everything. You know, Mom, Emma from class says they have a new dad now, and they’re flying to Florida this summer, Sophie suddenly said, not lifting her eyes from the plate.

Mary froze for a moment, not knowing what to say. Conversations about new relationships had come up between them before, but each time she felt awkward, as if betraying her husband’s memory. «And how does Emma feel about the new dad?» Mary asked cautiously.

«Fine,» Sophie shrugged. She says he’s fun and buys her all sorts of stuff. And Tim from the parallel class says his stepdad always yells at him and makes him study math….