"To the Tall and Caring Man" by Lisa Williams Kline
– from a grateful mother’s heart
A panic greater than any I’d ever experienced gripped me.
Lisa Williams Kline is the author of two novels for adults forthcoming in 2023, Between the Sky and the Sea, and Ladies’ Day, as well as an essay collection titled The Ruby Mirror and a short story collection titled Take Me. Her stories and essays have appeared in Literary Mama, Skirt, Sasee, Carolina Woman, moonShine review, The Press 53 Awards Anthology, Sand Hills Literary Magazine, and Idol Talk, among others. She lives in Davidson with her veterinarian husband, a cat who can open doors, and a sweet chihuahua who has played Bruiser Woods in Legally Blonde: The Musical.
Author’s Talk
Lisa Williams Kline
I ran away once. We lived near Reynolda Gardens, in Winston-Salem, and one Saturday when I was about ten, I walked over there and climbed a tree and sat in it all day. I was determined never to go home. Funny, now I can’t even remember why I was mad at my parents. They couldn’t have been more loving or attentive. What can I say? I was ten. Maybe I had just read Tom Sawyer.
After an entire day of sitting in the tree and brooding, I imagined my parents and my brother, frantic, wondering where I might be. I imagined my father crying, driving around, calling for me, searching everywhere. My mother hardly ever cried, but still, I imagined that she was worried beyond words. I felt bad for causing them pain and worry. Also, I was very hungry. I climbed down and walked home.
As a huge coincidence, it was dinnertime. I shut the back door behind me, and Mom, Dad, and my brother had just sat down to eat. They all calmly looked up at me. Dad smiled. “Hello, sweetheart. Did you have a good day?”
“Just in time,” Mom said.
My brother tossed a roll onto my plate. Nobody seemed worried in the least. They hadn’t even noticed I was gone. Or, at least, they were pretending not to notice. Sheepishly, I sat down and ate my dinner, tears brimming in my eyes. If I ever discussed that day with my parents after that, I can’t remember what we said.
Times changed vastly by the time I had my children. No one in their right mind would let a ten-year-old wander off to Reynolda Gardens and stay away the entire day. Parents barely let children out of their sight. Like all of the other mothers I knew, I was vigilant. My daughters’ play dates were planned and vetted.
This story is about a time I let my guard down. I’ve never forgotten it. In fact, I wrote a novel called Ladies’ Day about a lost daughter, and wonder if the seed of the idea might have come from this experience.—Lisa Williams Kline
Joni, the chihuahua, at home with friends all waiting to be serenaded—-or fed, more likely.
