works of fiction
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Amy’s world was full of legs. Four thick legs of the table formed the corners of her house, six sets of tightly tucked chair legs formed a fence around her garden, and her own two legs, widely crossed as only a four year old can, upon which she squatted and fed her doll.
It had been a happy place to hide, the white damask tablecloth hanging like snow from the eves of her imagined gingerbread house in the forest. The grown-ups were talking and laughing loudly, and some of them had even come into her bedroom for a few minutes earlier on but hadn’t staid long once they saw that she wasn’t asleep.
She had been taken upstairs to bed far earlier than any four year old could be expected to sleep and stay quiet. And she had tried really hard, eyes screwed tight, concentrating on going to sleep, squeezing her doll so tightly that Amy thought she might break the bones in her tiny little body. No matter how hard she tried, sleep would not come. So she had quietly crept downstairs to the dining room to have her very own party.
But now the fence round her gingerbread house was being made of grown-ups legs as soon as the chairs had been pulled back and now there was no escape. It was as though the forest was walking towards her, hemming her in.
All the toes were pointing at her. Black, pointy, shiny shoes and some glittery shoes which looked like bits of string and which must have been so uncomfortable because the lady who was wearing them reached down and slipped one of them off almost as soon as she sat down.
All Amy saw was the lady’s hand, with a jangly bracelet round her wrist, and jewels on her fingers. The lady must have lost her balance because instead of just taking off her shoe she had to rest her hand on the man’s knee next to her. And the man must have been a very kind man because he moved his knee closer until she eventually regained her balance, but he left it there for her in case she needed it again. And not long afterwards she did.
The lady next to the kind man on the other side had shoes that Amy recognized. They were mummy’s shoes! Amy had often worn them around the bedroom when mummy was busy getting ready to go out. And then she recognized daddy’s socks. He was the kind man and Amy almost squealed with delight that he had been so helpful to the other lady. The other lady’s foot reached out and touched daddy’s leg, just above his special Christmas socks and gently caressed his leg. Perhaps the lady was saying thank you in a special way. Her toes slipped up the leg of daddy’s trousers until they disappeared, but Amy could still see them, slowly saying thank you.
Mummy’s feet moved. She must have accidently kicked daddy’s foot with her pointy black sharp shoes, but she didn’t say sorry to him and the other lady stopped saying thank you. Everybody was still laughing and talking loudly - except mummy and daddy.
Poor daddy.