Circle of mothers

 

I live in a building for people over fifty. That is the first thing I need to make clear..

Last night I woke up about 1:30 AM and looked out the window by my bed. I could see people down at the edge of the grass by the light.

They appeared to be women, maybe five or six or them and each one had a small toddler standing in front of them. A child young enough to be holding onto a parent's finger or hands while standing there.

I watched them for a few minutes. I couldn't see details or faces, just silhouettes in the dark, but they appeared animated like they were talking to each other and the children were fidgety.

I couldn't understand why they would be there at this time of night or what they could all be doing with such young children with them. I tried to imagine some kind of meeting just ending, but it made no sense. After a few minutes they began to disperse.

One of the infants picked up his legs and looked like he was making a fuss about going.

I wanted to stay and see what happened next. Did they all get in separate cars? What did they do? But I had to go to the bathroom and I was afraid to wait. When I got back there was no sign of them.

I tried to look at the scene through tree branches and light and see if I could reinvent them, to see if maybe I was imagining all this, but I could not.