\u201cOne day my little daughter told me, \u2018Mom, every time Grandpa gives me a bath, he asks me to play a game. I have to close my eyes, and while they\u2019re closed, he does something\u2026\u2019 I froze. The next day, I opened the bathroom door without warning\u2026 and what I saw made my legs start shaking<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My daughter, Emily, was six years old when she first said the sentence that kept me awake almost the entire night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That afternoon, we were in the kitchen. I was making dinner while she sat at the table drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, without even looking up, she said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMom, did you know Grandpa and I have a game?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My father, George, was seventy-six years old, and he and Emily were almost inseparable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He picked her up from school, read her stories, and taught her how to plant flowers in the garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat kind of<\/p>\n\n\n\n
game?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emily thought for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen Grandpa gives me a bath, he tells me to close my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The knife in my hand stopped. I turned toward her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She shrugged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo we can play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Okay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She looked at me, confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut Grandpa doesn\u2019t do anything bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That sentence should have reassured me. It didn\u2019t. That night, I barely slept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My father had always been the person I trusted most. Whenever my husband had to work late, Dad came over to help me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whenever Emily was sick, he could sit beside her for hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had never seen anything that made me suspicious of him. But now my mind had taken one sentence and built a hundred<\/p>\n\n\n\n
frightening possibilities around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next morning, I started remembering little things that had never seemed important before. A few weeks earlier, Dad<\/p>\n\n\n\n
had told me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re busy. I\u2019ll get Emily ready for bed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another time, the bathroom door had been closed. When I knocked, I heard both of them laughing. Back then, I had smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now the same memory felt completely different. All day, I kept telling<\/p>\n\n\n\n
myself I was overreacting. But something in me<\/p>\n\n\n\n
refused to let it go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next evening, Dad came over again. After dinner, Emily ran up to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGrandpa, are we going to play our game today?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked at my father. He smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf your mom doesn\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I had already made up my mind. Ten minutes later, I heard the water running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Emily laughing. I slowly walked toward the bathroom. The door was closed, but not locked. I stepped close enough to<\/p>\n\n\n\n
hear them. Dad said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
far from every terrible thing my mind had imagined that I just stood there for a few seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emily was sitting safely in the tub, surrounded by bubbles and bath toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her eyes were closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My father was holding a small cup in one hand, using it to rinse her hair, while in the other hand he held one of Emily\u2019s rubber ducks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMom,\u201d Emily laughed, \u201cyou ruined the game!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked at them, confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat game?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad slowly smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGuess the sound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It turned out that a few months earlier, Emily had started being afraid of having her hair washed because shampoo had once gotten into her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every bath had become stressful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My father didn\u2019t want that fear to get worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So he invented a game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emily would close her eyes, and Dad would make sounds using different bath toys\u2014the rubber duck, a little cup, a water bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While she tried to guess which toy was making the sound, he carefully rinsed the shampoo from her hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every time she guessed correctly, she earned one \u201cstar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After ten stars, Grandpa urm took her out for ice cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stood in the doorway, feeling tears fill my eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad looked at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He understood immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou were scared, weren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I couldn\u2019t lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was quiet for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then he said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou did the right thing by checking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked at him in surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He continued,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA mother should always make sure her child is safe. I should have explained our game to you sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emily opened her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMom, I told you Grandpa urm wasn\u2019t doing anything bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I walked over and kissed her forehead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That evening, when Dad was getting ready to leave, he stopped by the door and said quietly,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy the way, this<\/p>\n\n\n\n
game isn\u2019t new.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou were afraid of having your hair washed too. When you were five, I played the same game with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then suddenly, I remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closed eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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