HUMOR

We Used to Date, Then I Trampled His Kid

Whoops-a-daisy

Claire Franky
4 min readSep 17, 2024

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A woman’s legs in the air appearing to jump or trip.
She’s getting ready to trample. Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

A tear spilled. Then another.

I kept my eyes on the ground as I felt them trickle down my cheeks. People were bustling around me, chatting, screaming, knocking into each other. Carefully, I stepped around each one, trying not to attract attention.

Which is usually what happens right before I make a spectacle of myself.

“Sorry,” a girl called as she nudged me with her scooter.

That’s ok. I didn’t need that hip.

I met her eyes and smiled before continuing through the maze of children and parents at school drop-off.

My daughter’s preschool stands on the grounds of an elementary school, in the middle of a neighborhood where most people walk their children to school.

“Hey, wait!” A boy yelled to his friend as they chased each other through the school gates, almost barreling me over.

Fuckers.

I inhaled deeply as I walked through the gate, willing my tears to stop.

A few seconds earlier, the staff at the preschool had peeled my daughter off me as she screamed and cried. I hugged her goodbye and reminded her I would pick her up later before exiting the building. As soon…

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