Patty packs a basket and off we go. We spread a big blanket on the grass and Patty gives me a peanut butter sandwich and an apple.
    "I don't want an apple," I tell Patty. "I want an orange."
    "I don't have an orange," Patty says. "If you don't want your apple, you don't have to eat it."
    "I want an orange," I say louder.
    "I don't have an orange," Patty says again.
    "But I want an orange!" I throw my apple down.
    "Frankie, there are no oranges," Patty says in her I-mean-it voice.
    "I need an orange!" I scream my loudest.
    "Stop it, Frankie," Patty says, "or I'll have to take you home."
    "I don't want to go home," I yell and I start to cry. Patty puts down her sandwich and sits right next to me. "Frankie, what's the matter?" she asks, softly.
    "We're fighting," I wipe my nose on Patty's shirt. "I'm scared. I don't want to get divorced."
    Patty puts both arms around me and hugs me tight. "Frankie," she says, "look at me. "I will always, always, always, always be your mom....."
 
© 1993 Lesléa Newman

 

Reviews - Saturday Is Pattyday

"The story reads naturally and directly....the situation is just as a young child would perceive it." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"An exceptional offering from Lesléa Newman....a wonderful tool to help children identify the often complicated emotions that accompany the trauma of a breakup." --The Family Next Door

"Written with great tenderness." --Bay Area Reporter