Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Family, Parenting and Religion
Cinderella, Dressed in Yella

Cinderella, Dressed in Yella

Last updated on: August 11, 2023 at 1:19 pm by Mary Pezzulo

0 Comments

Cinderella, Dressed in Yella 2023-08-11T13:19:33-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

children playing with a jump rope

We were playing outside.

This happened a long time ago, when we’d just moved into this rickety rental house on a moderately bad street in LaBelle. I’d forgotten all about it until I saw it come up in my Facebook memories, and it made me sad.

Adrienne, who used to be called Rosie, was almost four. She and I had just gotten back from Dollar Tree. We were even poorer than we are now, and there usually wasn’t a penny to spare, but this had been a good week. In addition to our usual trip to the Schiappa branch library for books and the Aldi across the street to spend the EBT card, we had gone on a shopping spree at Dollar Tree. Adrienne picked bubble wands and sidewalk chalk and a squirt gun, and also a jump rope. I told her the jump rope was for older children, but she wouldn’t put it down.

When we got off the bus, the six-year-old neighbor boy I’ve called Ezra was playing outside, and he wandered by to inspect us. Ezra was autistic, at a different place on the spectrum than Adrienne and me. He didn’t speak very much. He liked to steal toys and throw them on the porch roof because it was exciting to see them go up and not come down again. A six-year-old who barely speaks and a hyperverbal three-year-old make a good combination, so Adrienne and Ezra were best friends. A little boy by the name of Frankie, who was visiting his grandfather for the summer, wandered by from another house to see what the fuss was about.

The boys wandered up to inspect the Dollar Tree toys while I unpacked the groceries and put them away.

The bubbles were usually a crowd favorite, but today nobody wanted to play with bubbles.

The chalk was often a big hit– Adrienne liked to color in a whole square of sidewalk with chalk, and Ezra liked to grind the chalk into dust between two rocks. But today, nobody wanted the chalk.

All three children wanted the jump rope, but none of them could jump rope.

I tried to referee. “All right. Frankie and Ezra, you two each hold an end. That’s right, hold the plastic part. Now Rosie, you jump over the rope while they twirl. Everybody together! Cinderella, dressed in yella, went upstairs to k– no, not like that!”

The boys were waggling the rope around to make waves instead of twirling it so that Adrienne could jump. Adrienne was fussing because she wanted to hold the rope herself. I gave Adrienne one end of the rope and told Frankie to jump, but that didn’t work either because none of them knew how to twirl the rope. Ezra, in particular, just wanted to move the rope up and down to watch it wiggle.

“Here, let me show you!” I said, taking Frankie’s end. “You have to twirl it in a circle like this. Cinderella, dressed in yella, went upstairs to kiss a– no! Stop!”

Ezra was jerking the rope straight up and down to make waves. Frankie was fussing because he didn’t have a hand on the rope. Adrienne was halfway to a meltdown because she wanted to hold both ends of the rope and jump by herself like Sister from the Berenstain Bears.

I relinquished the rope and let them play without direction for a moment, to see what would happen.

What happened was that Ezra bolted away with the jump rope in his hand.

Adrienne fell to the sidewalk and had a tantrum because her new toy had been pilfered. Frankie stood back and laughed.

Ezra was headed toward the corner of the street where the cars don’t always stop at the sign, so I sprinted after him in my long modest skirt, calling in a gentle school teacher voice. “Ezra, come back! Ezra, that’s not your jump rope! Ezra, honey, come back and have a cookie! Don’t go running into the street! Remember to stop when you get to the corner!”

Ezra did not stop.

Finally, I caught up enough to step on the edge of the jump rope.

Ezra kept running until the rope was taut, and then he tripped.

I helped him up and started to gather him and the rope back to the yard.

“Wow!” said a woman’s voice. “You’re a GOOD mother!”

I looked up to see a stranger wandering toward me– a woman, skinny, older than I, enjoying the contents of a plastic cup.

“I’m a WHAT?” I asked.

“A good mother! Come here!”

Ezra was meekly walking back to my yard, so I took a few steps toward the lady, certain I was being mocked.

“You talk to them real well,” said the lady. “Are you a foster mom?”

“What? Oh no. Only Rosie is mine. The other two are just visiting.”

“How do you make them do what you want?” asked the lady.

I was close enough now that I could smell the piercing fumes of alcohol coming from the cup. I realized for the first time that she wasn’t teasing me, but genuinely seeking information. “What?”

“I yell and yell at my kids and they don’t do what I want. They’ll do what their foster mom wants, but I can’t make them listen to me. Do you hit her? Sometimes I think you just have to hit ’em, you know? What do you do?”

I looked back at the child I’d just tripped. Ezra was wiggling the rope back and forth on the ground like a snake, and the other two were giggling and trying to evade it.

“Cinderella! Cinderella! Cinderella!” chanted Adrienne.

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

I don’t think I ever saw that lady again. The house she’d come out of was the duplex where people live only for the shortest time. One minute they’re there, and then they go wherever it is poor people go when they’re evicted.

Ezra’s house burned down in an electrical fire the next year, and he and his mother were homeless for months. They lived in their car until they found another rental on a different block.

Frankie went back to live with his parents.

Rosie is called Adrienne now– a young woman, going to middle school this year.

I didn’t know it was possible to miss Dollar Tree chalk and jump ropes so much.

Of course, it’s not really the jump rope I miss.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows and Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Family, Parenting and Religion

Previous Post

August 10, 2023

The American Pro-Life Movement is a Confidence Game

Next Post

August 12, 2023 In the Fourth Watch of the Night

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Thank you for bringing so much goodness into the lives of so many children.Ran across ..."

alwayspuzzled

The Passion of the Red Oak

"This current administration has had me reflecting on the Nuremberg trials and the like, for ..."

axelbeingcivil

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

"You're talking about supercessionism, the idea that Christians "replace" the covenant that the Jewish people ..."

Alex

Yes, the Old Testament is About ..."

"Oh I'm sure it did."

Mary

A Televised Execution is a Moral, ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which disciple brought his brother to Jesus, saying, 'We have found the Messiah'?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Andrew John James Peter