Five-minute free writes, Day 23 - "Need"

I never hear the word "need" spoken just by itself, without context, without thinking of my younger son and the turmoil that frequently consumed our family when he was young.

Both of our children loved complicated toys with many parts, most of them very, very small. For instance, the action figure He-Man was a favorite.  He-Man was a super-hero, always the "good guy," and possessed of many, many tiny accessories.

Since neither of our boys ever seemed to break anything or lose anything, we were awash in little bitty plastic stuff.  And it never failed - the one weapon that our youngest felt was essential to whatever imaginary game he was playing was the one weapon that no one could find.  Since they never lost anything, the assumption was that this tiny plastic knife was somewhere in the depths of the toy box, under the bed, thrown in with the bath toys - somewhere.

I will never forget the wail - "Mom, I NEEEEED it."  So much tragedy. So much angst. So much drama.  So both I and my husband were desperately plowing through plastic trucks and cars, animals, other action figures, other weapons, and on and on and on - until finally the weapon in question turned up.

Satisfied, Number 2 son took the little knife, placed it in the slot in He-Man's hand, and calmly left the room.  With He-Man sitting on the floor, untouched.