Niece

 

The idea that my niece

may have superhuman strength

began when she was a baby

in her high chair

and her mom and dad

told her to act like Hercules for me.

Her blue eyes widened and

with a goofy grimacing smile

she lifted her arms and balled her tiny fists

and flexed her biceps in a jittery pose.

“Eeeeeeee!” she said with a big chuckle.

 

When she could walk

I came up with a game

where I sat on the carpet,

hugged my knees and rolled back and up,

back and up, back and up—

til I got stuck on my back

*wink*

and couldn’t recover.

“Help, Winners! I’m stuck!”

She nodded at her cue and bent down,

grabbed me by the neck and collar

and let out her big chuckle.

“Eeeeeeee!”

I thanked her for the rescue.

Then in 2020,

before the pandemic and the shutdown,

after the best one so far left me,

I lost the job where we met,

and all the adults in the know

knew I had screwed up…

I was lying on the floor

at my parents’ place,

grounded by memories that were all just heavy burdens,

eyes absorbed by the ceiling.

Stuck.

She walked in the room and asked,

“Are you playing that game?”

It took me a second to get it.

I made the cannonball shape.

“Help, Winners! I’m stuck!”

She smiled and hugged me around the neck.

“Eeeeeeee!”

And before I knew what happened

I was back on my feet--rescued.