Clemence the Insomniac Duckling - part 6

It’s the day of their 7th birthday.

The sky is thick with promises of rain and melancholy. Mum has made them a ship shaped cake. She's chosen a grey blue for the sea. She did stop to wonder about her choice of hue, afraid it may expose her sorrows.

She had a sleepless night, reminiscent of her youth. She spent the night stroking the photograph, speaking through it to Clemence, wondering what she’s become. She imagined her to be a beautiful and spirited young woman. Perhaps she’d changed her name from the romantic Clemence to something more modern.

Why was it that being modern was such a concern? She realized now the compromises she’d made for the sake of modernity. She never bought her children toys, waltzed around naked in their presence and discussed politics and war with them as of a young age to fit in with her parenting ideology. But most painful of all, she concealed her daughter’s existence for the sake of a harmonious, albeit modern, family.