The Moment Keeper. Buffy Andrews

cream drips from Olivia’s cone onto the red laminate tabletop.

      “Lick around the edges,” Tom says, placing a couple more napkins in front of Olivia.

      Tom finishes his dish of raspberry ice cream. Steam snakes upward as the waitress refills his white coffee mug. He picks it up and takes a sip. “So what movie do you want to watch when we get home?”

      “Snow White.”

      “Didn’t we watch that the last time Mommy worked?”

      Olivia nods.

      “And you want to watch it again?”

      Olivia nods again, trying to lick her cone faster than it can melt. She has been on a Snow White kick lately.

      “OK. We’ll watch Snow White, but maybe the next time we can watch something different.”

      Olivia nods.

      I know what it’s like to love a movie. I loved Bambi. It wasn’t one of Grandma’s favorites. I noticed that she always left the room when Bambi’s father told him that his mother couldn’t be with him anymore.

      “That’s kind of like my mother,” I told Grandma the first time we watched the movie. Rachel had all of the Disney movies and let me borrow them.

      Grandma put her hand to her heart. “Come again, Sarah?”

      “Bambi’s mom died like my mom, but she saved him just like my mom saved me.”

      Grandma dabbed the corners of her eyes with one of her handmade cotton hankies. “Well, I suppose in a way it is,” she said.

      “Was it my fault, Grandma, that she died?”

      “Oh, come here.”

      I jumped off the couch and bounced over to Grandma, who was sitting in her favorite rocker. She sat up straight, brushed the curls off my face, put her hands on my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes. “Don’t you ever, ever think that it was your fault. Your mother wanted you more than anything. When she got sick, instead of saving herself, she saved you. And just like Bambi, you’re going to grow up and experience great things. Promise me that, Sarah.”

      “I promise.”

      I had forgotten about our Bambi discussion and my promise. In a matter of seconds I had broken my promise to Grandma, and a raging fire of guilt consumed me.