He turned to his mother and said: “Do you mind mom, if I go out and play with Mateo?“
“No of course not, my dear“ answered Cynthia. She was already pleased that nowadays he spent more time playing than being alone at the Library.
She hugged him and off he went, running to meet his friend.

Cynthia felt again the presence of her late husband and she was happy with that though she missed her friend Ilona who had moved to another street. She was considering going back to her old job at the cemetery but then she would have to leave her boy to be taken care of by someone else and she definitely didn‘t want that.
A few days ago when she was sitting next to Raphael‘s tombstone, an idea showed up in her head ‘let go, don‘t exaggerate, he has to learn as well a bit of independence, let go…’, but she just couldn‘t make the decision.

In the meanwhile, Raph had arrived already to their meeting point but Mattie still wasn‘t there. He saw another classmate and chatted a bit with him and they joked until his classmate had to leave.

Then he saw Mateo arrive. The boy came badly humored like he just to be. He asked him: “What was so important that you couldn‘t ask me on the phone?“
“Well, I just wondered something…; perhaps you can help me out as an expert in babies.”
Now, Mateo started feeling important that he was considered as an expert in babies and he said: “All right, what do you want to know?”

Then Raphael told his friend that he had been talking to his mother the other day, asking her if it would be possible to have a brother or sister.
“What did she answer?“
Raphael looked very unhappy when he answered: “She said that it was impossible because there‘s no man around the house. I didn‘t like that answer, because I am a man and I can help her taking care of the baby. I told her so and then she said that it wasn‘t exactly what she meant. Besides that, I noticed that she made fun of me. Do you have any idea what she could have meant?

Mattie answered: “Most probably, she thinks that you‘re too young to help taking care of a baby. I can imagine though that you didn‘t like that. She thinks that you still are a little boy; I hate that too when my mother treats me that way.”
Raphael said: “Yeah, but how can I convince her that she should have a baby?“
Mateo: “Yes, there is something you can do! I‘ve noticed one thing that could be important…” Then Mattie asked: “Do you have some money with you?”

“Well, yes. My mother always wants me to have some money for just in case something happens. Why?“ Mattie: “Let‘s go to the bookshop. There is a book about babies. Always when my mother reads it, she tells my father and me that she will have a baby. Now that can hardly be a coincidence. You buy that book and put it in a place where your mother can find it easily. She will surely read it and… it might work.” Raphael got very excited and said: “That‘s a good idea. I knew I could count on you; you‘re my best friend!”

They bought the book. Raph had a quick look at it and afterwards they played tag. When it was about time to go home, Mateo said: “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you…; she always dresses wide clothes when she expects a baby; that might be important as well. So, you should observe her very well. Hey Raph, are you really sure you want to carry on with this? Don’t come complaining afterwards because I’ve warned you that it’s not always a big deal to have babies.”

Raph answered that he was very sure and he trusted that his mother would continue loving him. They said goodbye and went home. Raphael was very excited by the idea and while walking home, he thought that he would put the book on the floor in his own bedroom. There she would find it for sure.

Once at home, Raph had something to eat while his mother was in the kitchen. He thought that he would have a good look at the clothes she used to wear.

Then he went to bed and dreamt that he had to share his room with many other children and that his mother didn’t have time to hug him.

Next morning he woke up sweating and quickly had a shower before going to school. He saw in a glance that the book was still there, in the same spot where he left it; so nothing could have happened so far.

He had a quick breakfast, kissed his mother and ran to the school bus while Cynthia started to clean the house.

Cynthia smiled when she saw how much energy her son had during the morning… and she started to clean the house.

To be continued…