church shoes

yesterday as i was leaving the library, i navigated my way around a family that was also exiting. there were two daughters, estimated ages 10 and 8. the older one was reading aloud from one of her library books, then stopped to whine about wanting to visit "George's parents." over and over. and i really mean whine. she had that technique mastered, i'm sorry to say.
the younger girl was skipping all around, no doubt enjoying the feel of her dress swishing around her legs. she was my main obstacle in quickly passing the family; added to her sister's inability to read and walk at the same time, causing rapid changes in her walking speed, which made her dad trip over her, this was seriously a confusing job for me.
anyway, when i did get around them, i sped up to a comfortable pace, headed to the car. then i heard the younger girl squeal with delight, yelling something about going on the playground. i could her her little church shoes trapping their way closer as she ran toward me, and, further ahead, a playground.
"That's interesting, I didn't hear anything about a playground," remarked her dad.
"Anna, no, we're not doing that right now, we don't have time!" This from her mom.
"You're not going to play in your dress," called her dad, "and certainly not with books," he added more quietly.
That got a smile out of me, since that's the kind of sentiment I was raised with. Don't mistreat your books.
None of this stopped Anna's feet from clopping ever closer, however, prompting her mother to yell, "Anna, we are NOT going to the playground, now come here! I will leave you!"
Yes, I thought, that'll teach her. You guys drive off, so she gets to play on the playground with her books and her dress. Good lesson learned there.
I had to work hard to hide my smiles when I turned to unlock the car door, and was surprised to see that the "threat" had worked on Anna. She was giggling and tromping her way back to the rest of the group, where her older sister, sandwiched between her parents, laughed maniacally at her, shaking her thick brown hair around as she did so. What a creepy note to end on. No wonder Anna was so eager to get away.