Umma Who Makes Me Smile like the Happy Yellow Moon
by Jin-ah Lim

    “ . . . Umma . .  .” I mumble like a baby scared of thunder sounds.
    Again, I mumble, “I need my Umma.” Light-purple, pearl-shaped tears fall from my eyes.  And also from my heart.

    It’s a night, a night with gray-black clouds. Little stars beside the clouds sparkle like a spread of diamond tears the sky made.

    A cold wind blows outside the car. Trees, trees dance in the beat of the wind.  Inside the car, I can hardly see the big road through the steamed window.

    “Sorry, I didn’t know you were going to miss your mom so much. It was my mistake. I thought you were going to have fun with my daughter, sleeping over at my house,” my friend’s mother says.

    I feel sorry for her, since I have made her drive the car late at night.

    To see outside of the car, I wipe the window in a star shape with my finger.  Unexpectly, the dark night is gone; instead the happy yellow moon smiles at me. Dazzling yellow moonlight spreads out through the dark, the golden angel powder which God has made to calm me.

    While I am looking at the moon, the car stops. I recognize that I’m in front of my house. I get out of the car and run to it, yelling “Umma.” After my long journey, Umma gives me a really big warm hug.

    Now, I smile like the happy yellow moon.