#FlashFictionMagic: Machinefield Park

 Betsy pushed the baby stroller through the park, thankful to be out of the house with her busy toddler daughter strapped in where she couldn’t escape. Under the oak tree up ahead another mother sat on a bench reading a book while her son played on the grass. When had Betsy last found time to do that? As she approached the bench, Betsy noticed the cover of the book. Jane Austen was written across the top in flowery script. Her favorite author.

“Which Austen is that?” she asked, slowing the stroller to a stop. She wasn’t great at small talk with other moms, but this felt like a safe risk.

The woman held it up. “Mansfield Park,” she said. “It’s the only one I haven’t read.”

“Machinefield Park!” shouted the boy on the ground, zooming a little metal digger right over Betsy’s foot.

“David!” scolded the woman on the bench. “I’m so sorry,” she told Betsy.

“No worries,” said Betsy, waving away her concern. “I know how it is.”

As if on cue, her daughter, who must have been just a bit younger than David began to whimper. “Mama! Go!”

Betsy and David’s mother exchanged sympathetic smiles. “Okay, Fern, okay,” Betsy said soothingly to her little girl. She nodded to the other mom. “Take care.”

“You too!” And with a wave, Betsy pushed Fern onward, leaving David, his digger, his mother, and her book behind them.