"Thank you, mommy!"

She was happy. To be more specific, she was very happy. Mommy was home and mommy was taking her to the mall! If she could whistle, she would right now, just as she was swinging her hand with with her mom's.

"Anak," her mom said as they reached their destination. "You're getting bigger na, so it's time to get you new clothes."

"Yay~!" the little girl cheered. She grinned up at her mom, then glanced at the place her mommy brought her to. "Mommy, what's... sur...plus?"

Mommy bit her lip as she thought of an answer. "It's like... extra stuff, anak."

"Oh," the little girl shrugged. "Okay."

That answer seemed reasonable enough. It wasn't like asking her dad questions, because her dad would give her the most unintelligent sounding answers... Or lies. Or something ridiculously made up. It really annoyed her when her dad did that too, because she just has to know the answer. Darn that inquisitive part of her nature.

So she ran in, knowing her mom would catch up soon enough. She went to the section with all the shirts, and her eyes scanned the racks, checking for anything that'd catch her attention.

"Anak," her mom called.

The little girl spun around and tilted her head. "What?"

"Not there, anak," her mom replied, motioning for her to come. "Marami na ang mga shirts mo, anak. But you only have two pairs of pants, kaya we'll buy you some more."

"M'kay."

So mommy got one of those baskets-on-a-cart things while the little girl picked out pants that fit her. One of the ladies that worked there helped a lot, by giving the little girl a pile of pants to choose from. It was pretty cool, because the saleslady already knew the little girl's size just by looking at her. When the little girl brought the collection of pants -- maybe around 4 pairs -- to her mom, she grinned. "Mommy look! The lady knew my size! She said she made a... mental es-tee-may-t and she just knew!"

The little girl beamed, proud that she just used two big words. The second word was harder to pronounce though.

Mommy nodded at the saleslady and smiled, then took the little girl's hand. "C'mon, anak. Let's go try them out na."

When they got to the dressing rooms, there was another saleslady. She stopped Mommy from entering and said that only one person was supposed to enter the room. Mommy opened her mouth to argue, but the little girl interrupted, "It's okay, mommy. I'm a big girl na. You can just pass me the pants and I'll put them on my own."

Mommy thought for a while, then sighed. "Okay, anak." She set her basket-on-a-cart outside the little girl's dressing room. The little girl ran in and locked the door -- Thankfully it was an easy lock and not a twisty one, because the little girl didn't know how to unlock it after. She didn't know right from left. -- giddy with the feeling that she was a big girl.

"Okay, mom!" she called. Pants slid underneath the dressing room door. She took her own pair off (after kicking her shoes off, of course) and threw it on the floor -- the hooks were to high for her -- and tried the new one on. Then she unlocked the door and grinned at her mom.

"So, what do you think?" her mom asked.

"I like this one."

"Okay, then. Close the door and I'll hand you the next one."

So she shut the door and took off her approved pair of pants. She slid them out of the dressing room and a new one slid back in. She slipped them on, even when the zipper and button were closed. It was pretty loose.

"You okay, anak?"

"Yeah," she replied, and opened the door.

Mommy blinked.

"Mommy, I don't think I like this..." the little girl commented, as she hung on to her pants. "Look, mama, there's so much space!" and she demonstrated by tucking her shirt in and showing the distance from her stomach to the pants' button. She could fit two of her little fists in the said distance.

Mommy laughed. "We won't get that, then," she said. "C'mon, let's try the rest of your pants..."

2 pairs later, the little girl had her own pair of pants back on. She grabbed her shoes off the floor and walked out of the dressing room. Mommy handed the rejected pairs to one sales lady, and had already carefully folded the pants the little girl wanted. These, she placed in the basket-on-a-cart.

"Hmm," her mom said thoughtfully, looking at the bundle of clothes in front of her. The little girl was too busy struggling to put her shoes on to notice. "Anak, I think you can get a shirt or a jacket pa if you want."

The little girl stomped her feet on the ground, forcing her feet inside her shoes. "Um, okay Mama."

Mommy held her daughter's hand and she steered the basket-on-a-cart towards the jackets section. The little girl's eyes wandered all about the selection.

"So, which one do you want, darling?"

"Um... I dunno."

Mommy reached out for an American Eagle branded jacket and held it out for the little girl. "How about this?"

The little girl wrinkled her nose. "Ew, it's got a weird patch on it... but I liked the other stuff on it."

"So... you don't like it? It matches your uniform in school."

"Yeah, but... it's weird, mama."

Her mom shrugged and placed the jacket back to its rack. "Well, I'll go pay for your clothes na. Okay, baby?"

The little girl nodded, still staring at the rest of the jackets. One was really bright orange, but... maybe it was the orange light that was focused on the jacket that made the orange colour really bright. She couldn't say for sure, because it was out of her reach. Half of the jackets in the section were out of her reach... But it was okay, because some of the jackets up there looked weird. Like some parts of it were faded -- she definitely knew that was not the design -- and the style just looked... old. Like something that people just wouldn't wear anymore.

"Anak! Come here na, I'm done paying. We're leaving na!"

"Wait for me, mom!"

~.~

So the little girl held the lighter plastic bag and her mom held the heavier one. Their free hands were intertwined. After a few swings, the girl looked up and smiled shyly.

"Mom? Thanks for the new clothes."

Her mom returned the smile and replied, "You're welcome, anak. Happy birthday."

The little girl's smile brightened, and there was a little more spring to her steps. It was like she wanted to skip but prevented herself from doing so because she wanted to walk in step with her mom.

Mommy's smile was still there, but inside... she wanted to cry. How she wished she could have given her daughter better presents! But times were hard. Her salary wasn't coming until a few days later... She was worrying about her credit card, the one she just used, and the bills to come...

She sighed. She was lucky her daughter was understanding enough. She was thankful that her daughter didn't expect too much from her.

End.