Answering Her Question (Alice White)

My sister taught me a parenting trick
for when kids ask a difficult question
like "Is Santa Claus real?" or "What is sex?"
Simply ask, in earnest, "What do you think?”
and listen. At the least, it buys you time.
My daughter, three, in the car one evening,
is silent. Then asks, "Mama, will I die?"
I just drive. Try to keep the car tethered
to the earth. Somehow the trick surfaces
within me and I ask, "What do you think?"
In the rearview mirror I see her smile
looking out at the purple sky. She says
"I think I will never die." I tell her,
"That’s what I think, too." And I do, I do.