The Introverted Thinker is seven. She and her sister, who is four, have a swing. It is a thick wooden board, a rectangle, with holes for the rope. It is tied in a tree.
One day they are in the yard. They are tired of swinging. Instead, they are pushing the swing back and fourth between them. Not too hard.
The IT's sister misses catching the swing. It hits her in the face. She howls.
The IT is horrified. She runs to her sister. She is BLEEDING. From her FACE.
She pulls her inside. "MOM!!" Her mother comes quickly.
Her mother grabs her sister and picks her up. She takes her to the bathroom and starts blotting her face. "It's ok, it's ok." says her mother. "It didn't get her eye." The IT feels like falling down, thinking that she could have hurt her sister's eye. "What were you doing?" says her mother.
"Pushing the swing back and forth. We weren't pushing it hard."
"She's FOUR." says her mother. But then she gathers the IT into a hug. "You didn't mean to. But you have to be careful."
The IT hides her face in her mother's shoulder. She tries to be careful ALL THE TIME. But there is so much she doesn't know and her sister is little and she has to take care of her. It is hard and scary.
"It's ok," says her mother. They take the IT's sister to get stitches. That is awful too, but the IT's sister is brave.
Her mother tells the story. People smile, but the IT doesn't like it. She doesn't like to be reminded of when she hurt her sister.