Left Stumped!

“Does she enjoy?” This question left me stumped and then had me thinking.

It was late Friday evening, I was busy tending to my one-and-half year old baby’s demand to play hide and seek game after a hectic day at office, when the door bell called for my attention. Ensuring that my baby is safe on ground, I opened the door. At the entrance stood a girl in her pre-teens clutching a pen and a sheet of paper in her hands. She introduced herself as a student of a well-known city-based school and the purpose why she was here. Her purpose required me to make monetary contribution towards the well being of the inmates at an old age home.

While we were engaged in a dialogue my little one decided to take a look at the visitor. With great excitement and a sense of purpose my daughter darted from the dining area to the living room and stationed herself at the door fixing her gaze at the visitor.

Not letting my eye off my kid I quickly grabbed my bag kept on the coffee table to give my contribution to the visitor. While filling in the necessary details in the sheet she held in her hand, my visitor asked me, “Is she your daughter aunty?” I replied, “Yes”. Her next question was “Are you working?” To which I again replied in the affirmative. She then asked me looking at my little one, “Where does she stay when you go to office?” “With her grandparents”, I replied smiling, probably secretly priding in the fact that I have not put my little one yet in a crèche. “Does she enjoy?” was her next question. I did not respond to this in words for I could not gather any, instead I made a meek attempt to smile.

It’s been some months now after this incident, but the question continues to ring in my ears. I am yet to decipher the meaning and the thought behind the question. Was my preteen visitor communicating through this question that she went through a similar childhood and that she did not enjoy it or was it the other way round?