The Language Interpreter

A daughter casually sent her mother a sticker of a cartoon kitten wearing a red hat, with the caption "Working hard to earn a living." Her mother stared at the screen for a long time before replying earnestly: "That little red hat looks nice on you. The brim is a bit big, though. Will it cover your eyes?" The daughter laughed and explained that it was a kitten, but her mother pulled out an old photo album. In a faded photograph, her three-year-old daughter was wearing a red hat knitted by her grandmother. The stickers mistaken for "the real thing" weren't really misunderstandings. They held a parents' clumsy, enduring longing for their child.