201500568 Su Yeon Kim
"Daddy! Come inside!" the princess shouted, her tiny, white hands and face plastered on the plastic wall of the balloon dome. Her face was glistening with sweat and her eyes were sparkling with joy. She was dressed in pink and had a little tiara on her head. It was a precious sight and she looked as though she had jumped straight out of a fairytale. I was standing near the entrance and couldn't help but smile at the innocence. So I looked to my left to see the person she was addressing. He was sturdy man about 5'8, probably in his late thirties to early forties because hints of white could be seen in his good head of hair. The dark circles under his eyes looked as though it extended all the way to his cheeks indicating that he most likely wasn't feeling his best but I had no doubt that he was the happiest man in that moment. There was nothing and nobody in his world except for him and his princess.
"It's ok baby. Daddy will watch from here. Go and find the treasure!" he replied and the princess immediately flounced away. His calloused hand remained on the spot her hand was. His dark brown eyes had a sort of faraway look as though he were missing his princess already. He was wearing a navy hiking jacket and black pants. It was clear the thin jacket was doing nothing for him in the brisk wind but it did not matter. His every attention remained on her. Then his peaceful face turned into one of realization. He brought out his phone from right pocket and clicked away. He smiled as he captured every moment.
After about a minute, the princess came bounding back with a dissatisfied, red face and whined, "Daddy come and help me! I can't find the treasure!" His eyes quickly scanned inside the dome and upon seeing that no adult was present inside he again replied, "Oh baby, I don't think Daddy is allowed to go inside." His already tired face looked even more tired. This is when I interjected and said, "All ages are allowed inside the dome, please feel free to go in." The princess who had a disheartened expression suddenly lit up and let out a squeak of happiness. For a split-second, the dad hesitated and ran his hand through his hair however, he clearly didn't wish to let his princess down. After directing a curt smile at me, he struggled to go through the small entrance but with the princess tugging on his arm he finally tumbled into the balloons. This caused both the princess and her dad to break into a fit of laughter. All wrinkles and weariness on the dad's face vanished as he played together with his beautiful princess. Earlier in the day, I wanted nothing more than to be in comforts of my warm sheets with a hot cup of coffee but this scene warmed me up in a way blankets and coffee could never do.
I loved how the sweet little girl started off by saying "Daddy". It helped me picture how young the girl would be very easily. The story really was sweet and warm! I think it will be interesting if you tried writing the same story in a slightly different way - perhaps showing instead of telling. Loved every inch of it!
ReplyDelete201501855 Jung Aa Ahn