Long and short fictions

Sofia's Memories

Sofia’s Memories


“Safa, (short for Sofia), stop right there!”
I turned around and looked at my pursuer. With a wide smile in his direction, I resumed my wobble to the staircase, evidently with an intention to go downstairs, where Linda lived with her cats.

The tall man with a twinkling smile caught lifted me up into his arms as I scream and struggle. That’s my dad, Santy. We head to the nursery upstairs.

Sometimes, we go for a walk, or play at home with a ball or a Frisbee. I remember our daily visits to the nearby John Howard Park. Dad would put me up on the slide and watch me slide down squealing. Oh what fun!

In the afternoons, he would go to school of computer science, where he taught math, when my mom would return from her teaching job in a college at New Hampshire. Now it’s her turn to take care of me. She and I would have our lunch together. Mom showed me how to use a spoon and eat yogurt from the bowl. I almost always smeared my face with it. I loved rice and curd or rice and lentils. Oh boy! Aren’t they tasty! To this day I find them irresistible.


In summers, we watered plants with a big hose and I never failed in getting wet through and through. Running on the patch of lawn in wet clothes was real cool. We had a lot of native plants. The magnolia had lovely creamy flowers as did the gardenia and jasmine bushes. Glad, they are still there reminding me of the memorable time that I had. Mom used to tell me their names and I loved repeating them after her.


Real fun started after I joined first grade. I made friends with Jake, Hayden, Amanda and Rose. I loved all the classes. In grade three, I joined a chess club and I enjoyed it. Dad and I used to play at home on Sundays. I started learning swimming as well and participated in races.


On weekends, we visited dad’s college friends, Uncle Adam or Uncle Neil. I used to play with their kids on the lawn. Mom’s sisters from Los Angeles visited us often as did my granny, Virginia. They brought a lot of galletas, which means cookies in Espaniol.


My parents and I were excited when I got my passport. Then on, every year we visited our other grandparents i.e. dad’s parents in India. They have a big house with a lovely garden full of fruit and flowering trees. I would walk through it looking at each tree in awe.


All of us would go to the beach in the evenings and enjoy snacks served in one of the many cafes on the beach. Gazing at the beautiful, blue ocean with ships afar, was a favorite thing for me.


I clearly remember my visits to the zoo on our trips to India. Besides the other animals, there were a couple of white Bengal tigers. They walked gracefully on the far side like kings of the jungle.


After my little brother Pablo was born, we moved to Atlanta from Boston. Sometimes I used to get annoyed with Pablo but my parents explained that he too was curious just as I was at his age.


I got my first bike, when I was ten and as did Pablo, though he couldn’t pedal as well as I did. I remember, I always obeyed my teachers and at the end of the day, my class teacher would give me a green star.


Pablo got red stars, which was because he talked nonstop in the class. Mr. Latimer, his class teacher, scolded him often and sent him to sit outside as punishment. That was because he was too young. But later, he changed and paid attention to studies. In high school, he joined wrestling club and won some matches for our school, i.e. Midtown Public School.


My parents helped both of us in doing homework till middle school. Later on, till we graduated, we did it on our own.


I chose computer science for my B.A and am through two years now. This year, Pablo got selected to go to Cornell University. He chose Biology for his under graduation, which will begin in August this year.


I love my parents. They gave us everything that we kids needed, and brought us up in a free and happy way. Not that we had no arguments. We did. But we resolved them amicably. But for their close monitoring and loving guidance, we wouldn’t have been so confident and successful today.


Love you mom, Love you dad!


Word Count: 787
Written for Annette’s Parenting Short Story Contest May-June 2025