Making Her Smile

Making Her Smile

Yes, my heart, sit down right beside that fountain, on that bench of stone. Now let Papa take a good picture of your little self. Won’t you smile for him?

What? You are angry with me? But why? O because I didn’t get you that doll? Come on, my child that is no reason to stay blue. You can’t have everything, you know.

It pains to realize how much she looks like her late mother. The same dark, ebony hair crowns her head, now in two bouncing ponytail, falling to her light shoulders.

My daughter’s eyes are a thing of beauty, changing colour at every blink. Now, it is brown, just like her favorite chocolate. They become hazel, when she is laughing. O look! It has turned to a bluish black, her mother’s eyes.

The mouth which often bursts into childish laughter is now down turned, pouting. I know, those red lips will be smiling any moment now, for my daughter loves her father. She cannot bear to see him sad because of her.

Yes, there is the smile I have been waiting for. Good girl, now look towards the lens as I bring the camera close to my eye.

‘CLICK!’

What a beautiful picture! It looks just like I imagine her – happy. Maybe I will get my child that doll after all. A reward for this treasure, which I will keep, not in an album but in my heart.

I move the camera away from my face.

O! My girl is gone!

Where is she?

My heart batters my chest.

Then I feel a soft hand on my shoulder. I turn around to see a young woman smiling at me. The same lustrous black curls frame her gentle face. Though she has spoken not a single word, her eyes have told me a million. She says to me,

‘Papa, it is time for lunch.’

Have I forgotten that my daughter has bloomed into a lady? Was I dreaming all along?

Sometime later, she will be going away to study. Away from her old father…..far far away. Yet, the way in which she holds my worn out hand, leading me inside, I know she will remain her Papa’s darling, no matter where she goes.