Daddy's Little Girl

Daddy’s Little Girl

        The sun shone through the leaves of maples and alders, straining onto the water trickling amongst the rocks. The light glittered like diamonds dancing along a well beaten path. The diamonds glinted and squinted, winding and swirling as they meandered along lazily before coming to rest in a calm lagoon. There the water spread its wings and glided in circles, chasing its own tail.

        Smooth ripples grazed past a lone little boat. Its occupant was a young woman who had long ago cast out her fishing line and now held onto the pole just slightly. Her mind was not on her chances of catching a fish but rather it drifted with the water. She could not remember when she had ever told him, “I love you.” She could not recall a time when those three simple words had escaped her lips and pushed in his direction. Surely she had written them in birthday cards and Father’s Day cards...but did those do justice to the love she had for him? Would he ever know how much she loved him?

        The news had come as a shock to all who knew him. He had died of a heart attack while he was at work. She could remember clearly the way the story had been told and how it was presumed to have happened. She had pictured the scene in her mind and it played like a morbid film. He had the chainsaw running and the tree was falling. He ran out of the way, reaching for the saw and shutting it off. Then he gasped for breath as his heart slowly failed and he fell to the ground. Her reminiscence gradually blurred as tears slowly welled in her eyes.

        She wished with all her heart that she could jump into that blue water and drown herself in its depth. She wished to hide her tears in that solitary place, for them to be swept away in the gentle current of the lagoon. But she knew that wish of hers would go unanswered, just as her ultimate wish would go unanswered. Her father could not come back, and she could only hope that he was safe in Heaven where he belonged.

        The loud thud of her fishing pole hitting the side of the boat shifted her thoughts to the present. She took the pole up in her hands, enveloping the worn cork handle. Her father had taught her to fish with this pole and she could remember that fall day so long ago.

        She was so excited as he lifted her into the boat and pushed off the edge. The fall colors had been reflected in the blue waters of the lagoon. She had been anxious to catch a fish and disappointed when she did not get instant results.

        “Fish can sense when you are anxious for them to bite and in sheer spite of this they won’t bite. Relax Abby, let the fish come to you,” he had told her.

        A smile crossed her lips as this memory passed through her mind. She could remember how wise he had always been. He would have a saying for every event and this made every moment with him a life lesson. She had learned so much from him and was blessed to have known him so well.

        She knew that she could not drown in her own grief, for her father was still alive in her own heart. And there he would stay until that one day when she could join him and be “daddy’s little girl” forever.

I last edited this story in 2004, and was first written in 2003.