Hiiiii, how are you doing today? Another exciting Sunday with another (hopefully) exciting story. I hope you're gonna like it :)
Just a normal day
The first thing I hear is her tiny footsteps bouncing quickly off the floor.
“Daddy, daddy, look!”
I brace myself for an attack, and soon enough, she jumps on the bed and puts all of her weight on my stomach.
I let out a groan, and she giggles in return. “What time is it, sweetie? Why won't you let your old man sleep in peace until his alarm rings, huh?” I grumble jokingly and start tickling her neck.
“Hey, it's not fair!” she squeals and laughs, trying to wiggle her way out of my embrace. “Sleeping is so boring! You have slept enough already!” She jumps to her feet and drags me with her.
“All right, all right! I see I have no chance of winning with you today,” I say, and take her in my arms. “What do you have for me, princess?”
“I drew a dinosaur! It's just like the ones we visited last week. Do you want to see?” She gazes at me with her big, bright eyes full of anticipation, a look I could not turn down even if I tried.
“Of course I want to see, honey,” I answer, and she squeals once again. “My little girl drew a dinosaur, huh? All on her own, huh?”
“I did, I did!” she screams out and claps her hands in excitement.
“Where is it then, pumpkin? You can't keep me in suspense for so long...”
“It's in my room! I will go get it, and you make me a nice cup of cocoa, okay?”
I can't help but chuckle when she says this. Negotiation skills of a master.
“Alright, princess. You got yourself a deal.”
I let her go and watch her run out of the bedroom. Her little braids hop happily behind her head, and I exhale, my chest filled with warmth. I head to the kitchen and pour milk into our favorite mugs. The sound of footsteps resounds in the flat once again.
“Here it is!” she exclaims and hands me the drawing. “What do you think, daddy?”
I examine the paper and stay silent for a few seconds, trying to blink away the tears appearing in the corners of my eyes.
“It’s perfect, Lily,” I say, not only because it’s my fatherly obligation but because I really think so. The crooked green lines somehow seem like the most valuable piece of art I have ever seen. “Let’s put it up, shall we?”
“Yes, we shall,” she answers and giggles.
I pick her up again and lift her to the top of the fridge, where she puts the drawing right next to the noodle monster and levitating chickens she drew last week.
“What do we think, princess?”
She tilts her head, pretending to carefully consider the question, and I put on a serious face to match hers. After a few seconds, she looks at me and nods.
“Perfect.”
“I could not have said it better. Shall we have some breakfast?”
“That depends,” she says, and I laugh at her attempt not to break character. “What do you propose, father?”
“Well, my daughter, at first, I was considering zucchini frittata with lemon-herb yogurt sauce, but I arrived at the conclusion that my offspring would prefer something less distinguished. Was I correct?”
She giggles.
“I think you most certainly were.”
“Pancakes?”
“You know me far too well, father.”
“Well, it just so happens to be the greatest joy of my life, daughter.”
I let her go, and we bow to each other, an agreed signal to drop the act and return to our regular accents. She turns away and runs to gather all the utensils while I open the cabinets to look for the flour.
I watch over pancakes sizzling lazily on the frying pan while she tells me about a dream she had last night. There was a fire in the city, not ours, and she was doing everything in her power to save it. She was a cowboy, of course, with a shining gold star and a hat – a real one! I flip over a pancake, then another one, and she keeps trying to save the city, now side by side a dinosaur with rainbow scales and Professor Hippopotamus she wants to draw after school. I look at her from time to time, my little girl, completely entranced by her world, and I can’t stop smiling.
“What?” she asks suddenly, leaving her dream companion in the middle of a sentence.
“What, what?”
“You keep smiling at me like I’m saying something funny, but I’m not!”
“Of course you’re not, sweetie. Can’t a father just smile at his daughter without any hidden agenda anymore?”
She looks at me suspiciously but then brightens up and continues talking.
When the pancakes are almost done, we work together – a smooth choreography we’ve practiced to perfection. She gets the plates – a yellow one for her and a green one for me – while I mix cocoa powder with milk. Then I place the mugs on the table, along with the cutlery, and she scours the fridge in search of today’s toppings – a strawberry jam, whipped cream, and finally our favorite toffee sauce, a non-negotiable for us both. When everything is ready, we sit in our chairs, and she asks me about that time I saved a man from drowning – even though she’s heard the story a million times before – and I don’t object. I turn into a hero once again and transform our kitchen into a summer seaside full of dangers and bravery. She devours her breakfast, her cheeks flushed with excitement, and when we’re both done – I, with the story and she, with the food – she jumps off her seat and runs back to her room.
“Just remember we’re leaving in ten minutes, okay? Get ready, sweetheart!”
I hear a rumble, then a sound of piles of paper falling on the ground, then a disturbing silence.
“What was that, pumpkin?”
“Nothing, daddy! You're hearing voices again!” There is another rumble, followed by her poor imitations of a cough to mask it. “I'll be ready soon!”
I sit on the couch, and the morning sunlight melts against my face. And even though I know it’s just a normal day – there are no dinosaurs, and I haven’t saved anyone from drowning just yet – it doesn't feel like it. Not with her. And even though I know I will have to take care of whatever happened in her room and clean all the mess we made in the kitchen when we get back in the evening, and I woke up far earlier than I would have ever chosen to, and there are still eight hours of work awaiting me after I drop her off at school, there is still nowhere else I'd rather be.
This week’s story was super hard for me to figure out. To match the prompt, I wanted to describe just a regular day in just a regular household, but I kept banging my head against the wall asking myself ‘how to I describe something completely normal in an interesting way?’. It's no secret that what makes stories exciting are the twists, adventures and turning points that change characters’ lives for forever. How do I write a story that you and I would like to read, even if it offers nothing but our mundane reality?
In the end, I think I managed to come up with something worthwhile (that at least I enjoyed writing and reading). What do you think?
Thank you so much for being here and reading my work. It really means the most <3
See you next week :)