The Rose

“DAAAAADDDY!!!”, came the cry from the other room.

Eh? What? I struggled to get one eye open.

“MOOOMMMMY!!!”, this time it was in fits of sobbing.

That’s when I realized that my 3 year old daughter, Ariel, was howling for my wife and I in the adjacent bedroom.

“COOOMMME QUIIIIICK!!!!”, came the lamentations.

I rolled over and nudged Sarah, who had also woken up to the desperate cries for help. “Your turn, sweetie”, I grunted, and turned to roll over; however that was quickly overturned with a comment about how I had pulled this one LAST time Ariel had cried, and she had done it, as she usually did. Therefore, moaning and groggy, I mechanically turned myself out of bed, thinking about how I was going to have to get up in 3 hours for work anyways.

As I pushed open the door to the damsel’s room, it came again, “MOOOMMY!!! DAAAADDDDY…..” and then apparently saw her rescuer, for this chant died into, “DADDY!”

Approaching the end of the bed, I yawningly quipped, “What is it honey?” to which came the reply of a million reproaches. “Daddy, the window’s making noises…. Daddy, the floor creeks…

Daaaaadddy, there’s a monster in my closet…..” and the final ultimatum, “Daddy, I’m scared!!”

Inside, I smiled, while thinking to myself, “Well, this is going to be easy”. I proceeded to “fix” all of her requests, kiss her on the cheek, and reassure her everything was going to be ok; however,

I no sooner left the room did the howling begin again, “DAAAADDDDDYYYY!!”

What could it possibly be now? I had fixed all the issues, been the good father I was supposed to be, and now I was entitled to go to bed, right? I guess not, for Ariel was in full chorus by the time

I re-entered.

“What is it now, dear?” I implored oh so un-wholeheartedly.

The sobbing ceased as, through her tears, Ariel beseeched me, “Daddy, waaaiiittttt!!!”

It was suddenly as if I had woken from a sound slumber. “eh….What?”

Another small tear trickled down Ariel’s cheek. “Daddy, pleaz wait.

Out of the blue, it occurred to me that my daughter wasn’t asking me to fix all of her problems, she was asking for my presence there. So, picking myself up, I sat on the edge of the bed, wiped her tears, and said, “Sure honey, I’ll wait.”

And though she went on and on after that about a million concerns, I didn’t have to fix one of them, so long as I sat there until she fell asleep.

Copyright 2007 of Jessica Anne McLean. All rights reserved. File sharing is encouraged.