"Blue Winds Dancing" by Tom Whitecloud (p.313)

I sat there patiently waiting for my anticipation to be calmed. I felt my heart pounding against my soft, snowy chest. The thrash of a bass drum pounded swiftly in my ears. Salty water droplets toke dwelling against my palms. The grandfather clock, in all of its years of wisdom, ticked away as I felt every second pass by. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. My built up excitement started to make its way out of my small fragile body. My legs started to vibrate against the cold wood floor, creaking under the weight. I finally heard the sound that I had longed to heed. Through the cold, wintery window pane, the winds brought the sound of gravel being pulverized by warm rubber treads. My patients ran out as I dashed to the window, peeping through the tailored window treatments, to see my long awaited revelation. I saw the door of my daddy’s candy apple mustang open ever so smoothly. Time seemed to be running in slow motion. He stepped out with the gravel separating against the weight. My heart had begun to strike against the walls; the salty droplets became a thin film covering against my hands. My breath fiercely escaped my mouth covering the cold, hard glass that stood between me and the chilly, dreary winter day. My breath masked my sight causing me to wipe the moist panes with my pink, fuzzy, footed pajamas. My dad with his back turned, fumbled in his back seat to retrieve a dull, pale, plain, brown box.

Disappointment started to take over my body. Where was my dream, my want, my everything? Tears had begun to work up in my stomach, crawling up towards my eyes as my daddy took that journey with his dull, pale, plain, brown box, to our front entry. My ache and sorrow took over as I fell to the floor. The overflow began and the salty drops rolled down my young, freckled, innocent face.  The door opened and I heard my daddy’s deep, muscular voice call my name, yet my body would not allow me to respond. My sobs were all that called him near as he frantically rushed to my side. He lifted me into his powerfully built arms and soothed me with his now soft gentle words. “What’s wrong Baby girl, what’s wrong?” his trembling voice kept repeating with anxious breaths pushing out the words. “But daddy you forgot, you forgot, you told me if I was a good princess… daddy you promised!” I wailed at him. He stepped up from the hard, chilled, wintery floor and briskly walked to the door where the dull, pale, plain, brown box motionlessly laid. My eyes blurred with sadness could only make out a blur of his manly stature. My head barely raised I was unable to see the devastation that I was about to experience. My face became wet and my body clobbered. Reality of the moment was beyond my existence. My head trembled with the attack, my eyes still blurred, masking my ability to grasp the moment.  My face saturated with an unfamiliar liquid, my body pressed now to the floor I felt numbness over me and a desire to catch a grasp on the moment. I lay there now stiff and motionless as I hear my daddy’s voice call over the devastation that was running all the way through my body. “Come here boy, come here” as he snapped his fingers. The moment was calm and motionless. The grandfather clock again ticking away the seconds. Tick-tock, tick- tock, tick-tock. I rally up enough strength to place my arms over my face to brace myself for the next attack. “Baby girl, get up and look at me,” my daddy commanded. Fear took over and I just started to cry once again. I felt his muscular arms swaddle my lifeless body. “It’s ok, calm down and just open your eyes, I promise everything is ok!” he reassured me. Still scared of what would happen next, I wiped the salty water droplets away and focused my yellow starburst eyes for a moment. The blur was unattainable; I wiped my eyes yet again. This time opening them to a world filled with excitement and joy that warmed my body on that cold, dreary wintery day. There he was. His short, stocky physique; his body quivered making the wood of the floor vibrate underneath. The source of my waterlogged face was now apparent. He was astonishing, spectacular, and my dreams come true. “Daddy, oh, daddy. You didn’t forget. I love you so much.” The experience of that new dog entering my existence will bond with me forever and always!