The Helicopter

Papi is coming back, Papi is coming back, Papi is coming back.
Mami, let's go fetch Papi at the airplane.
Mami smiled in agreement to the Little Girl.
Can we go in the helicopter Mami ?
No Little Girl, we are going by train.
No, No, I want to go in the helicopter that Papi gave me the last time he went on a plane.
What helicopter ? Asked puzzled Mami.
The Little Girl ran to her room, and picked up the helicopter.
Mami, the helicopter, can we go in the helicopter ?
OK Little Girl, let's go then, let's get ready.
The helicopter started spinning, a whoosh of air suddenly came has the rotor came to life.

The "Prrr prrr prrr" of the rotor could be hear, and along with the sound little pieces of spit as the Little Girl looked enthusiastically at the helicopter.
It was a tough job for Mami to dress the Little Girl with all the wind coming from the rotor blades. But the Little Girl put on her red dress, socks and the beautiful red boots shed selected last time Papi took her to the boring boot library.
The Little Girl and Mami hopped on to the Helicopter has the rotor blades started to spin faster.

There goes the helicopter with the Little Girl and Mami down the staircase and to the street.

What a nice trip to see the road to the train from high above the helicopter. All the houses very small, and down bellow they could see the train station. The Little Girl waited for the train to arrive at the station, then with great skill the Little Girl went flying above the train to the airport.

Once reaching the airport, the Little Girl was excited, she was piloting the helicopter high above the train, and she could see all the big planes landing around her.

Papi is on that airplane Mami ?

No Little Girl, answered Mami.

Is Papi on that red plane ?

No Little Girl.

Is Papi on that blue plane ?

No Little Girl.

...

After 99 airplanes the Little Girl saw Papi.

Excited she flew with the helicopter to Papi.

Come Papi, com with the helicopter, we are going home.

The Nightmares

The Little Girl did not want to go to bed. She was afraid of closing her eyes. She had bad dreams and she did not want for the bad dreams to come to her in the night while she was alone in bed.
"No Papi, I don't wan't to go to bed", cried the Little Girl.
"Mr. Sandman is putting sand on your eyelids, soon you will want to sleep."
"No Papi! I don't want to sleep", continued crying the Little Girl.
"Why don't you want to sleep ? Sleep makes you stronger and tomorrow you will be full of energy to play."

"No Papi! When I close my eyes I can see the monsters in the night, there are a lot of ugly animals waiting for me to sleep", cried the Little Girl.
"Ha, you are afraid of the monsters and ugly animals....", said Papi.
"Yes Papi! I am afraid of the monsters and ugly animals that come in the night when I am sleeping."
"Then we need to find you the fox with the light sword, that will protect you during the night."
"Where is the fox with the light sword Papi?", asked the Little Girl with the heart renovated with hope.
"Today the Fox with the light sword is protecting your friend Bella," explained Papi, "but tomorrow Bella does not need the fox, I will ask the fox with the light sword to come and protect you Little Girl."
The Little Girl seemed happier, and was in hope for Papi to bring the fox protector of her dreams.
But the Little Girl fought the sleepiness until she could fight no more.
Soon the Little Girl fell asleep, and Papi gently took the Little Girl to her bed, pulled the blanket and tucked her in. The Little Girl was sleeping peaceful, she slept with a big smile and Papi stayed for a bit looking at her.
Papi went back to the computer in the office.
Next day the Little Girl woke up, she came straight to Papi.
"Papi, is the fox here ?", at that same moment the doorbell rang, Papi wen't to the door ant talked with somebody in a yellow and red suit. When Papi came back he had a big box.
"What is that?", asked the Little Girl.
"I do not know, let's open the box".
And the Little Girl opened the box with excitement....
In the box there was a gold shiny fox, with very soft fur, and with a huge smile.
"Papi, Papi, ", shouted the Little Girl excitedly, "it's the fox that came to protect me from bad dreams".
The Little Girl played all day with the fox, she presented the fox to all the other toys and plush animals. It was a new and excited day at home.
When night came the Little Girl turned to Papi:
"Papi, I am going to bed with foxy, night night Papi", and the Little Girl went happily to bed.
Papi was happy, the Little Girl fell asleep very fast, she now had a new protector from her bad dreams.

The Yellow Balloon

- Papi!

Happiness. I always get a rush of pure happiness when this simple word is followed by this little being with the big bright eyes.

- Mommy?

- Mommy could not come today.

- Why?

- Mommy had to go to the doctor.

- Why?

- Mommy is ill.

- Why?

- Come, let's change your shoes, we are going home now.

I always wonder when should I stop the why train. The Little Girl always manages to get to places I don't know how to answer.

- Papi?

- Yes?

- Can I go in the yellow balloon?

- Of course!

- Yeah! I am going in the yellow balloon. I am going in the yellow balloon.

Another rush. I have truly been blessed everyday for the last 4 years. I let myself watch the Little Girl as she jumped around, and has she jumped around she wanted to make sure every kid knew that she was going home in the yellow balloon.

We pulled the yellow balloon from the locker, it was still full of air, floating against the locker's ceiling. It was there as if by magic knowing of this one more mission, to take the Little Girl home safely.

I dressed her up with the pink water suit and the green gummy boots. It's raining outside and we will not be able to go to the playground. I didn't have a backup plan, would have to rely on my improvisation for the long hours Mommy would be undergoing the  exams.

On the way out, the Little Girl passed by her friend Bella. They talked very happily in their very unique magical language to which grownups are not invited. I did get the words yellow and balloon, I saw the Little Girl's excitement, and I got a feeling for Bella wanting to come with the Little Girl.

Rain. Still hasn't stopped raining for the last 2 weeks, sunshine would surely be welcomed by us. As we got out I could hear the sound of a little trampoline, almost as high as a musical high pitched drum. It was the sound of raindrops on the yellow balloon. The yellow balloon was the Little Girl’s umbrella.

The yellow balloon looked like a small private sun very bright, making an high contrast with the pink water suit. The yellow balloon was glowing privately for the Little Girl as if responding to her smile. The Little Girl’s smile became wider and the balloon intensified it’s glow.

The yellow balloon seemed to be growing, getting bigger and bigger, the raindrops getting louder and louder drumming on the yellow balloon. Suddenly the yellow balloon was covering the sky above me, and the Little GIrl was holding to the yellow balloon.

The yellow balloon was moving upwards, and the Little Girl as well. I held on to the Little Girl's legs as the yellow balloon pulled the Little Girl into the sky. I got nervous, afraid of the yellow balloon taking my Little Girl. But the Little Girl felt my fear and smiled back at me.

- Papi! We are flying, we are flying.

Somehow, knowing this bigger than life experience seemed usual to the Little GIrl, I relaxed a bit. The Little Girl was feeling my restlessness.

- Papi! We are going home in the yellow balloon.

- We sure are Little Girl. Put your legs tightly around my shoulders.

The Little GIrl was holding tight, I surely felt the Little Girl happy to be going home in the yellow balloon with her father.

- Papi, I don’t want to go to Neverland and the pirates. I want to go with Peter Pan when I am like this.

She showed me her stretched hands with the ten fingers up. Who is holding the balloon ? The Fox in purple superhero costume was holding the balloon in one hand and the Little Girl on the other. Good thing we discovered the Fox, it used to protect the Little Girl from bad dreams and from the darkness. Always good to have it around.

We passed the green gardens on the way home. Our neighbors looking at us and waving, they always exchanged accomplice smiles with the Little GIrl. She knew all of them.

- Hello Little Girl! What a beautiful yellow balloon you have there.

The Little Girl would just smile, giggle and look back.

- Hello Little GIrl! Papa came to pick you up today.

And the Little Girl would smile, laugh and wave back. She stretched her arms, mimicking a pink plane. Looked like the Fox was riding the plane and holding the yellow balloon. The Fox smiled back at me, I could read in it's eyes that it would always be there to protect the Little GIrl.

We saw the cars passing on the street, the other kids with their parents looking from the windows at the Little GIrl. I believe they all wanted to be in the Little GIrl’s place. The Little GIrl was flying home in the yellow balloon.

Bella waved her little arm from the window of the small blue car.

- Little Girl! You are flying in the yellow balloon!

The Little Girl stretched her arms in the direction of Bella, and showed the full ten finger from both hands.

- Yes, I am flying, and when I am like this, I am going to fly with Peter Pan to Neverland and the Pirates.

- Bye bye Little Girl!

We saw Bella move away waving her little arm from the window of the small blue car. The small blue car became smaller as it moved away from us.

We could see the clouds above us, the clouds looked familiar. I could see Rapid the rabbit. I could see Hearty the lion. I could see Uli the owl. I could see Mickey Mouse. And the Little Girl knew all the clouds. She waved at the clouds telling me excited the names of all of them as we flew by.

We passed by the retirement home. The woman with fluffy white hair and round cheeks looked and smiled at the Little Girl. The woman with the silver hair and long nose looked at the Little Girl in disapproval. The lady in blue with the big round glasses clapped her hands as we passed by.

- Papi! Fast, Papi, fast Papi!

The Little Girl didn't want to be too long there. She saw the old bald man in black holding the big stick. He’s nose was reminded us of an eagle. His eyes were red and we could see the lasers coming out. If the lasers pierced the balloon we would be in danger. I moved frantically my legs as if I was swimming away from of the crocodile, and we moved as fast as we could increasing our distance from the old bald man in black.

We could see the stone fountain in front of the house. We were getting closer to safety. But the Little Girl didn't want to go into the house yet. She wanted to talk with all the stones in the fountain. So she approached the stones. It had stopped raining. The sky was clear now, the clouds had changed color from grey to white.

I looked at her, as she gently placed her green gummy books on top of the first stone. She was holding the yellow balloon tight in her hand. She touched the stone with the other hand, and the black stone turned white. She jumped from one stone to the next circling the fountain of the big stones. With each step of the green gummy boots the stones turned to white.

As she jumped around the big stones fountain, the stones made all the fountain look like a circular piano, with the stones in place of the keys in the huge piano keyboard. In my mind I could listen to the tune. She was playing happy birthday as she jumped from stone to stone, as she pressed each big key.