A Journey With My Father

An Adventure?

When I finished what he had asked of me,
We stepped out of the house, and my dad locked the door.
Then he dropped the keys in my hands.
I playfully asked him what would happen if the keys got lost.
And he responded by saying he was going to trust me to be careful.
I dropped the keys in my bag and held on to his hands as we walked down the road.

We went on and on, on a sandy path, taking twists and turns every now and then, until we got to a muddy area.
I complained and asked if there was any other way to go about the journey without taking this path.
He told me,
"The journey of life is not always smooth, my dear; you just have to keep going on, find your way, and not turn back."

He looked into my eyes, pecked my forehead, and carried me in his arms.
I was already feeling dizzy, so I dropped my head on his shoulder, and off I went to the dream land.
This journey with my father was more weird than fun.

I woke up at sunset under a tree.
It is amazing how the sky looks away from the buzz of city life.
You get to notice the orangish red streak that makes the sky look as if God is playing with a paintbrush.
But I was alone.
I looked around for my father, and he was nowhere in sight.

I started to get scared; the excitement of the beautiful sky had vanished.
The sun was beginning to go down, the night was slowly creeping in, and I was alone.
Surely my dad did not bring me out here to be fed on by...

Is that a tiger I see approaching?

Now I wanted to take off my slippers, slap them against each other and take off.

But to where?
My dad was still not in sight.

I put all the training I remembered from self-defence into practice.
First of all, I noticed the mood of the tiger.
"Relaxed."
Good.
I made sure to hide any sign of fear.

After stretching and walking around for some time, the tiger left in the direction it came from.
I heaved a sigh of relief.
A few minutes later, my dad came around with a bunch of bananas on his shoulder.
I ran to him, hugged his legs, and began to relate what happened to him in-between tears.

Comfort me?
Yes, my dad did that alongside some bananas.
But he said,
"The people you love might not always be there when you need them; learn to be strong all by yourself."
Okay, that was weird.
What dad says that to his little girl?

I guess a dad who did not take his daughter on an adventure on foot at the time we were in.
So I just slung my bag on my shoulder and told my dad to let us go on.

I could notice the sky once again.
Star bright.
I loved the sight.
Because, normal or not, it became one of my treasured memories.
A star-filled sky and my hand in my dad’s.
What other thing could I have asked for?

# triplec # writing challenge

What are those little things that also give you satisfaction no matter what the circumstances are? Tell me about it in the comments session and please don’t forget to press the clap button 50 times if you enjoyed this.