A Playground In The Stars

Inspired by a carpet pattern. Plus it was father's day.

It was a quiet night. The man lay in the open meadow as he allowed the cool spring breeze carrying the scent of lilacs, tulips, and hyacinths to wash over him gently. The night sky was painted a midnight blue with a sprinkling of glittering stars, dancing and winking across the surface.

The man turned his head to the left, his face breaking into a gentle smile. "Sorry sweetie," he started, "Daddy's been busy at work this week." She smiled back at him, her eyes full of innocence, twinkling with a hint of mischievousness. "That's okay daddy," she said with a slight lisp, which was due to her missing her two front teeth.

"Daddy," she quipped as she snuggled closer to the man, "I've had the bestest time at the playground today!" Her voice was filled with excitement. "That's great, honey, I want to hear all about it," he replied as he stroked her strawberry blonde hair gently while looking into her baby blues, but before he could finish, she had begun rattling off her story, never stopping to take a breath.

"...and there was this ginormous slide that's like a billion stories high. It was so colorful, it looked like a rainbow, daddy! Of course everyone had to take turns to go down the slide, but I had Sarah and Marcie with me so we kept talking until it was our turn..."

"Alright, alright, slow down there!" He laughed, as he patted the air in front of him. "So, a rainbow slide, you say?" She always had an active imagination, as he smiled fondly.

"Yes daddy! It was amazing! When we reached the bottom of the slide, we would land in a pile of snow and it would go POOF!" She gestured with her hands while waving her arms around. "It looked like there were stars falling around us, it was so pretty!" In that instant, he knew what she was talking about. It was as if he could see it himself, like he was there in person.

The slide, he saw, was indeed so tall that it seemed to reach into the heavens. The slide was colorful, as she had described, but it was made from a myriad of lights that seemed to dance and shift in a way that reminded him of the aurora borealis. He saw children laughing and screaming with glee as they went down the slide, landing amongst the stars which exploded into a thousand, brilliant, supernovas.

To the side of the slide, he saw a sandbox. It was filled with what appeared to be the milky way. It was a pool of iridescent white light that swirled and flowed hypnotically. Children would scoop their little plastic spades into the sand to fill their little plastic buckets and create sandcastles.

To the other side of the slide, there were a set of swings. The seats were made from crescent shaped moons and with every swing, it would leave behind a trail of glittering stars. It looked truly magical.

It was the sound of his daughter's voice that broke him out of his reverie. "Daddy, Sarah and Marcie are calling me to play. Can I go? Please, please, pleaaaase!" She squealed with excitement. He was never able to say no to her, and just like that he spotted two stars in the night sky that seemed exceptionally bright, and both of them appeared to be winking furiously, as if in excitement and anticipation.

"Go ahead, sweetie. Daddy will be here." He turned to give his daughter one last hug before she left, but discovered he was holding onto nothing but thin air. He sat up with a start and looked around wildy. He turned to the sky once more and noticed that a third star had joined the other two as he heard the words, "Daddy, I love you." He curled up into a ball and started to cry.

Reviews

[Woody]

I frankly see nothing wrong with it. on the contrary, it's a beautiful story with a fantastic unexpected ending. your descriptions are amazing.

a tiny little thing, though: two front teeth instead of the opposite?

[justtyler]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it :) By the way I'm not sure what you mean by the opposite?

[Woody]

you wrote "front two teeth" I think it should be "two front teeth"

[justtyler]

Ah you might be right. I don't know why it just sounded right to me at that time, thanks for pointing that out :D

[Woody]

my pleasure :)

[Kurayami]

I like this piece of writing! The moment I saw the title, I know that this must be a really good writing. Well done!

~Yvette

[justtyler]

Thanks Yvette! It still seems a little weird to me even though I've been sitting on it and letting it stew for the past few days. Can't quite put my finger on it!

[Kurayami]

You're welcome!