Daddy's Dorothy

Chrissy wondered many times what lingered beyond the rainbow. She wondered of leprchauns with pots of gold and even unicorns crossed her mind. She looked up at her aunt and smiled, then Chrissy would say,

"Aunt Laurie, what’s at the end of the rainbow?"

Aunt Laurie would always say, "There are magic things at the end of the rainbow and if you go there, the magic will not work.

This puzzled Chrissy and so she would think of other questions to ask her aunt. She would ask her why the magic didn’t work, she would ask about the things that made the magic, wondering if they were leprechans and then Chrissy would ask about her father again.

Everything ended up about her father.

Chrissy’s father had told her stories about the rainbow from the time she was old enough to understand. Stories of magical fairies and other things that would paint the colors in the sky. Her father would tickle her and whisper into her ear about all the magical things that roamed around the end of the rainbow. Chrissy would plead and beg with her father to go where the rainbow ended and he would just laugh. That is when he would tell her the same thing her aunt Laurie told her.

"Magic doesn’t work when you seek it out, my dear. Magic comes as it wants and it resides within your heart."

Chrissy didn’t understand much about what this meant and so she dreamed of those magic things every day.

When daddy went away, Chrissy thought he had gone to the rainbow’s end and this made her even more curious.

"Aunt Laurie, is daddy over there with the magic things?" Chrissy would tug her aunt Laurie’s sleeve and whine just a little. She wanted with all her heart to go find out.

Aunt Laurie would set down her dish cloth and squat down before her little neice. Then she would insist that they go outside for a while. There in the beauty of the summer sun, Aunt Laurie would show Chrissy the the beautiful flowers. Some days Aunt Laurie would take a walk with Chrissy in the back yard and look at the birds that passed by. . But every time, Chrissy wanted to talk about daddy and the rainbow.

"I want to go there. I want to go find daddy." Chrissy would plead until her aunt would talk about the flowers again.

Aunt Laurie would take Chrissy up into her arms and give her a promise. "One day, we will go find the magic too and there will be beautiful flowers there like these." Her aunt would pick a flower and tickle her nose with it. Chrissy would laugh.

Chrissy would be satisfied for a while and then she would begin again in a couple of days. Aunt Laurie tried her hardest but Chrissy grew tired and realized that Aunt Laurie was just too scared to go find the magic and she didn’t believe that daddy was there either.

Chrissy stuffed her teddy bear, Tiny, into her little pink sachel and decided to go find daddy on her own.

Daddy had gone away, all of a sudden. Some strange people came and said something about her father and her aunt cried. Chrissy’s mommy had gone away when Chrissy was born and Chrissy just never met her. Daddy and aunt Laurie was all she had, they loved her very much. Chrissy knew this.

When Chrissy’s aunt stopped crying and came to her, she said her father had went to a magic place. She said that all people go to the magic place when they get tired. Chrissy wondered why her daddy did not take her with him. She wondered and wondered for a long time and then the rainbow came and Chrissy understood.

"Daddy is over there, aunt Laurie." Chrissy smiled a big toothed grin and pointed toward the first rainbow of the season.

Aunt Laurie swallowed the knot in her throat and smiled down at Chrissy. She spoke in a soft voice to comfort her neice. "Yes, I guess her is, sweetheart."

Every since that day, Chrissy had wanted to go see him again.

…..

She wasn’t really scared in the woods, in fact, they seemed magical as well. She heard animals making strange noises and she thought that they were unicorns or something. She walked so long that her little legs began to hurt and itch from the thorns that scraped her skin. She walked and walked and hoped that the rainbow wasn’t going to disappear anytime soon. She glanced through the top of the trees and seen the beautiful colors overhead.

"I am coming daddy." She whispered and clutched her teddy tight.

As the day grew long and her legs grew tired, Chrissy knew the rainbow would go to sleep soon and the light would be gone. What would she do when the rainbow disappeared. Chrissy knew the magic would go when the rainbow went. She stopped in the path and she got very sad.

"Daddy, I tried. I wanted to see you but I am tired." Chrissy spoke to the air and then sat down on the forest floor. That is when she heard the voice and felt the hand upon her shoulder. She turned and looked up into her father’s face.

"Daddy! Oh Daddy!" Chrissy jumped up and squealed wrapping her arms around her father. "Daddy, I made it! I must be here! I found you! The magic.."

Chrissy’s father smiled and pulled her up into his arms. He spoke softly to her " You found me, yes you did and now you must sleep and I will take you home."

Chrissy woke on the front porch of her aunt’s house. The sun was rising and she felt happy. In her hand was a flower she knew it was from the magic place.

Aunt Laurie’s voice was heard upstairs calling her and sobbing. Chrissy ran inside and up the stairs. When her aunt saw her, she didn’t scold Chrissy, nor did she get angry. Aunt Laurie grabbed Chrissy and hugged her tight, then she spoke softly to her neice.

"Where have you been, oh god, where have you been? I was worried sick!"

Chrissy smiled and touched her aunt’s face, then spoke very clearly. "I found it, aunt laurie, I found the magic and daddy, he was there, just like you said."

Aunt Laurie looked at her neice and frowned. Before she could speak, Chrissy held out the little flower.

"He said, this is for you."