Being Mommy

It was all Cecilia could do to sleep that night. She awoke several times, each time looking immediately at the clock to see if it was time to get out of bed yet. Finally, she looked and it was 7:00am. She jumped out of bed and skipped to the kitchen happily, where Mom was cooking eggs for breakfast.

“Good Morning, Sunshine!” exclaimed Dad. “You look like the happiest little girl in the world!”

“I am, Daddy,” said Cecilia, ” because I get to go to Grandpa’s house today!”

“Sounds like a fun way to spend your day,” Dad said, turning his attention back to his breakfast.

Mom scooped some scrambled eggs into Cecilia’s plate and placed the plate in front of her. Cecilia wanted to eat them as fast as she could so she could go see Grandpa, but she knew two things: one, Mom didn’t like it when she ate too fast, and two, she couldn’t go see Grandpa until 10:00am anyway.

So she slowed down a little. She took a deep breath in through her nose, and smelled the wonderful scent of her orange juice in the cup next to her plate. She took a small bite of her eggs, and noticed how wonderful they tasted. Mom always made them just how Cecilia liked them. She looked around the kitchen and noticed her Mom and Dad and even the dog, sitting around for waiting for his breakfast too.

It occurred to her that breakfast was a really great time in her home. Her smile got even wider at the thought. Dad looked over at her with a smile, and Cecilia jumped up and hugged him. She squeezed him so tightly he started laughing.

“Cecilia, what’s gotten into you, silly girl?” Dad asked.

“I just love you guys so much, THIS much!” and she spread her arms out as wide as she could, even stretching her fingers out as far as she could.

Dad laughed again and hugged her again. “I love you too, sweetie!”

Cecilia sat back down and started eating her eggs and drinking her orange juice again. She wondered if a little bit of Rettel was rubbing off on her, making her see more of the good things in life.

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Although the clock seemed to move slower than she had ever seen it move before, eventually it was time to head over to Grandpa’s house. Her mom stopped vacuuming the carpets to give her a quick hug and kiss and sent her on her way. She rode her bike over to Grandpa’s, excited about the adventure that lay ahead of them.

She laid her bike down in Grandpa’s front yard and knocked on the front door. Grandpa answered the door after a moment and gave her a big hug. She hugged him back, and walked inside. Ty flew up and quietly said “Good morning!” and gave her a little dragon-fly kiss on the cheek, then landed on her shoulder and nuzzled her neck a little bit.

Cecilia immediately started blurting out questions faster than she could think of them. “Where are we going? Are we going now? How are we going to get there at the same time? What will we do there?” she was looking up at Grandpa, waiting for answers while still asking more questions.

Grandpa put his finger to his mouth saying “Ssssshhh, Cecilia. Stop talking and you will find out all that you need to know.” He smiled, and she managed to stop talking for a moment. “Come sit down, I have some hot cocoa for you!”

She loved hot cocoa, so she went over to the couch and sat down. A cup of the cocoa was sitting on the coffee table for her, and she picked it up and began drinking it slowly. It tasted wonderful!

“I don’t want to tell you a lot about today, Cecilia. We need to just go have fun. You can ask me any questions when we get back, okay?” Grandpa looked at her, then turned on the television. “Let’s just sit and relax, watch a little TV, and take a nap.” He smiled, and she understood. Once everyone was napping, they could go to Rettel.

Grandpa gave her a pillow and a blanket, she put on her new shoes, snuggled down into the soft couch, and started to watch some cartoons. Ty, with his new magic belt secured around his waist, snuggled up onto her shoulder. It wasn’t long before her eyelids were getting heavy and she couldn’t stay awake anymore.

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When Cecilia awoke, the first thing she noticed was the smell. It was the most amazing sweet fruit smell she had ever smelled. It smelled like strawberries, cherries, watermelon, grapes, and oranges all wrapped up into one smell. She laid there for a moment with her eyes closed, just breathing in the sweet fruity air.

Then she heard a noise. A small crunching noise, close to her ear. It was so close to her ear that she jumped a little. Ty flew up from her shoulder into the air, and when Cecilia opened her eyes, he was flying around in front of her holding a little piece of fruit. It was that fruit that she had smelled when she first woke up.

She smiled at Ty. “That smells wonderful!” she said to him. He flew down closer and handed her the fruit. She inspected it closely. It was dark pink, and perfectly round, like a gumball, only a little softer. There was a little bite in it that Ty had taken.

“Try it! It tastes as good as it smells!” Ty said happily. “I’m so glad we came to this land, I do so love new foods!”

Cecilia popped the little fruit into her mouth and bit down into it. Juicy flavor burst in her mouth, almost like candy, only better! She chewed on the soft fruit for a minute and swallowed it. She had never tasted anything quite so yummy.

“Wow, you’re right Ty!” she said to him, smiling widely.

She sat up and looked around. She was again in the middle of a field, only this time the grass was much shorter, thick and squishy but not wet, and purple! She rubbed her fingers into the soft grass, amazed at the color. She had never seen purple grass before.

There were a few small trees scattered around here and there too. They were not much taller than she was, and they too were purple. Little dark pink fruits hung from the trees, just waiting to be picked and eaten.

She was about to get up and pick a few pieces of fruit when she heard a voice from behind her.

“These won’t fill you up like the flowers in Ancilon either,” said Grandpa. Cecilia spun around to see Grandpa standing behind her, his moccasins on and big smile on his face. She jumped up and gave him a big hug. She was so happy to have him with her when she visited this new land!

 ”These are called ‘pinks’. Pretty easy to remember, isn’t it?” Grandpa asked, pointing to the fruit hanging from the trees. “They are pink, and they taste sweet like pink should taste.”

Cecilia couldn’t agree with him more. Pink SHOULD taste sweet and fruity.

“So pick some and then follow me, we’re going to meet some friends,” Grandpa told her as he began picking some of the fruit himself. She walked over to one of the trees and began picking the fruit. The trunks of these little trees were dark purple, and felt like velvet when she touched one. The leaves were a lighter purple color, and also felt very soft like velvet.

Luckily, these trees weren’t ticklish like the trees in Ancilon, and she was able to pick a handful of the sweet smelling pinks. She popped another one in her mouth and bit down. It tasted so good, she had to close her eyes when the flavor burst onto her tongue.

Ty flew off her shoulder and picked another pink, then flew back onto her shoulder and took a bite out of the fruit.

Grandpa called Cecilia over from another tree where he had picked a handful of the pinks and motioned for her to follow him. She noticed a little path through the purple grass that went over a small hill. Grandpa began walking down the path, pausing to look over his shoulder and wait for her to follow. She skipped over to him and they started walking together.

“Where are we Grandpa?” Cecilia asked after she had swallowed the fruit in her mouth.

“This is Brintonia, honey,” Grandpa answered. “The Land of Colors. You’ve seen a few colors here so far, but you don’t quite understand what they mean yet.”

“What they mean?” she asked him. “How can a color MEAN something?”

“It will be easier to show you than try to explain it. Don’t worry, it won’t take long to get where we’re going.”

They continued walking down the path and eating their pinks. Occasionally Ty would hop down onto Cecilia’s hand and pick up a piece of fruit and hop back onto her shoulder to eat it. As they walked, Cecilia noticed that same warm breeze that she’d felt back in Ancilon. It made her smile.

As they made it over the hill, she saw that the path continued down the other side until it stopped at a big rock half buried in the ground. Smaller rocks floated in the air above the big rock, forming a circle, much like the front door into the village in Ancilon. She knew right away that it must be the front door to a village here in Brintonia.

Sure enough, when they made it to the rock circle, Grandpa explained that this was indeed the front door to the village in Brintonia, just like she had thought. They all walked up over the rock and through the circle door together. The path was still there on this side of the big rock and so they continued to follow it.

The path led them up over another small hill. As they made it to the top of that hill and could see over to the other side, Cecilia saw something she had never seen before. At the bottom of the hill, laying in the grass near a small box, were two of the most amazing creatures she had ever seen before.

As they walked closer, the two creatures got up and waited for them to reach the bottom of the hill. Cecilia studied them as she approached them. The first creature was a unicorn, only it was not like any unicorn she had ever read about in books. It wasn’t much taller than her, and it’s horn was not just a normal unicorn horn. While it’s fur was white like many unicorns, it’s horn was glowing bright yellow! The horn almost looked like a light bulb, lit up inside by the bright yellow color. The unicorn was smiling at them with one of the sweetest smiles Cecilia had ever seen. She looked truly happy to see them.

The second creature was a tiger, only it was not like any tiger she had ever read about in books or seen at the zoo. The tiger, like the unicorn, was just barely taller than her, and instead of having orange and black stripes, it had bright yellow and black stripes. Again the bright yellow seemed to glow from the tiger. It too had a happy smile on it’s face. Normally, Cecilia would never walk up to a tiger, but she saw that her Grandpa wasn’t scared of these animals, so she knew she was safe.

“Cecilia, Ty, I want to introduce you to some friends of mine! This is Patty,” said Grandpa, placing his hand gently on the unicorn’s back, “and this is Leonard,” he said, rubbing the tiger on the head.

“Cecilia, my dear, what a wonderful name!” exclaimed Patty. She walked up to Cecilia and rubbed the side of her cheek on Cecilia’s cheek. Cecilia hugged the unicorn, feeling the soft white mane brush up against her arms.

“It’s nice to meet you Patty,” Cecilia said politely. Ty had flown off her shoulder and said “Hi” to the unicorn also.

The tiger took a few steps closer to Cecilia. “Any granddaughter of Milton’s is a friend of mine!” said Leonard. “As well as any friend of Milton’s also!” he added, looking over at Ty with a smile.

“Nice to meet you as well, Leonard,” she said. The placed her hand on the tiger’s back and rubbed his soft fur. He began to purr loudly, just like a cat would back at home.

Grandpa began talking to both Patty and Leonard about how they had been and what was new with Grandpa. After a few minutes, Cecilia again noticed the small box laying on the ground by them. She wanted to know what was in the box, but didn’t want to interrupt the conversation that Grandpa was having with his old friends.

When there was a break in the talking, Cecilia piped up. “Excuse me, but what’s in the box?” she asked, pointing to the box on the ground.

“Ooooh!” cried Patty. “That’s for you! And it’s a surprise!”

As she said the words, the bright yellow glow on her horn turned bright pink! Cecilia looked up at Grandpa in amazement, and he looked back at her and laughed.

“You’re horn changed colors!” she said excitedly to Patty.

“Ah, yes! That’s because I am excited for you!” she explained. “A moment ago, I was just happy, and yellow is happy. But now I am excited, and pink is excited.”

Patty was talking about colors having meaning again, just like Grandpa had earlier. She wondered exactly how pink could mean excited and mean sweet and fruity at the same time. She asked this very question to Patty.

“Well, in Brintonia, colors have meaning, but they also have taste. Colors are very, very important in Brintonia.” Patty explained. “Colors tell us what flavor our foods are, and colors tell us how others are feeling. These are two wonderful things to know, don’t you think?”

Cecilia thought about that for a minute. It seemed to make some sense. At least knowing the flavor of her food sounded like a good idea to her. She wasn’t really sure how knowing what someone else was feeling would be a good thing. She was sure that she would figure it out soon, though.

That was the thing about Rettel so far: everything was good and fun and she was learning a lot at the same time.

Cecilia nodded her head at Patty and then looked again at the box. “It’s for me?” she asked.

“Yes, it is. And I think it’s time you opened it, don’t you?” Patty asked her back.

“Oh, yes, I do think so!” Cecilia exclaimed, and walked over to the box. It was only about as big as Grandpa’s hand. She sat down in front of the box and opened the lid.

Inside was a soft white pillow with a beautiful silver necklace sitting on it. The necklace had a clear crystal hanging from it, about the size of Cecilia’s thumb. It was so shiny!

She picked up the necklace and placed the crystal in her hand. As soon as it was in her hand, it turned bright pink, just like Patty’s horn! She looked up at Patty with a big smile on her face.

“Put it on sweetheart!” Patty said. “It works just like my horn and Leonard’s stripes.”

Cecilia put the necklace on over her head and the crystal sat against her shirt. She looked down at it with a smile. “Thank you both so much!” she said, giving both Patty and Leonard big hugs. Patty laughed, and Leonard started purring again. She noticed that Patty’s horn had turned bright yellow again. She knew Patty was happy.

She looked down at her necklace again and saw that it too was bright yellow now. Perfect, she thought. What could be better than being happy?

Grandpa had picked up the box and was holding it in his hand. “Let’s head into the village, shall we?” he asked.

“Sounds like a great idea. Let’s go!” said Leonard, leading the way down the path and around a small forest of the purple trees.