Trick Of The Light

What A Waste

Clunk. He dropped a box full of rusted parts, some fell out of the over flowing and crumbling cardboard box, he used those as starting points for three piles. Scrap, useful, and experimental. He started to sort through the pieces.

"Dad...?" A small voice quietly whispered from the entrance of the workshop. It took Henry a moment to turn around and process who was now standing right behind him. But when he saw her, he just smiled, and knelt down to her height.

"Yes Charlotte?" Henry spoke softly, he knew she hated loud sounds. Probably something she inherited from him. Neither of them liked being near the animatronics at the peak hours of business, they hated when Lily made smoothies for the two of them because of how loud the blender was, and they both hated the powering up sequence of animatronics. It was something Henry always valued, a reminder that she was his daughter.

A small doll was presented to him by the girl. Nearly as big as her. With vibrant new paint and an over all pristine look to her. A missing wheel on her foot, that caught Henry's attention almost immediately. "Ah I see...did her foot get caught on the track?" The small girl nodded, looking timid, worrying if she was going to get in trouble. But he simply took the doll out of her hands and set it on a different work bench.

"WAIT!" The girl screamed and Henry instantly turned around. Then she broke down into sobs. He panicked and scooped her up into his arms. His hand ran through her hair, he knew that always calmed her down.

"Hey, hey, shhh....relax, what's wrong Charlotte?"

"Don't hurt her!" The little girl managed to speak through her sobs. "I- I want to keep her. I want you to...fix her."

"I can make you something better. It'll do you no good to keep this broken doll."

"No!" The little girl stated firmly before crossing her arms. "No, no no! I don't want her to get hurt dad! Is there any way you can just fix the wheel...?" She pointed to the Doll's broken foot and looked at her father with pleading eyes. Henry couldn't say no to that. He couldn't say no to her.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do. Is the wheel still on the track?" The girl nodded. A bright smile painted on her tear stained face.

"Yeah! It's still there,"

"Good," He set the girl down gently. "Can you please go get it and bring it to me? I promise I wont hurt her."

"Ok!" And just like that, she left. It was always amusing to Henry. How easily children could forget. How their emotions just switched from one to the next. One minute they could be sobbing and the next, they could be running around like there was no tomorrow. He almost envied them because of that. "I got it!" she ran back into the room and handed the small wheel to her father.

"Perfect." He took the wheel and turned to the doll on the work bench. "I'll start fixing her right away."

"Thanks dad! You're the best!" The little girl hugged him from behind.

"I love you Charlotte.."