The Twenty Virtues Book 1- The Twenty Generals

46- A Girl

Do you know why babies cry when they are born? Because of pain.

For a long time, humans didn't even need to breathe; they were just nourished by their mother's umbilical cord. But when we are born and the air enters our lungs, it's a very painful experience because we have never done it before.

Literally, the most basic thing in human life is painful to learn, and the child has to tolerate that pain until it becomes... a thing of the past. Until they get used to it to the point where it no longer hurts.

But the child in this story was different. She didn't cry when she came out of her mother's womb; the girl laughed. Fernanda let out the most delightful laugh a newborn could. This made the doctors look at her in shock, perplexed, fascinated, proud, and amazed.

For the first, and only, time in human history, a person was born laughing. For her, what was painful for everyone else was merely intriguing. Feeling her lungs expand, the air going down her nose, was ticklish, it was funny.

The girl made the whole hospital laugh because she was born blessed with positivity. And always making people laugh with her kind and gentle way of being.

From a young age, she was blessed with a fertile imagination, creating animals, events, and people in her head. When she heard a story, watched a cartoon, or played a game, she would enter it and, using her own imagination, leave fantasy in the dust.

She was an only child, and her parents weren't very present with her. They both worked a lot, constantly leaving the girl unsupervised or in her own corner, and almost never paying attention to the things she said or did.

The child lived many adventures in her head, creating her perfect utopia. Her "once upon a time" and "happily ever after." 24 hours a day, the girl smiled. Played. Jumped. Laughed. She was happy in the world she lived in.

So happy that, honestly, people found it strange.

"Does she have a problem?" her mother said to her father. "She talks to herself, plays by herself, laughs by herself. My God, does our daughter have a problem? Is she retarded?"

But the man did not respond, only focused on his cell phone, much more interested in whoever was chatting with him. When he realized that his wife was talking to him, he looked confused and lost, having no idea what had been said.

That only enraged his wife further, and the two started another fight. It was constant, in fact. They fought in bed, at lunch, at dinner, blaming each other.

Fernanda just watched all the fights, frightened, not knowing how to help, wanting to escape and hide so as not to take part. Under the bed, the table, or even in the closet. She just wanted to hide from all the chaos at home.

She would eventually hear people saying that her parents' marriage could no longer be saved. She would have to choose between them.

But those were just words, theories, speculations; they hadn't happened yet. So there was no reason to be afraid. The girl just smiled hopefully, trusting, believing, surrendering to that feeling of tranquility.

Her life was good. She was a good girl. She was born a happy girl for a happy life.

And nothing would take away her joy.

Did her parents separate? How great, that means she has two houses to live in now.

Did her father marry a stepmother who hits her and doesn't even care? At least he found someone who makes him happy; she just needs to try a little more and soon she'll win her new mother's heart.

Does her mother mentally abuse her, cursing, belittling, calling her an idiot, stupid, retarded, deluded, crazy, foolish? It's just her rough way of speaking; deep down, her mother loves her.