Alana

Chapter Four: Slipping Through My Fingers

"Hey, sweetie. What's that you've got behind your back?" he asked.
"Rats. I should've known that I couldn't get anything past him." Alana thought.
"I've got a letter from a college I applied to."
"Oh? Have you been accepted?" he asked.
"I don't know, I haven't read it." Alana said.
"Ok, go to the couch and read it, I'm preparing your luncheon." he said.
"Ok." said Alana, smiling.
Mr. Mercier sniffled. He didn't wanna think about his daughter growing up. It seemed like only yesterday she lost her first tooth.

They ate lunch together and Alana went to her room afterwards. She didn't slam the door, but she did leave it slightly ajar. Mr. Mercier looked at old pictures in an album and stumbled upon a picture of Alana's first day at school. He started playing an Abba record, and "Slipping Through My Fingers" started playing.

"Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while

The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl"
Then, he saw a picture of himself tickling her and her giggling in her pigtails her mom had done.

"Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind?
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time"
Then, he flashed back to yesterday morning, which was a Friday. They were at the breakfast table and Mr. Mercier was drinking his coffee. He didn't know if she was actually in a rush or if time flew that fast.

"Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when she's gone, there's that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I can't deny"
Then, he found a picture of him giving her a piggyback ride, next to a picture of him helping her build a couch fort.

"What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go?
(Slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did, but most we didn't
And why, I just don't know"
And it was this point that he couldn't hold his tears back.

"Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind?
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time"
Then, he stumbled upon her posing with a tooth in her hand labeled "My first lost tooth!"

"Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers
Slipping through my fingers all the time"
Alana had gotten a driver's license, and was allowed to borrow the truck as long as she promised to be careful, which she always was.
"Bye, dad, gotta go, love you." she said, and she had her schoolbag slumped over her shoulder.

"Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile"
She didn't even see that he was crying, but must have heard him sniffle.
She turned around and looked at him.
"Dad, what's wrong?" she asked, then she saw the photo album.
"Aww, dad, are you getting all nostalgic again?" she asked as she sat next to him on the loveseat. He had also got different furniture, mom's furniture was stiff and antique, these were antique as well, but more comfortable.
"Don't worry, Dad, I'll always be your little girl." she said, kissing him on the cheek and leaving.