In Search of Tomorrow ✓

The Dandelion and the Wish

It was cloudy outside, but nothing could dampen my spirits as I held my father's hand with little-girlish excitement and hopped along beside him. His grip was firm, and my hand was swallowed in his larger one. I was smiling up at him as if he hung the moon and made the stars shine.

"See?" he asked, pointing a few feet ahead into a bush, where a chirping bird was angrily defending its territory. "That's a mockingbird. They're called that because they repeat what other animals say. They can even copy humans!"

My mouth opened slightly as I watched the bird bounce on its branch for a few seconds before spreading its grey and white wings and taking off into the air. I turned around and saw it pass Mom by a margin of inches, ruffling her blonde hair so like my own.

Mom laughed and held up the camcorder. "Go on and say hi to the camera, Evelyn!" she exclaimed, angling the device so that I was portrayed in the center of the screen. "It's not every day you turn seven, after all."

Giggling, I let go of my dad's hand long enough to wave cheekily in Mom's direction, then turned back to the winding park path in front of me. "Let's go find some more birds!" I exclaimed.

Dad took my hand again and led me past a copse of trees into an open field, where he told me to sit and wait quietly for the birds to come. Both my parents sat down beside me as I collapsed onto the dandelion-strewn meadow, closing my eyes happily and breathing in the scent of flowers and fresh rain and happiness.

"Look at all these dandelions," Dad said, plucking one up and handing it to me. "You know if you make a wish and then blow the seeds off of one, your wish will come true."

I took the delicate green stem and held the flower up close to my face, so that it tickled my nose. I squinted my brown eyes shut as tightly as I could and made a wish.

I wish nothing will ever change.

And then I blew the seeds away and opened my eyes to watch them dance in the wind until they were out of sight.