Follow Your Dreams

Amber and the Lion King - Chapter 9

I was lying on my bed scrolling through my twitter timeline when Marissa burst through the door.

“So, how’d it go?”  I asked with a wink. “It was great! He’s so sweet and amazing and just ahh!” She sighed happily. “You’re welcome.” I laughed.

“Hey I’m not the only one! You and Matthew were getting pretty cozy too!”

“Not really, we’re just friends.” I denied. “Yeah, but you wouldn’t mind it if you weren’t just friends.” Marissa smirked. “Whatever.” I rolled my eyes, as Marissa laughed happily.

* ~*~*

The next morning I woke up to a bird outside my window. It was only 7 o’clock. How the heck am I even awake? I made some coffee with the coffee pot on the counter, and started getting dressed. For what, I don’t even know. I was sitting at the small table drinking my coffee when my phone started ringing.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Kali? Oh thank god it’s Carly! You know from the park?” Carly’s relieved voice came through the phone. I laughed, walking outside so I wouldn’t wake up the still-snoring Marissa. “What’s up?”

 “I just got this emergency call at work, apparently this other girls sick and they want me to take her place and I could really use the extra hours but I don’t have anyone to take care of Amber and I wasn’t sure if you’d be awake and-“

“Carly!” I interrupted her rambling on. “I can watch Amber.” I said, when I had the chance to get a word in. “You can?? Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you!!” Carly gushed. “I’ll text you the address! It’s like 10 minutes from the park can you be here in half an hour?” She asked, still relieved. “Sure.” I answered, walking back to the room to grab my stuff.  “Thanks again! See you soon!” I hung up the phone, and grabbed my purse and my laptop. I looked at the address and decided I’d walk some of the way and take the free little shuttle the rest of the way.

When I got the ‘bus stop’, I got on the cute shuttle and sat down. The only other guy on the bus was in his 70’s.

“Isn’t it a beautiful day today?” He asked, gesturing out the window.

“Yes it is.” I smiled.

“Today is my wife and my 50th wedding anniversary, and I’m going to get her a big bouquet of flowers.” He grinned, his face lighting up at the idea.

“Awe I think that’s a great idea! And congratulations!” I returned his grin, before getting off the bus in front of Amber and Carly’s apartment building. I pressed the buzzer button for their apartment number, and Carly opened the door.

“Kali! Thank you so much!” She hugged me. “It’s no problem.”  “Come on in.” The apartment was cute, and cozy. It had two bedrooms, and a small living room and kitchen, with a bathroom to the side. “It’s not much, but it works.” Carly said gesturing at the small apartment.

“Kali! Hi!” The bouncy four year old ran up to me. “Hi Amber!” I bent down to give the little blonde girl a hug. “Kali is gonna stay and play with you while I go to work, is that ok Amber?” Carly asked her. “Yay!” Amber nodded her head. “Great, go finish your cereal so you can play, ok?” Carly directed Amber, who went running back to her bowl of fruit loops.

“Ok, so you have my number and the house address, all the emergency numbers are on the counter by the sink, she can have anything relatively healthy to eat, and you can help yourself to anything. If you wanna go somewhere, go ahead. I should be back by..” She looked at her watch. “One. So five hours. Is that ok?” She gave me the instructions.  “Sounds good!” I smiled. ‘Thank you again! Text or call if you need me!” She hugged Amber, and then left for her shift.

“I’m done with my fruit loops Kali!” Amber said, showing me her now empty bowl.

“Yum! Do you wanna watch a movie or something?” I asked her.

“Sure!” She grinned, running over to the couch. “What movie?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t pick something to boring. “What do you think?” She asked me. “Umm what about the Lion King?” I suggested. “What’s that?” She asked, with a puzzled look on her face. Poor child, she’s never seen the Lion King! “It’s a great movie about a lion! I loved it when I was your age!” I answered, pulling out my computer.
“Ok! Lets watch that!” She agreed, clapping her hands excitedly.

Since I owned it (age is no matter) we went ahead and watched it on my computer. I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the two of us.

To: Carly

You’re daughter has never seen the Lion King!! Here’s how we’re spending the morning :)

From: Carly

!! This is why I wanted you to watch her ;)

I laughed at Carly’s replied, and watched both the movie and Amber’s reactions. She would gasp at various parts, and crack up laughing at others, and it was absolutely adorable. When the movie ended, and the monkey held up Kiarra, Amber started clapping. “That was a good movie!” She smiled. “I liked Nala.” “Me too.” I agreed.

“What do you want to do now?” I put my computer back in the bag. “Can we go to the park?” She asked hopefully.

“Sure! Go grab your shoes and jacket.” Amber ran off to find her shoes, and after making sure they were on the right feet and zipping her jacket for her, we were ready to go.

As we walked down the sidewalk, she held my hand and used the other one to point out various different things; butterflies, pretty flowers, different colored cars, cool buildings. I would love to see the world through the eyes of a four year old. When we got to the park, we walked across the get to the playground, where she made a beeline for the swings. With the exception of a couple people under trees, we were the only ones there.  

“Can you push me Kali?” Amber asked, climbing onto the swing.  “Sure!”  I answered, starting to push the tiny four year old. “Mommy says I can go on the big girl swings, I’m just not big enough yet to push my self.” Amber explained as I pushed the swing.

After about 5 minutes of swinging, Amber was done on the swings and wanted to go on the playground. She was standing at the top of the slide when she pointed behind me and said

“Kali! Look! A puppy!”