Danny gleefully swung on the swingset as her parents sat feet apart on the bench. Growing tired of swinging herself she dragged her blackened feet on the dirt and called to her parents.
"Someone," she giggled,"push me!" Danny's parents stood at the same time, neither of them moving when they noticed the other. Danny didn't notice the loathe on her father's face because she was busy spinning in the swing. Danny's mother huffed and plopped back on the bench, furiously tapping at her phone screen. Danny squealed as the swing twirled her around and grinned when her father appeared.
Her father was a large man, widely built and had hair close to his scalp. Danny once believed that her father was created with the large skyscrapers that she would pass on their way to school. Once, she had told him her idea and he had smiled and shaken his head. He'd explained to her that he and everyone else was made of clay that their gods had molded. Danny clung to this belief like she clung to her combs and brushes at home.
Eventually, Danny grew tired of the swings and jumped into a sprint to the slide. Her father didn't return to his seat on the bench. He stood where he once pushed Danny and ignored his wife's glares and pitiful sighs with a smile on his face. Soon enough, the sun began to set and Danny's footfalls slowed around the park.
"It's time to go, Danny," his voice boomed across the park to where Danny was sitting by the monkey-bars.
"I wanna go up."
"No, Daniella. It's time to go," Her mother's honeyed voice drifted through the air. Danny pouted and pulled the elastic that held her hair together in a tight ponytail. She stayed seated at the foot of the monkey-bars, knowing that her mother would become annoyed.
"I wanna go up.
Her mother pursed her lips and tapped her foot on the pavement. "It's time to go, Daniella.
"I wanna--"
"I said--"
"Get in the car, Isebel," Danny's father flashed his wife a tight-lipped smile."Please," he dangled the key in front of his wife's face. Isebel swiped it from his grasp and stomped to the car. Danny watched her mother with a hidden smile and suppressed the bubble of laughter in her throat.
"What did I say about not listening to your mother?" Her father asked when he sat on the ground next to her. Danny yanked harder at the elastic and avoided her father's gaze. "Stop pulling that." He swatted her hand from her hair. Danny huffed and crossed her small arms.
"Papa, I don't want to go, yet. I wanna go up." She breathed heavy as she slammed her fists on the rubber chips.
"If I help you, then you need to get in the car and apologize." Danny disregarded the latter half of his offer. A grin stretched across her face as she jumped to her feet and raised her arms. Her father easily swept her off her feet and helped her along the bars. Then he carried her to the car as she rubbed her sore hands. "Remember to apologize, Danny. You don't want the elastic to break." Danny furrowed her brows.
"I'm not pulling my hair-tie anymore," she confirmed by showing her father her hands. He chuckled.
"Not that one. A story for another time." He buckled Danny in her booster seat. Her mother sat in the passenger seat, watching the two expectantly. Danny noticed her mother's gaze and mumbled her apology. Her mother motioned a curt nod.
Danny could not hear her parents' whispered conversation. She didn't feel the elastic stretching. So she drifted off to a deep sleep, cooed by the sharp whispers of her parents.
