The Little Adventures of Sofie: Book 1

Chapter 7

"Just go babygirl. I'll be fine here."

"No Daddy, I'm not going skiing without you. It's one more night. Let's just stay in and order take out and watch TV."

Joe was being stubborn. He didn't want to ruin the vacation, but what else could they really do with him in this condition. They had been out skiing and Joe took a jump wrong and landed badly on his leg. Sofie had helped him down the mountain, stripped off his skis, and taken him to the local ER. Unfortunately, the leg was broken. The good news, if you can count it as such, was that the trip was almost over. So at least Joe didn't feel like he had ruined the entire thing. Still though, he felt bad that Sofie would miss out on her last day of skiing because she refused to go without him.

Joe had crutches to help him get around, but Sofie was determined to help him as much as she could, and as such the crutches had barely been used. He tried to tell her he could still move around and do stuff but Sofie replied back that he should relax.

"Baby girl, you don't have to bring me a drink. I can get up and get it myself."

"Shush Daddy. You take care of me all the time. Now it's my turn to take care of you."

Joe knew it was making her happy to help out and take care of him so he tried not to fuss too much.

The next day, they packed up the car and headed home; Sofie drove. About halfway home, Joe asked Sofie to pull into a little convenience store so he could get a drink. Sofie pulled over and jumped out before Joe could even think about moving. Sofie headed inside and grabbed a couple of drinks. While she waited in line she looked around at some of the knick-knacks they had. Sofie gasped when she saw them. They were perfect. A full package of 200 pieces glow in the dark stars. Best of all it was only a few dollars! Sofie snatched up a package and put them on the counter with the drinks to check out. Once she got back out to the car, she handed Joe the bag with the drinks and stars in them. He reached in and pulled them out and looked up at Sofie with a raised eyebrow.

"For the bedroom, Daddy," Sofie said beaming.

Joe nodded and then a thought struck him.

"Pumpkin?"

"Yes Daddy."
"Which bedroom?"

"Well I figured I'd start with mine and if there's extra, I'd put them in your bedroom."

Joe was determined to fit all 200 pieces into Sofie's tiny bedroom. He wasn't particularly fond of the idea of putting plastic stars all over his bedroom, and the idea that it may be a few scattered to where it didn't even look good was just a bad dream to him.

The rest of the trip passed by uneventfully. They swung by Joe's parents house to store their ski supplies and let Mrs. Williams coddle her poor baby with a broken leg.

They arrived at their apartment late in the evening and ordered take out because neither felt up to cooking. They sat together and enjoyed a hot meal before bedtime. Sofie was determined to put her stars up tomorrow after work, but for now it was bedtime.

The next day Sofie came home from work and rushed to give her Daddy a hug and kiss before she started putting her stars up. Joe hobbled into the bedroom to watch and help out as much as he could.

An hour and a half later, Sofie finished putting up the last star.

"Well, how does it look, Daddy," Sofie asked.

"Really spectacular, baby girl," replied Joe.

The next day, it was Joe's turn to work. Sofie wanted to drive him but Joe insisted to Sofie's dismay. Luckily, it was the other leg that was broken, so driving was still an option. It was overcast that day and Joe had a feeling he'd be home early. He was not wrong. Around 1:00pm, it began pouring rain. A flash flood notice went out across the county. Joe hopped in his vehicle and headed home. When he got there, the place was dark and quiet. Joe went to Sofie's bedroom first. He opened the door slowly, trying not to make any noise in case she was asleep. There she sat, surrounded by her stuffed animals and toys, deep into another scene.

"This is a national emergency. The president of the United States will appear shortly over the Emergency Broadcast System," the radio stated, but Bo Vanderbelt, a tall but short legged and hairy man, and Marie Witherspoon, beautiful, sun-kissed and long legged, were preoccupied with something in the sky to pay any attention to it. It was pouring down rain but it was also a clear sky. Yet something was here. It showed up on the radar, but despite what the radar said, you could look up into the pouring rain and count thousands of stars. The universe felt so close. Marie reached her hand up as if trying to reach out and touch the stars. It was only in this area too. Once you hit a certain spot, the clouds just disappeared. Bo looked at his associate.

"Well, guess we can start with the small and silly and work our way up from there," Bo said pulling out a small flare gun. He aimed it up at a slight angle and fired. Up, up, up it went, but something unusual happened when it neared its peak. The light spread out, as if it was being reflected by something. Bo fired another flare to see if he was just imagining things, but again, right as it neared its peak, something reflected the light. He was sure of it.

Suddenly it seemed as if the stars were moving, shifting ever so slightly. More like tremors or ripples. Before either of them could fully grasp the situation, the stars began to move closer, lower to the earth.

"It's a ship!" shouted Marie, and she and Bo took cover behind some trees.

The ship landed and out came three unusual looking beings. Marie and Bo were shaken by what they were seeing but awestruck at the same time. Just then, Bo stepped on a twig and one of the aliens turned and headed their direction-

Sofie noticed the door being opened and turned to see her Daddy standing in the doorway.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed and jumped up to give him a hug and kiss. "You're home early. Cause of the rain?"

"Yes, little one. What were you imagining this time?"

"Oh just aliens," replied Sofie casually.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you, baby girl. It was just so dark and quiet when I got home."

"It's ok, Daddy."

"Enjoying your stars?" Joe asked.

"Oh yes Daddy. I can't wait to see them when it's really dark in here."

Joe chuckled, pleased that his baby girl was so happy, and then set off to go fix lunch. Sofie told him she would do it, but Joe liked being independent and relying on Sofie was hard for him. Still though, he tried for her sake and finally agreed to let her fix lunch. A nice, warm french onion soup and some bread.

And so life carried on like this for awhile. Finally one day, Joe was told the cast could come off. He was so happy. He told Sofie all he wanted to do was scratch his leg. The instant that cast came off, Joe attacked the top half of his leg with scratches and Sofie helped by getting the lower leg. Finally Joe felt like things were getting back to normal.