A beautiful little girl with blonde wavy hair walked into her room after she got home from preschool. She laid her pink backpack next to her bed. Making sure no one was looking, she reached under her bed and pulled out a storage tub full of art supplies. The first thing she grabbed was a drawing pad. After laying it on her bed, she grabbed a pencil box. Once again, she looked to make sure no one was looking or coming to her room. The coast was clear, and she closed the storage tub and slide it under her bed. She sat down on her bed and opened her pink pencil box and got out a permanent marker and wrote "Maya" across it.
The art pad was a gift that her aunt Kimberly Hart had given her on her last visit. A smile appeared on Maya's face when she opened the drawing pad. On the very first page was a picture she had drew of her and her aunt. All her other aunts were on her father's side and they had nothing to do with her. Most of the people on her dad's side were selfish, rude, and hateful. And the only time they paid any attention to Maya was if they wanted to criticize her for anything they could find wrong with her and they also told her that she was a horrible child with bad behavior and no wonder she didn't have any friends. Even her grandmother Caroline Dumas had nothing to do with her.
Smiling down at the picture Maya, turned the page and came to a clean sheet. "What am I going to draw now?" she asked herself. All over her room were pictures of the pink ranger. A light bulb clicked in Maya's mind, as soon as she remembered during her last visit with her aunt a few months previously. Kimberly took Maya to the park with her, even though she had a date with her boyfriend. Her aunt's boyfriend always treated her very well and never complained when she brought Maya with her. There was a group of black birds in the park and a monkey appeared. For some reason, the monkey started to chase her and separated her from her aunt and boyfriend. This monkey wasn't an ordinary monkey. He had a blue face, covered in gold armor, and had wings. Just as the monkey was about to strike her, the pink ranger jumped in and shot him with her power bow. Maya never knew what happened after that because she passed out due to fright. When she woke up, she was laying in her aunt's bed room.
September 1995
Maya's eyes slowly taking in every ray of light shining through the curtains. "What happened?" Maya asked as Tommy laid an ice pack on her forehead. "What happened to the gold monkey?"
Kimberly and Tommy slowly exchanged looks with each other as if they didn't want her to know something. "Ummm...I think you need to ask Kim," Tommy quickly said with drops of sweat running down his face. He was trying to keep a straight face. "She can tell you much better than I can."
"We were looking for you at the park after we got separated," Kimberly started taking a seat on the bed. "The pink ranger rescued you from the force field and you passed out and hit your head on a park bench. She brought you to me and I saw the white ranger fight off the gold monkey."
"-really, who is the pink ranger!?" Maya cried with excitement. "I want to me her and thank her."
"What about the white ranger?" Tommy asked taking a seat in a rocking chair. "He helped too."
"The pink ranger actually cared enough to save me," Maya started while Kimberly prompted up her pillows. "No one else would have done that other than you, my mom, and Kimberly."
Kimberly pulled down the covers and got in bed next to Maya. "It's their job to help others," she explained as Maya crawled into her lap. "Especially, children like you."
"Well, have you been rescued by the power rangers before?" Maya asked watching Tommy take a seat in the rocking chair.
"I've been rescued by the white ranger," Kimberly answered nervously locking her eyes on Tommy. "One-time Aisha's friend Shawna came down to Angel Grove and all of us went on a picnic. The gold monkey captured me, and Shawna and we were in a cave-"
"-did the pink ranger come?"
"No, Maya. It was just the white ranger-"
"-you must like the white ranger, right? Are you in love with him?"
Kimberly raised a brow staring at Tommy. It was true she loved the white ranger because him and Tommy were the same person. But, she could tell her four-year-old niece that. "I am grateful that the white ranger saved me," Kimberly answered keeping a straight face. "But, I'm not in love with him. I'm in love with Tommy. Why don't we rest for a little while? Tomorrow, I will take you to the mall and buy you some art supplies and an art pad."
"I'll come too," Tommy continued as he turned off the lamp. "They've started selling power ranger toys at the toy store. I'll buy you a pink ranger doll."
Maya grabbed her soft pink ranger plush toy and held in her arm as she was trying to get inspiration to come up with a picture to create. Then it hit her, even though she didn't know how the pink ranger was, she'd draw a picture of her with her aunt Kimberly as the pink ranger. In Maya's eyes Kimberly would be the prefect pink ranger ever. She loved Maya and always paid attention to her, she always made her feel safe, and always made special arrangements for them to spend time together. Picking up a pencil she began draw her master piece. As she was drawing, she thought of how no one believed her that she met the pink ranger, other than her mom, her aunt, and her aunt's boyfriend.
In the meantime, her mother walked into the master bedroom and closed the door. Katy's husband had just left her, and she had no idea what she was going to tell Maya. She thought a girl should think well of her father and didn't want to turn her against him in case he came later. But, Katy had her doubts because Kermit's car was gone. Kermit had used every pay check he had on himself instead of using it to help pay bills, provide food, and help raise their daughter. She opened the closet and found all off his clothes were missing and it was a sign that he had packed his suit cases. Katy had started her new job at a dinner, because Kermit had threatened to leave several times. Katy would be providing everything and there was one huge problem. There was no one to watch Maya and she couldn't afford to pay a baby sitter or to place her day care. There was only one person that she could trust with her daughter, her younger sister Kimberly. She picked up the phone and started to call her sister.
Kimberly had just met Gunther Schmidt, a famous gymnastics coach who trained people for the Pan Global Games. Being in the Pan Global Games was a dream of hers since she was a small child. "Kimberly, I can train you in my spare time," Coach Schmidt started as they took a seat at a table. "If you're interested-"
Her cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket. "Hello," she answered.
"Kimberly, this is Katy. Kermit has just walked out and left me like he had been threating to do. He said he'd be back in an hour and it's been about five hours. His car is gone, and all his clothes are gone. I assume he isn't coming back. I hate to impose on you," Katy apologized. "I've just taken a full-time job as a waitress at a diner and I don't have anyone to take care of Maya."
"Katy, I could take care of Maya," she reassured her sister as she got up from the table and went outside to talk to her sister. "I know I promised mother that I'd move to Paris at the end of the year, but I could-"
"-I just called her. And it didn't go to well."
"What happened?"
"She just told me I ruined my life and she warned me that I should have gave Maya up for adoption, like she advised when I told her I was pregnant."
"You're kidding?!" Kimberly gasped taking a seat on a bench. "I know she wasn't supportive of you when you were pregnant. She always talked like she loved Maya."
"She says that I can't do anything right and she doesn't want deal with Maya," Katy revealed. "She said Maya only gives her trouble and doesn't want her ruining her new marriage with that French painter."
"You know I love Maya and I'll do whatever I can to help out," Kimberly assured her sister watching Coach Schmidt walk outside. "I can move into the apartment anytime. It's only two streets down from where mother and I lived. I can drop Maya off at preschool on my way to school and I can pick her up on my way home."
"You don't know how much I appreciate this," beamed Katy. "And I know Maya will adapt better having someone that she loves and trusts around when I can't be there. Again, I don't mean to impose-"
"-Katy, your fine. I love Maya and she's a wonderful child," Kimberly promised feeling a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and it was Coach Schmidt. "Katy, I'll be there tonight. See you then."
She got off her cell phone and noticed that Coach Schmidt had his arms crossed. "What was taking so long," he demanded as his mouth curved downward. "I don't have time to waste. Either you want me to train you or not. I want an answer now!"
"As much as I'd love to train, I can't do it," she started staring into his angry face. "My sister's husband just walked out on her and she's asked me to come help raise her four-year-old daughter."
Coach Schmidt walked out of sight. "Hey, Beautiful!" Tommy greeted putting an arm around her. "So, when do you start training?"
"I'm not," Kimberly answered sadly as they took a seat on the bench. "My sister's husband left her and she needs someone to help take care of Maya. Tommy, I'll still make time for our dates-"
"-you can just bring her with you. Eventually, I'm going to be her uncle and I want to get to know her."
"Tommy, that's so sweet of you," Kimberly smiled giving him a peck on the cheek. "You don't know how much I appreciate this."
Maya sat on her bed after learning her dad left. Why did he leave? Was she the reason he left? There were so many unanswered questions that were floating up in the air. Tears began to fill her eyes and she picked up her pink ranger doll and held it tightly against her chest as she laid down on her bed. Her drawing of her and her aunt Kimberly was beautiful. Maya had made herself a ranger, but she hadn't decided what color she wanted to be. So, she didn't color her ranger suit. She loved the colors pink, purple, yellow, red, and light blue. Maya could scratch pink of the list. It was true she loved the color, but since she designed her aunt as the pink ranger, they didn't need two pink rangers. Her uniform was based on the pink ranger's uniform and her helmet was based off Spike the stegosaurs from the Land Before Time. She thought Spike best represented her because he was quiet and kept his feelings inside just like she did.
She laid on her side as tears flooded her bed. The door slowly opened, and she rolled over. Katy walked into the room dressed in her mint green waitress dress and white apron. "Maya, I've found the perfect person to stay with you when I can't be here," she began taking seat on her bed.
"Really?!" Maya smiled springing up out of bed.
"Really," Kimberly replied as she walked in the room. Maya jumped out of the bed and ran into her arms. "You'll be seeing me more often, I'm moving in!"
"Maya, I expect you to mind Kimberly while I'm away," Katy announced as she walked out of the room.
Kimberly sat down on the bed and noticed Maya's drawing pad laying on the bed. "This is a nice drawing, when did you draw it?" she asked looking at her drawing pad. Her eyes locked on pink ranger. There was no way Maya knew she was the pink ranger? Or was it possible that she knew? "Maya, why did you draw me as the pink ranger? I'm just curious."
"I think you'd be prefect for the job," Maya smiled. "You love me, you pay attention to me, make me feel safe and actually take time to spend time with me. I'm in the picture too. I just don't know what color ranger I'd be. But, my dinosaur is the stegosaurs. At the bottom we're fighting a frog."
"It looks like your father in a Kermit the Frog costume-"
"I drew him in the Kermit the Frog costume because people always thinking of the frog when I mention his name. I get teased about it at school and I can't stand Kermit the Frog."
Kimberly stared at the drawing as Maya told her about it. She wondered how much longer she'd be able to keep her secret from Maya. Eventually, she was going to find out.