'Thoughts' – sign – "dialogue"
Carla was wistfully watching at an old photograph of her daughter, framed in a wooden rectangle which was hand carved. Definitely, her daughter had so many talents, but she was always very private about them all, not wanting to be boosting of her multiple skills. But just looking at such a small object she could admire her gracefulness in her dancing moves, her ability in ice skating and her creativity and her handicrafts in that simple yet elegant frame. Differently from her three brothers, she had not only proved having the hand to do it, but also the patience to keep working until her piece of work was completed. Her father had been so proud of her accomplishment and had been going on and on for at least a whole week praising her work.
Reopening her eyes after the brief travel back in time, Carla focused again on the picture of the little girl, which had been shot during the last of her routines during the Christmas exhibition of her ice skating class.
She was spinning, her hair and skirt flying all around her. Her eyes were bright and excited, her smile barely controlled to maintain the focus on her routine, her hands and arms following through her spin like the wings of a butterfly. Her ice skating dress was fabulous: white at the shoulders merging with deep red at the end of the flaring skirt, with arabesque embroidery and sparkling sequins to enhance her slim figure and fluent moves.
That picture was one of the most precious the mother had of her beautiful, amazingly talented daughter. She often stood by that frame on the mantelshelf, not really regretting the time passing by, but hoping to have a chance to enjoy watching her daughter one more time, in a dress just like that, flying on the ice as carefree as she had been at that time. Not long later she had lost her best friend and decided not to go skating anymore.
Carla remembered how sad, and secretly disappointed, she had been with her daughter's decision, since she was really great and improving more and more every day. However, she respected the young girl's decision; it had been a truly tough choice to be made by a young girl, moreover made out of regard for her friend, not simply mourning or taking the easy way out to block the painful memories.
After all this time, nonetheless, Carla had been missing the pride and the awe that her daughter's ability was able to arouse in everyone since the first moment they laid their eyes on the girl; but more than anything she had been missing her own pride and awe at her daughter's talent. If she was able to be completely honest she would admit that she was a little envious that the girl's bright smile was more often addressed to other people or things than her: her father, always ready to encourage any and every effort, her brothers, her loyal accomplices in misfits as in good deed, her grandparents, warm and prone to listen to every single word and watch every new sign from the girl, even her ice skating coach, so proud and attentive toward her athlete. Then there were small things able to make a smile appear on her girl's face: any cute animal showing a friendly attitude toward her, some beautiful scenery, the satisfaction of understanding a movie, the emotion of reading another book. The freedom of flying on the ice was one of the easiest ways to bring the sparkling in her eyes. Everything became communication with her, everything was a way to share her feelings given the presence of a living thing, being it animal or human; sometimes it seemed that the girl was even attuned to the natural elements around her.
'Alright, enough is enough; I really think is time to shake all these negative feelings away and start doing something. I have never known myself to let me drown in self commiseration, so what can I do? What do I want to do? What do I really want to get?'
Carla spent some time pondering these few, but meaningful questions revolving around in her mind, until realization hit her like a lightning striking.
'I just want to get to see my beautiful daughter ice skating once again, plain and simple. But... how?'
That was quite a huge problem; the girl was no more a little girl, more a grown woman, even though she would always be her baby girl, with a stubborn mind and proud self-esteem.
Thinking about the way to get her wish Carla decided to listen to the songs that used to be played along her daughter's routines for the Christmas exhibition. She rummaged through all their CDs in the music corner of the living room, finally pulling out Christmas songs by Sinatra. Yes, that was the one, the one and only mostly loved by the ice skating coach. Carla put it on and immediately skipped to the track of the slow routine.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light
From now on, our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Make the Yule-tide gay,
From now on, our troubles will be miles away.
Here we are as in olden days,
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.
Through the years
We all will be together,
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
Carla could almost see in her mind her young daughter dancing on the ice with her white and red dress, sparkling with joy.
Well, she would need help, or better someone helping out to set a situation and a reason for her daughter to go ice skating once again.
'Alright, God willing, this could be possible: I just need three fairy godmothers, well two fairy godmothers and one godfather... I just know that one of them would be more than willing to cooperate to set this whole thing up... I can't really wait now to start up with this plan. Ok, time to make a few phone calls.'