Author's Note: The original female character (OFC) in Way 19 first appeared in my story "Ann," which is currently posted at the Tracy Island Chronicles – triple W dot TracyIslandChronicles dot com, if you'd like to learn a bit about how she and her Tracy got together.
Way 19
Fall in love with your wife. Again.
John walked into the hospital room. His wife was asleep in bed, and next to her, in a mobile crib, lay the most amazing thing he'd ever seen in his life: his little baby girl.
He moved quietly to the crib, expecting the infant to be asleep. Instead, her large blue eyes were wide open, and her blond hair stood on end like she'd been hit by a bolt of lightning. He chuckled quietly, leaned down and lifted her gently from the nest of blankets.
Her tiny fingers were perfect. Her tiny toes, equally so. She gazed up at him through long, blond eyelashes as she squirmed in his arms. Then he lifted her so that she was over his shoulder, and began rubbing gentle circles into her tiny back.
"Hello, Aurora," he whispered into her ear as he began walking to the door and back to the bed slowly. Quietly.
Several paces to and fro, and he stopped near the crib, brought his daughter back down to cradle her in his arms, and smiled at the way she puckered her lips. "You look so much like your mother," he said, then kissed her on the forehead.
He looked up to find his wife was wide awake, watching him enjoy their beautiful girl with shining eyes. They held each other's gazes, then John moved closer to her bedside, bent over and laid Aurora in her mother's arms.
"Ann," he breathed, his lips near her ear. "She's perfect." He kissed her on her temple, one hand on her arm, the other splayed over Aurora's little tummy. Then he leaned back and looked into Ann's eyes. "You both are."
She smiled and laced their fingers together. John knew he'd never been more in love with her than he was at this very moment. And as his gaze shifted to Aurora, whom he'd met a mere twelve hours ago now, he knew he'd never be in love like this again.
Way 20
Admit you're wrong when you are.
There is a legend in the rock of Tracy Island there,
Where once the Thunderbirds took flight, and no one was aware.
The place that International Rescue called its secret base,
But now, of course, things all have changed, they're in a different place.
If you listen carefully, you'll hear the tale of Dad,
The father who went out one day to swim, and it went bad.
He sauntered to the leeward side, donned only in his trunks,
Towel laid upon the beach, made all of large rock chunks.
It was his day to swim, but he had never tried it here,
And when his youngest followed him, he thought, "That's really weird."
Because his sons, they never went out swimming with their father,
They worked hard enough, they said, to really want to bother.
But Alan didn't come real close, so Jeff decided he
Had simply gone for his own walk, and chose to let him be.
Now Alan had put up a fuss when Jeff announced his plans
To try this new cove off the isle; young Al had waved his hands.
"Really don't like the look of it," he'd said with deepest scowl,
"I never go in over there, here, don't forget your towel."
But then Jeff told him, "Look, my boy, there's nothing in the water,"
"You make it sound like your old man is going to his slaughter."
So Al had bit his lip and turned and gone along his way,
And Jeff had just decided Al was having a bad day.
But then when Jeff, he waded in, water to his chest,
He felt a strange thing tickle him just at the next wave crest.
He kicked his leg and thought, "I guess it must've been a fish,"
But something then clamped hold of him, big as a supper dish.
He beat it hard and yelled and cursed, and Alan came a-running,
At first Al thought, "He's pulling my leg; it's just my father funning."
But then he realized his dad was hitting something near,
So Alan dove right in, his stomach knotted up with fear.
And wouldn't you know, with teeth gripped tight around Jeff's swimming suit,
A smallish shark was pulling hard, and ripping it, to boot!
So Alan grabbed its tail while his dad pummeled on its nose,
And eventually they got it off; is that all, you suppose?
Ah, no, there's just a little more to tell you of this tale,
We're not telling a whopper, nor the story of a whale.
You see, the shark made off with something bright yellow and red,
Caught there right inside his jaw, and all around his head.
So Jeff then found himself without a shred of clothing worn,
He got out fast, as naked as the day that he was born.
"Not a word," he said to Al, "but turns out you were right."
"That shark was pretty small, but he put up a big damn fight."
"I'll keep it to myself," Al said, as Jeff was drying off,
He didn't make fun of his dad, or jeer, or laugh, or scoff.
But from that point on forward, Jeff did listen to his son,
And counted himself lucky there, when all was said and done.
So when you think your father's wrong, all you sons and daughters;
When you're just a bit afraid of jumping in those waters,
Just remember that you have a mouth and tongue to use.
(And if you're Alan Tracy, you were given baby blues!)
Open up and tell your dad that you just feel afraid,
Then watch and see what happens, and the difference that you made.
Although it's fun to tell the tale of Near-Tracy-Papa-Stew,
I just don't think you'd really want this happening to you.
Shameless Self-Promotion Alert: I want to let you know that my published original novel "TAKERS" is now available on Smashwords so you can download it/view it in many different formats if you don't have an Amazon Kindle. Just go to smashwords dot com and search for Takers and you should find it, by Chris Davis (that's me!). It at least gives everyone the opportunity to read it! And I really hope you enjoy it. (If you're someone who prefers hard copies of books, you can always download a PDF, RTF or similar format and print it, too.)