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 Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 6:16 pm
Ribbons. Did all of the female persuasion have some ridiculous affinity for them or was it just this one? Matthew wasn't sure of the answer, but he had a bothersome hunch that he had drawn the short straw on this subject.
Five bags of pure dead weight sat at his feet as he took comfort on the ledge of the large fountain which sat center in Barton. His pint-size ward crawled up one weary leg and onto his lap, peaking a fidgety head under his arm to observe the water behind him.
"What's this?" she asked, pulling her head out and reaching down into one of the bags without pause for her answer.
"Heaven," Matthew sighed, flexing his toes inside his shoes. After leaving the umpteenth store of the day, it sure felt like it. Recalling the girl's nature, he lethargically corrected, "I mean, it's a fountain."
"Oooh," she marvelled. It wasn't clear if she was taking in her father's answer or admiring a bright red ribbon she had pulled out. Without another word, she hopped off his lap and began pacing the ledge of the fountain, waving her ribbon high above her head.
Matthew considered doing the "responsible parent" thing and telling her to be careful, but truth be told his voice had gone through too much strain in this day already and no matter what he said the girl was probably going to stumble into the six-inch deep water pool anyway. At least now he wouldn't be putting words to waste.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 5:04 am
Ranza dashed ahead in front of her brother, a little wooden sword raised over her head. After going to the beach and meeting the other children from Orli's school, most of whom were pirates, Ranza and Nahuel had decided to learn a bit more about the profession. This had mostly lead to a marathon of Johnny Depp movies, laughing themselves silly, and Nahuel proclaiming that "Indiana Jones could kick Jack Sparrow's butt three ways to next tuesday," which didn't make any sense but Nahuel was cool like that.
They'd spent most of the day in the garden, having sword fights, looking for treasure (Nahuel said it was because that's what Indiana Jones would do. Ranza said it was because they were pretending to be pirates,) and eating peanut-butter sandwiches. They would have gone home on bike instead of walking through the town, but it had a flat tire as of yesterday so they'd been relegated to pedestrian status for the time being.
They'd never been past the area with the fountain. Ranza guessed it was because they usually took the perimeter road instead of going through town. It was pretty! She wondered if she was allowed to play in it? She made a dash for it and leaned against the cool concrete side before trailing her fingers in the water. This wasn't water like the ocean. The ocean was scary water, but this she could see the bottom of.
Nahuel finally caught up to her, took a penny out of his pocket, and flipped it in.
"Why'd you do that?" asked Ranza, as if he had just wasted perfectly good money.
"For luck," he explained. "I made a wish."
"Oh. What'd you wish for?"
"I can't tell you or it won't be lucky anymore."
"Oh," said Ranza, staring out at the water.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 5:10 pm
Sabina had soon lost herself in some new game, the forgotten ribbon tied in a dainty bow around her neck. Taking one step at a time in regular tight-rope walking fashion, she was in the exciting and risky position of having her feet squarely half on and half off the concrete which kept her in the dry world. However, not long into this development, she was interrupted by the novelty of nearby discussion.
Speeding up her haphazard walk, Sabina approached the brother and sister with perked ears. Some strange statuette divided the sides of the fountain, so she had the element of surprise at hand. Too young to understand how to exploit such an advantage, or even why, she peaked around the obstacle, leaning in closer still to the water.
"That's silly," she said, as though it were a matter of fact, "You can't buy luck."
Sabina ceased her restless trudging around the barrier upon seeing who she was speaking to. What an interesting pair! The boy was older, but he had a tail not far unlike her own. She had no way of discerning what this could mean, as he was the first person she'd seen who also had a tail, but she decided him to be trustworthy. Then there was the girl, so colorful! Sabina had never seen such a thing before.
The small girl was momentarily speechless as she further observed her company, waiting for them to speak again. Matthew meanwhile watched, amused but nonchalant, from the corner of his eye.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:57 pm
"I'm not buying luck, Ranza," sighed Nahuel, thinking it was his sister who had spoken. "I'm wishing for it. The penny is a wish."
"I didn't ask anything," said Ranza, trailing her fingers along the surface of the water. Now she wanted her own penny, though. And maybe some quarters. She'd wish for chocolate, and instead of tossing them in she'd buy some.
"Really?" asked Nahuel, looking up. "But someone just said I couldn't buy luck."
He frowned, confused, and looked around. Finally, he set his sights on a little girl peering out from behind a statue. What big eyes you have, he thought. He smiled, and Ranza followed his gaze, trying to see what was so interesting. She too spotted the girl.
"Hi!" she called.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 10:40 pm
Giggles could not be suppressed at the expense of the siblings' momentary confusion. Sabina promptly offered a playful smile and a twiddle of her fingers in hello before disappearing behind the statue. She could hardly be missed, though, as she soon lept over the water with great finesse, supporting herself with a hand on the statue, to join them.
"You can't buy luck," she insisted without further ado, not letting on as to how tasking her successful jump had been. She gleefully added, "And why would you wish on a penny when there are sooo many stars to wish on?"
At this, Sabina look toward the sky to make her point. The daylight seemed to disagree with the all-knowing toddler. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, snubbing the traitorous sun.
"Well, usually," she corrected, crossing her arms and opening her eyes to get a better look at the two, for there really was so much to see here. There was almost no pause between her words when she continued, "And what's a 'raaan-za'?"
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Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 5:08 am
"Me!" proclaimed the macaw girl. "I'm a Ranza!" She nibbled a fingernail and thought for a moment. "It's short for Esperanza," she added, "But that's a mouthful." She looked to her brother as if for reassurance that that was why she was called Ranza. He nodded. "So I'm just Ranza!"
She stood up a little unsteadily on the edge of the fountain and walked it like it was a balance beam, stopping next to the other girl. She pointed back at the boy behind her.
"That's my brother, Nahuel," she said. "He's an explorer! Like Indiana Jones!"
Well, Nahuel said he was, so it had to be true.
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Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 1:07 pm
"Esperanza," she chimed, tasting the name on her lips. Satisfied, she fixed her posture and proclaimed, "Well I'm Sabina! Papa, that's him waaay over there, calls me "loquacious beyond redemption" but that's a mouthful too. And I don't know what it means."
She grinned and allowed her glossy eyes to meet Ranza's; Sabina liked this girl's style. The brother, on the other hand, had yet to impress her. She didn't know who Indiana Jones was, but she made a mental note to ask Papa later.
"So where do you go explorin'?" she asked, her words clearly directed at the both of them. By the logic of this only child, as brother and sister they MUST share all their adventures together.
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 7:12 am
"It's a secret!" said Nahuel, who was in the firm belief that all the best treasure hunters kept their best, most magical sites secret. After all, if you told people about them they'd ruin them.
"Through a hole in the wall!" said Ranza happily, fighting her sandals off and sticking her feet in the water.
"Ranza!" said Nahuel. She'd spilled the secret! "You're not supposed to tell!"
"Oh," said Ranza, looking from him back to Sabina. "You won't tell, right?"
She gave her brother a sidelong look. "I trust her," she declared.
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 2:15 pm
Sabina pursed her lips; her learning of the hole in the wall seemed to have upset Nahuel. She didn't see the big deal. There were lots of holes in the walls at Papa's building, but none of them were worth exploring much.
"I won't tell no one," she assured him, nodding in a most serious manner.
In regular monkey see monkey do fashion, Sabina slipped off her own sandals. It was probably best not to press on the subject of the secret exploring spot, no matter how curiousity so tempted her. Pleased with having Ranza's announced trust, Sabina figured maybe she could find out more later. Until then though, she needed something to keep her from talking.
"Geronimo!" she exclaimed, jumping into the fountain without fear and splashing both Ranza and Nahuel in the process. An exasperated groan could be heard a few feet away.
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 6:41 pm
Ranza shrieked with laughter as the other girl dove into the fountain, and then looked at her brother for approval. "Can I?" she demanded. "Can I?"
Nahuel found himself in the curious position of being forced to be the force of reason, something he was not entirely used to doing and not entirely sure he liked. "Ahhh," he said, "I think Mom would be mad."
Ranza thought about it for a split second before leaping into the water as well with an enthusiastic cry of "BONZAIIII!"
Nahuel groaned. He was going to get it for this.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 3:44 pm
Sabina threw her hands into the air, fingers spread, and giggled madly. Ranza's disregard for her brother's concern had somehow made this all the more an enjoyable feat.
With a swift tug she untied the ribbon for her neck and waved it once more in the air, fascinated with its rhythmic waves. Proudly holding her banner high, she inched toward Ranza and gave her a small tap with her free hand.
Sabina allowed for a dramatic pause before declaring, "TAG!" and taking off through the water as quickly as her soppy tail would allow.
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 5:25 pm
Ranza shrieked in laughter and splashed after the girl. Her clothes were all wet and dragging in the water - this was hard! Finally, she caught up to Sabina and tapped her back.
"You're it!" she cried, bolting off, diving under the water and surfacing to do a fair impression of a fountain.
"Ew, Ranza, you don't know where that water's been!" shouted Nahuel.
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 1:23 pm
Before Sabina could hustle her way back, and she had really done so with all her might, she saw Ranza go under. The subsequent fountain imitation quite tickled her, and she applauded. Nahuel's objections, however, could not go unchallenged.
"Yeah huh," she informed him, placing her hands on her hips. "It's been in the fountain and YOU threw your dirty penny in it."
With that matter settled, she leaned over and got herself a mouthful of water. She spun around as she blew out the water, which did taste kind of funny. Maybe Nahuel had a point.
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:02 pm
Nahuel got soaked at the little girl spewed water at him. Aw, man! Now Mom would definitely be mad at him! "Ranza," he grumbled, "We're gonna get in trouble. We gotta go home."
"No," said Ranza pleasantly, haphazardly floating on her back.
"What do you mean?" asked Nahuel.
"I made a new friend. I wanna play with her." That said, she sat up and splashed a wave of water in Sabina's direction, giggling wildly in the process.
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 9:17 pm
Sabina returned Ranza's splashes, taking a step to her with each tumult of water and laughing all the way. She threw her arms around the other when she was finally close enough, proposing quite confidently, "I can go home with YOU and play."
She looked up to Nahuel in order to catch his response to her brilliant scheme, but her attention was quickly diverted by a voice that was idle until now.
"Sabi," Matt said, abandoning his post of shopping bags in order to intervene. He stood with his arms crossed, facing the soaking wet girls. "I wouldn't do any parent the injustice of sending home their children along with the added attachment of yourself."
"But Papa," she protested, unaffected by his teasing though deeply upset by what it meant; she didn't want Ranza to leave now! She pouted and looked to Ranza for support.
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