|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 7:00 pm
Quote: The Wishing Tree (1): A Destiny City Star Festival Tradition to be held every year; In Town Square, there is a beautiful tree with spreading branches. It is tall, but the lowest branches are easily reached. The city has decorated the tree with small, starlike ornaments and glistening lights. Thick leaves and beautiful purple flowers dangle from the branches, along with a myriad of different colored papers with handwritten wishes. Next to the tree is a stack of blank paper with twine attached, and a handwritten sign that explains: Write your wish on a sheet of paper and tie it to the tree. Take one wish off the tree and do your best to grant it. When you have granted the wish, bury the paper in the park.The papers are biodegradable and filled with seeds. There are no rules for wishing, but you are encouraged to wish for something vague enough that it can be interpreted in many ways so that it can be granted; you do not write your name on it, but it is encouraged to write something that doesn’t wish for self gain, but rather something that can make the world a better place. Some wishes dangling from the tree already include things like “I wish there wasn’t so much litter in the park,” “I wish someone would clean the graffiti off the old historic buildings,” and “I wish there were more volunteers at the shelter.” If you choose to use the Wishing Tree, what do you wish for? If your wish is private, you may write it on the paper and choose a spot in the park and bury it yourself instead of hanging it on the tree.
Paris struggled to hold back her laughter as her youngest daughter, Elsie, aged three and a half, held her arms open and tried to summon magical wishes that wouldn’t come. Elsie looked around, a pair of green star charms clutched in one hand, offered to her by a vendor a little ways back. She held them like they were the source of some magical power for her, staring expectantly, eyes stuck hard on the lights strung through the tree.
When nothing happened, Elsie tried to encourage it along, singing, “Wishing tree~ share with me~ tiny wishes, one, two, three~! Wishing tree, please share with me~ magic power for you~ and~ me~!”
Once again, nothing. Elsie took a deep breath, held it for a second, then sang as loud as she could, “Magic power~ in the wishing tree~!”
Unsuccessful, Elsie deflated immediately after, pouting sadly.
“Daddy, it’s not working!”
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:59 pm
Chris smiled as their daughter tried so hard to call forth magic that existed only in a television show. Like Paris, he tried not to laugh, not wanting to upset Elsie.
He leaned down so he could reach out and lift her up, holding her higher to see the starlike ornaments and lights and purple flowers.
“You know what? They might not be able to grant your wishes right now. There are too many other people around. Everyone would know the Wishing Tree’s secrets. But you did a very good job singing. True would be proud.”
Chris cast a glance over at Paris, still biting back a grin. “I bet if we take one of these papers and write a wish on it and bury it, something special will happen in a few weeks. Did you want to try that?” he asked, hoping to give her something else to focus on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:50 pm
Elsie kept pouting, then pouted some more, mouth curved into a frown with her bottom lip stuck out as she scuffed the sole of her sneaker against the ground.
Ever the Daddy’s Girl, her pouting broke as soon as Chris lifted her up. She smiled, reaching for an ornament on one of the lowest branches, barely brushing it with the tips of her fingers.
“I wish for a unicorn!” Elsie said.
“You’re supposed to wish for something that would make the world a better place,” Paris explained, plucking five papers from the stack, one for herself, one for Chris, and one each for their children.
Knowledgeably, Henry said, “Unicorns would make the world a better place.”
He took the paper Paris offered him, intent on demonstrating his newfound writing skills by writing out his own wish.
“True,” Paris allowed, “but unicorns don’t want to mingle around too many people, so we should leave them to their natural habitat.”
“Where do unicorns live?” Henry asked.
“Deep in the forest where few people can find them.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2021 12:49 pm
“Dinosaurs would make the world a better place!” Abby chimed in, and bounced up and down until Paris gave her a slip of paper too. “Rawr!” she growled at her twin and then giggled as she pranced off to find a place to write her wish. Not that she could write very well, but she could at least draw pictures when she wasn’t sure what the right spelling was.
Chris let out a small, exasperated sigh, but it was full of fondness as he held onto his and Paris’s youngest daughter. “Here,” he said as he reached up to help Elsie untie one of the wishes from the tree. But it was folded up so well that he had some trouble getting it open.
“Paris, want to read the wish for Elsie?” Not that he expected her to be able to fulfill many wishes at her age, but they would help as much as she wanted them to.
“Abby, people can’t make dinosaurs appear,” he tried gently cautioned her, to which she chirped, “Not with that attitude.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2021 6:39 pm
“Dinosaurs would just eat people,” Henry said, like he was an authority on the subject. “Like Jurassic Park.”
“Who let you watch Jurassic Park?” Paris asked, sharing a brief look with Chris as she took the wish he’d helped Elsie retrieve.
“No one,” Henry replied, voice even enough that Paris didn’t suspect him of lying. “Parker told me. At school. We were drawing dinosaurs and he said he watched it with his dad.”
Paris shook her head over the choices of other parents, but said nothing more on the subject since she figured there were worse things someone could let their child watch. It wasn’t as if she had much room to talk anyway. She didn’t always watch age-appropriate things when she was a child. Then again, her parents hadn’t been ready to be parents.
After unfolding Elsie’s chosen wish, Paris read it out loud. “This one says, I wish people would plant more flowers. That’s not so bad. We can plant more flowers in the garden. Maybe we can put a few little houses there, too, to tempt some fairies to stay with us.”
“I wanna see the fairies!” Elsie crowed excitedly.
Paris handed Chris one of the blank pieces of paper for their youngest. “Whisper your wish to Daddy so he can write it down.”
Elsie paused to think about it, little finger perched on her bottom lip, before she smiled brightly and leaned close to Chris’s ear, whispering to him.
In the meantime, Paris crouched down to help Henry with his.
“I wish all the lost animals could find a nice home,” Henry said.
Paris wrote exactly that. Maybe someone out there was looking for a sign to adopt a pet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2021 5:59 pm
When Paris shared a look with him when Henry mentioned knowing about Jurassic Park, Chris’s eyes widened with dread, not remembering letting the children see that movie, but then again, his memory was still a little iffy every now and then. Much better than before, of course. Thankfully it seemed as though Henry and Abby knew of the film from a classmate, and Chris relaxed a little.
He took the blank piece of paper from Paris and waited for Elsie to tell her his wish. Which had him grinning from ear to ear, although he managed to hold back a laugh. He would definitely have to tell Paris later.
“Fine,” Abby relented and waited for her turn to get help from mommy. “I wish everyone can get their favorite dinosaur as a toy.” That was acceptable, right? No eating people at least.
Chris set Elsie down so he could write her wish, but instead of tying it to the tree, he decided to pocket it, just so he could show Paris later.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:24 am
“That’s a very good wish, Abby,” Paris reassured her oldest daughter.
Maybe they weren’t the sort of wishes the organizers of this festival intended, but they were good enough for five-year-olds. Surely someone would have fun with them.
Handing off the twins’ wishes to Chris — along with her own, hastily scribbled before any of the kids could attempt to run off of their own — Paris took a few more from the tree so the kids could have fun granting wishes over the next several days. It would help keep their afternoons busy, and get them using their creativity.
“Okay, who wants ice cream?” she asked once they were done.
Immediately, three little voices talked over one another. “Me me me! I want ice cream! Please, Mommy, I want some!”
She shared another look with Chris, unable to hide an amused smile. “I guess we’re getting ice cream.”
And off they all went, hand-in-hand.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
