//------------------------------// // July // Story: My Little Dashie: 2020 // by Rdasher12 //------------------------------// *July 4th, 2020* Independence Day Tired from a long afternoon at the park, Dashie and I begin the trek back home. There was no way that we were going to miss out on some fun in the sun on Independence Day. It's become an annual tradition to spend some extra outdoor time on the 4th of July, and we've been extremely lucky to have great weather whenever this day rolls around. There's no telling just how upset Dashie would've been if it had rained. "Come on Pops, we're gonna miss the race!" Despite obviously being worn out from her flips and stunts, she seemed to be in no mood to take it easy. "Okay, okay... Hey, is that a race car over there?" Dashie perks up in an instant and looks in the opposite direction in which we're heading. "What?! No way!" With her head facing away from me. I seize my chance. "Race ya back!" I say as I blast off at maximum speed down the crumbling sidewalk towards home. I know better than anyone else that any attempts to give my daughter a disadvantage in a race are futile. In a blink of an eye, she not only catches up but leaves me in the dust as she takes to the skies. I'm a bit old to be running like this but it does make her happy. As I continue to push myself, I can barely make out Dashie sticking her tongue out at me and sagging her right lower eyelid as a taunt before she disappears into the clouds. ---------- Wearily, I make it home a few minutes later, with Dashie relaxing on top of a cloud above the house. While she's not really supposed to leave my side for any reason, I let it slide given the holiday. I raise my voice towards Dashie to signal that it was safe to come down. "I'll getcha next time... come on down so we can get out of this heat..." I say this in-between heavy breaths, still not having recovered from the run. Dashie snickers to herself as she floats down to the front door. I unlock the deadbolt, the Masterlock, and finally the doorknob. We make our way inside in our usual, quick fashion. It's always better to be safe than sorry, even if I have lightened up about the whole thing over the years. ---------- Dashie and I now sit outside in our small "backyard" enjoying a cookout made especially for the two of us. Dash has been intrigued with trying out different condiments on her carrot dogs recently, so much so that she claims to have invented her own condiment cocktail, being a mix of ketchup, mayonnaise, and barbeque sauce. She's still thinking through some name ideas for now. I had offered my own suggestion, but she didn't seem to appreciate the name "Gross" too much. By the time our feast has finished cooking and we start to chow down, we're able to see fireworks coming from the city nearby. They've done fireworks shows every 4th of July since I was a kid, and all I can say is that they manage to make it a little more extravagant every year. It's too bad that the same can't be said about my little community on the outer edges of the city's limits. Maybe one day... Dashie and I eat and gaze upon the free light show that has been bestowed upon us tonight. Although the red, blue, green, and several other colors of fireworks really are something special, I've been fortunate enough to get a close-up view of the best light show that I could ever ask for thanks to my daughter. Every Independence Day we've celebrated and seen fireworks since Dashie's faithful 7th birthday, I always get reminded of how utterly amazing her Sonic Rainboom can be. It was one thing to see it on my old computer screen, but it was something else entirely to see up close and in person. Not just the boom itself, but also the rainbow trail that followed my sweet little girl following it. She really is the coolest in the entire world, no, the Universe even. Dashie has always been super cool, true to herself, but something that I haven't found so cool over the years is her trying to fly up to the fireworks to get a better view! I've had to talk her out of it every single year, and I swear, it's only getting harder to do as she reaches further into her teenage years. Thankfully, I did have somewhat of a solution to this problem. Back when she was just a filly, Dashie loved to play around with sparklers, 4th of July, or not. It's been years now since she's wanted to play with them. But of course, she's never had the idea of flying with them... I decided to surprise her as she looks on at the fireworks. "Hey Dashie, think fast!" I toss the box of sparklers her way in an attempt to catch her off-guard. Of course, knowing my daughter, she's able to quickly react to my voice and catches the small box with her left-wing right before it hits her. Looking at the box, Dashie seems confused. "Sparklers? I haven't used these in years, Pops. Don't you think I've moved on to much cooler things like actual fireworks and rainbooms?" I chuckle at that, knowing that she's unaware of my brilliant plan. "Come on, Dashie. Why don't you try flying around with them and making cool shapes and stuff? Give it a shot. For your old man?". She gives me a slight eye roll before answering me. "Alright, fiiiine. But only because those carrot dogs you made totally hit the spot." Dashie grabs a couple of sparklers from the box as I ignite the lighter I had in my pocket for the occasion. I light each one as she brings them up to me, and before I know it, she flies a dozen feet in the air and starts performing her usual stunts overhead. Flips, corkscrews, barrel rolls, and certain tricks that Dashie invented herself over the years that I can't quite remember the name of. It truly was a sight for sore eyes... Not only was she able to make shapes with the remanence of the sparkler trails, but mixing in her own rainbow trail created this entirely unique "golden rainbow" aesthetic that I simply couldn't take my eyes off of. Right before the sparklers faded away, I took out my camera and snapped a photo to remember it by. I also figured that Dashie would appreciate being able to see what it looked like from the ground and not just from her own point of view. My beautiful daughter gracefully glides back down to the yard as the sparklers go out. I chime in with a positive attitude. "Hey, there's not a chance on Earth that you can tell me that wasn't cool!" I show her the picture as she trots up to me with renewed vigor. She takes a moment to look at the picture before responding. "Yeah, I guess it was pretty cool. I mean, thanks to me anyway. But it could've been cooler... Like, at least 20% cooler." I can't help but chuckle at her cartoon phrases somehow working their way into the real world. If I wasn't so sure of myself, I'd be wondering if she had managed to find the show on satellite TV somehow. I tease her for acting so unenthusiastically. "Alright, whatever you say, squirt. How's about we head inside for the night? After all, it is getting pretty close to your bedtime." Dashie groans at that statement before begrudgingly following me inside. ---------- An hour or so has passed now, and I sit alone in the living room as the faint sound of lingering fireworks still manages to permeate through the walls. It's always odd hearing it and not seeing it. Any other night of the year (barring New Year's) I'd be more likely to believe that they were gunshots as oppose to fireworks, especially given the area. Anyways, I sit on the living room couch with only a dull lamp turned on to show me my surroundings. I had my old scrapbook in my lap, along with the now-printed photo that I had taken earlier in my left hand. I open the scrapbook and start flipping the pages in search of a place for the new photo to call home. In the meantime, I pass all of the magical moments that I've had with my Dashie over the years. Her first bath, first words, her first preened feather, first flight and so many more. I'm always glad that my mother made sure we kept this around after I was grown up, and that I kept it after her passing as well. Otherwise, I'm not sure that I'd have ever picked it up again when Dashie came into my life. I certainly would've regretted it if I hadn't. Once I pass all of the 2019 memories, I make it to 2020 and realize that the page is nearly empty. The only pictures occupying the page being the ones from New Year's and Valentine's Day. I guess it has been a bit difficult to create the same moments during the pandemic compared to the typical year. It would be a shame if this year was seen as a throwaway due to all of this. I honestly need to make sure that we're having plenty of fun regardless of what's going on in the world. As long as the two of us are staying safe, it hardly matters to us. I firmly place the wallpaper-worthy photo into the scrapbook and close the whole thing shut. Dashie headed off to bed quite a while ago now, and with work bright and early tomorrow, I should be doing the same. I gently put away the scrapbook and head off to my bedroom, turning off the lamp in the process. As I traverse my house through darkness and nothing but my memory guiding me, I feel content with how our day has gone. After all, any day that I get to spend with my favorite girl gets a five-star rating in my book.