The Fall from the Sky.

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                                                             The Fall from the Sky

"There, Dad! Look! There!"
The little girl took her father's large hand in her soft, pudgy one and tugged at him. The father, though tired from the late night work turned toward her little darling and smiled. She was innocent and knew nothing save one thing...her mother was alive among the stars.
"Yes, honey. I saw her"
"Didn't she look pretty, Dad? Didn't she look pretty?"
Yes. Her mother had always looked beautiful. Sadly enough, the little offspring of his inherited his rough features. She was petite, yes. But had a crooked nose and bushy eyebrows. All this suited on him, but they didn't compliment the girl's face.
"Dad? Dad!"
The sudden sweet voice jolted him back to the reality. He looked at her once again and loved her for all she was.
"Yes, sugar?"
"Dad, someone told me that those stars are shooting stars and not Mum"
"Who? Who said that?"
"A friend. She was lying, wasn't she, Dad?"
There was a long pause. By the time he could think of an answer, the girl's blue eyes were filled with droplets of tears, as if collected from a vast ocean.
"I am sorry, sweetheart. But its true. Those stars are just shooting stars. When they get tired and old, they fall. The young and bright ones stay up holding on to the sky"
"So where is my Mum?", she asked in a small voice.
"She is with us. She is here somewhere and she doesn't like those bad tears in your eyes. So be quick and wipe them off your lovely face!"
The girl, knowing her father was not exactly telling the truth nevertheless dried her tears. She smiled her smile she kept only for those moments when they discussed her mother's memories.
"But those stars will keep falling, Dad? Will I get to see them every night? But I don't want them to grow old, Dad! I don't like it"
"There is nothing you can do, my love. They are born and they shine. But slowly they lose their brightness and need to fall. Because if they don't, there won't be any space left for the new stars to come. Do you get what I mean, munchkin?"
The girl nodded in solemnness. She had never witnessed death and was scared of the notion. Her father clearly remembered that night when he had felt the life seeping into the girl's limp body and slipping out of his wife's bloodied one.
"I love you, Dad. Please don't grow old and fall", the girl's voice shook
"I love you too, Vida. Lets go inside"
He pocketed his cancer medicines and they both headed for the front door, hand in hand.
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~~The Girl.