Father Daughter Moments

	“You should be proud.”
	“I am.” I said, but something must have given out in my voice because she reached out and placed her hand on top of mine and rested her cheek on my shoulder. Together we watched the little Salamander run circles around the jungle gym, chasing some brown haired boy. Both of them had sticks and they went around and around with the kind of innocent energy only kids could muster.
	“Soon she’ll be bringing them home with her.” My wife joked, but the words only pulled my heart deeper into my chest. The expedition to the playground had been the girl’s idea. I had gone along with it because I didn’t want to be left alone in the house. Now I wasn’t so sure I made the right idea.
	I think my silence only made things worse and drive my wife to chase down the source of my sadness. Not that it was hard. I don’t think her kind truly understood depression, not to belittle her though. She’s just too much the fighter. With a jolt I realized that’s why I loved her she would fight for me even when I couldn’t see a way forward.
	In one fluid motion I wiggle my arm from under her and hugged her close. The warmth that naturally radiated from her was only matched by the burning affection for the woman sitting beside me. She came in close and repeated what she said earlier.
	“You should be proud.”
	“I’m just worried about her is all.”
	“You’ve raised a good daughter.”
	“You saw what she did to that other girl.”
	“She’s a Salamander. I was worse.”
	“Don’t tell me that.” I said. My daughter, Hailey, had been suspended the day prior for fighting. The fourth this month and the school said one more ‘incident’ and it might jeopardize her spot at the academy. Now I’d done everything I could think of to feed that urge her kind felt. Boxing, fencing, and hell she played for every time I could get to take her. Wasn’t ever enough. She terrorized the other children.
	“And then I get to deal with the phone calls and the stares.” I said aloud. My wife said nothing to this. She was saved having to answer by the leaping, bounding little girl she had given me. Hailey had her stick-sword raised up high and came to a screeching halt right in front of the bench we were sitting on.
	“Daddy daddy I’m a Thorakitai!” She said, mangling the Greek word horribly. At least she got high marks in history, I thought. So long as it was about war, came the unbidden thought. I smiled down at her. I couldn’t see what my wife was doing but I could feel the love coming from her.
	“Can we get ice cream?” She asked, breathing heavily between each word.
	“Yes.” I said before my wife could say anything. Hailey squealed in delight and ran back over to say goodbye to her new friend. I could see his father watching from one of the other benches and the two of us made eye contact for a moment. He smiled and nodded my direction.
	“Bold move giving her sugar before dinner.” My wife said, all bemused.
	“She’ll get a kiddie sized one. Besides it’s a short drive over.” I reassured her.
	“You can put her down tonight then. Good luck sweetie.” She said with a peck on the cheek.
	The drive over was about five minutes. Tall trees surrounded the road on either side and the sky was darkening rapidly from overcast grey to black. The drive was far from smooth; my wife took each pothole as a personal challenge and affront so the degree of swerving was quite high. I kept my eyes glued firmly to the window and listened to my wife get fired up about the state of the roads in this town. Hailey enjoyed the bumps and jerks.
	“I’ll...I’ll go order something for us.” My wife said after a moment’s hesitation. I watched her slowly merge into the crowd surrounding the front. The inside lights above the doors and in the ceiling slowly faded out and left deep shadows inside the car. I awkwardly turned to my daughter, craning my neck to look at her.
	“Daddy am I in trouble?”  She asked softly.
	“No, pumpkin.” I said. My child squirmed in her seat uncomfortably.
	“They didn’t like me at school.” She said.
	“They didn’t like how you hit that other girl.”
	“But I had to! She took Jason McDaniel’s chocolates and that’s not fair!”
	“Hailey that other girl lost a tooth. You shouldn’t worry about what other children do, the teachers will take care of it.” It didn’t sit right with her. Not that it mattered; Hailey needed to learn these things and it was my job as her father to teach her. As gently as I could, of course. I stretched as far as I could and placed my fingers on the top of her head, scratching at her mop of chestnut brown hair.
	“You did the right thing standing up for that little boy Hailey.” I said. She looked up at me through her messed up bangs.
	“But next time? You need to start to learn how to use your words.” I said.
	“Warriors don’t use their words!” She protested. And there it was, that’s what this was all about.
	“Yes they do. All the time.”
	“Did you?” She asked, long shadows obscuring parts of her face.
	“You shouldn’t want to be like me. You should want to be better than me. Besides, you’re not a warrior yet. You’re still in training. So why don’t you focus on being daddy’s little girl?” I tried, throwing some humor and a smile at her.
	“Okay.” She said, the guilt playing out on her face for me to see. I gave her another sympathetic pat on the head.
	“You’re not in trouble. Just no more fights. Promise?” I said.
	“Promise.” She said.
	“Who wants ice cream!” My wife cheered, throwing open the door to the car with gusto.
	“You want some ice cream?” I asked Hailey. She nodded.
	“Now you still have to eat your green beans with your chicken tonight.” My wife said as she handed over the kiddie sized Styrofoam cup.
	“But I don’t wana! If I don’t take the ice cream do I still have to eat them?” Hailey said, recoiling in alarm. I snorted into my cone at the futile bargaining.
	“Yes you do Hailey Grant and I won’t hear any more of it.” My wife said. The two continued like that. I was relieved as we slipped back into the usual routine. All the concerns had faded away as I listened to my wife and my child talk. Things would work themselves out; this was just a bump in the road. She was just a little rambunctious.
	“Hailey did you eat all that ice cream?” I asked.
	“Yep!” She beamed. Uh oh. My wife laughed and put an elbow into my gut with a shake of her head.
	“Daddy’ll be putting you to sleep tonight so you go to him, okay Hailey?”
	“Okay!!” She shouted. Despite it all I found myself grinning.