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General

She reaches under her king size bed and lets her hand search for it. She doesn’t need a flashlight to locate her hidden treasure among the loads of rubbish under her bed.

Occasionally, her hands brush some junk away, like the cool metal of empty soda cans she finished some days back and promised herself she’d throw away, but didn’t; the soft fabric of the leg of a woolly sock she’ll go on a rampage in a week or two looking for to no avail; and some pieces of crumpled up paper containing failed writing attempts on an essay whose deadline was fast approaching.

She tries to make a mental note to clean up under her bed, but once her hands come in contact with it, all plans of organisation flee from her mind as the only thought occupying it is the precious content the dainty box in her hands hold.

 

Sitting down gently on her bed, box in her laps, she lets her fingers trace the patterns of the intricate designs on its yellow lid. After twenty seconds of running her hands over it, her fingers land on the whisker taped on the lid’s edge. Carefully removing the tape- which had lost its qualifying stickiness due its frequent removal and repasting- she lifts the whisker to her face, relishes its tickle under her nose, and lets her mind take a trip down memory lane seventeen years back.

 

++++++++++

 

Here, she is five years old, and bawling at the top of her lungs because her cat had run away. Her father comes inside her room, brown hair sticking out at odd ends, with a worn; tired look on his face. She couldn’t care any less that it was 1 am and she was probably disturbing the whole neighbourhood. Afterall, she was only five, and everything in life was all about her.

 

“What’s wrong, Pumpkin?” her father asks, wiping the tears from her brown face.

 

“Catnip’s gone!” she sniffles and buries her head in his chest, where safety lies. Daddy’s arms are always safe. “I don’t know why she left me alone.”

 

“Well, Carla, Catnip’s an adventurer, and she loves to explore the world. She’ll be back before you know it.” he says, running a hand through her frizzy curls. Carla, however, isn’t comforted.

 

“All I want is to explore the world with HER. I want Catnip!” she wails again, earning a huge sigh from her sleepy father.

 

“Okay. We’ll wait for her together.”

 

That’s how they sat together in her pink bedroom on her pink bed, staring outside her open; wooden-panelled window into the silent; starry night. Daughter in the arms of father, they wait with their hearts in their mouths until the Moon went to sleep in the West, and the Sun peeked out at them from the East. They’d been up for almost five hours before her father spoke up.

“Looks like Catnip’s not coming home today.” he says sullenly, which makes Carla cry again. “Pumpkin, don’t cry. Something probably delayed her.”

 

“What if she never comes back?”

 

“Well… then we’d have to keep her memory alive in us.” he says, moves to the window, and picks up a black whisker from the sill. Carla never noticed it was there, but then again, it wasn’t like she was looking.

Bringing out the yellow box from his room, which he used to package Catnip in after buying her for Carla’s fifth birthday, he places the whisker on the box’s lid, and with some tape, he sticks it.

“There! That way, you can always remember Catnip anytime you see her whisker.”

 

++++++++++

 

Carla sighs at the memory of her long lost cat she loved so much. Even now, she wishes she could’ve gone on adventures with her. She then delicately places the whisker on the box’s lid, carefully pastes the tape that had managed to keep the whisker intact for seventeen years, and opens up the box.

 

As always, the first item that catches her eye is the glint of light reflected from an object. She picks up the gold coin and twirls it in her hands, appreciating the feel of the cold; hard metal. As she does this, she unconsciously transports herself fifteen years back in time.

 

++++++++++

 

“It’s wobbling a lot more, now.” Carla says to her father through the mirror. She’s in her purple-and-white tiled bathroom, staring at her seven year old reflection, which is the female replica of her father. Because she’s too short to view below her forehead in the mirror above the ceramic sink, he’s carrying her so she can have a good look at herself.

In another seven years, her father will yearn for times like this when he could freely step into the bathroom with his daughter without her causing a ruckus, or could leave her with a mirror, knowing she wouldn’t spend half an hour inspecting the littlest details of her facial features.

 

“Let me see.” he offers. She turns to him and willingly opens her mouth wide for him to take a look, wobbling her baby tooth with her tongue. “Ah! If I’m correct, it looks like it’ll fall off today or tomorrow.”

 

“Will it hurt?” she asks, looks at her reflection, and wobbles her tooth again. Almost all her friends had lost a tooth or two, and she was elated she wasn’t going to be the last. Danielle’s hadn’t even started shaking.

 

“Nah, it wouldn’t hurt. All your teeth will just drop at once, and you’d have the mouth of an old lady.”

 

“Really?” she shrieks, aghast. She was eager for her tooth to fall, but she didn’t want to be toothless! She covers her mouth with her palm, as if doing that would prevent her teeth from falling.

 

“No. I was just kidding, Pumpkin.” her father laughs, which makes her chuckle. “But you shouldn’t be devastated with the idea of your teeth falling. It would mean more coins from the tooth fairy.”

 

“Melinda told me tooth fairies aren’t real because she didn’t get a gold coin when her tooth fell.” she says as her father puts her down on the ground.

 

“Well, that’s because she didn’t believe hard enough.” he replies casually, like that was the most obvious reason an imaginary creature wouldn’t drop a coin under a toddler’s pillow.

 

As predicted, Carla’s tooth fell that evening. With high hopes, she put it under her pink pillow, expectant of the gold coin the tooth fairy would graciously give her. As soon as the sun smiled upon her face, she woke up to look for the tooth fairy’s gift.

 

“I got a gold coin!” she yells, running to her father to show him her reward.

 

“I told you they’re real!” her father exclaims. “If I were you, I’d keep that coin somewhere safe, to always remind myself of the magic of tooth fairies.”

Giving him a gap-toothed grin, Carla runs off to put the gleaming; gold coin inside her yellow memory box. In three years’ time, she will find out it was her dad who put the coin under her pillow, and stop believing in tooth fairies.

 

++++++++++

 

Carla smiles as she recalls the last details of that day. Till now, she wonders how her dad was able to convince her into believing fairy tales. He was so good at crafting stories and making them sound realistic, that she easily fell for them. Now, she’s beyond that, but she misses those naïve times sorely.

 

She places the coin back in its corner, and picks up a blade of grass beside it. Lifting it to her nose and inhaling its earthy scent, she lets her thoughts wander back twelve years.

 

++++++++++

 

“Are you ready?” her father asks. Her skinny ten year old self is sitting awkwardly on a bicycle, fully clad with a helmet and arm and knee pads. She had just removed her training wheels and so desperately wanted to master this vehicle most preteens used to go to school.

 

“I’m ready.” she says. “Let go of me.” And her father releases her. As she had practiced, she put one pedal in front of the other until she was riding the bicycle alone. “Yeeaaah!!! Can you see me, dad? I’m doing it!”

 

“You’re moving too fast!” he screams back at her. “Slow down!”

 

What’s up with the tone of his voice? she thinks, and glances over her shoulder to look at him. To her surprise, he was hard on her heels, chasing after her. She only just heard him telling her to slow down again, before her bicycle collided with an object on the road, and sent her flying head-first unto the pavement of a neighbour’s lawn.

 

“Ow!” she cries, lifting her head to see what caused her downfall. After identifying it, she’s livid. “Who would leave their trashcan lying in the middle of the road????”

 

“I don’t know, Pumpkin- something must’ve toppled it. Is your head okay?”

 

She touches her head to see if there are any injuries and finds none. Thank goodness for helmets. “It’s good. Just a dull pain, that’s all.”

 

“Good.” her father says, and lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. After a while, he laughs.

 

“What?” Carla asks, feeling a little bit embarrassed. She didn’t find the situation comical.

 

“You should’ve seen the look on your face when you fell. I wish I could’ve taken a picture and kept it to remember this day.”

 

Carla is about to protest that it wasn’t funny, but once she imagines how she looked while falling, she’s in hysterics, too. After she and her father had laughed their hearts out, she plucked a blade of grass from the lawn where she fell, and kept it safely in her memory box.

 

++++++++++

 

Carla laughs again as the event played through her mind. That's her father- always turning every situation into a joke, not matter how bad it was.

 

Her hands automatically go to the next object within reach, which is a white seashell with beautiful; orange dots decorating it. She lifts it to her lips, lets the tip of her tongue touch it, and imagines she’s re-tasting the salt water of the beach, eight years back.

 

++++++++++

 

She’s fourteen, and at that age where girls and guys notice each other and get noticed. That day, in the middle of building a sandcastle with her father, she couldn’t keep her gaze off the cute; dark boy on a white stallion. He had another tawny mare beside him that people paid to get a ride on. At that moment, the mare was empty- this was the moment she'd been waiting for.

 

“Dad, can we ride that horse?” she asks, abruptly. Her father cocks his head slightly to get a view of what she’s referring to.

 

“The brown one?” she nods. “Okay. Let’s ask the fellow for a ride.”

 

They walk up to him, but she stands some distance away, trying not to gawk at the boy’s muscular frame; or his luscious; jet-black hair. She notices his brown eyes flicker to her, but she looks away and busies herself with a seashell on the ground. It wasn’t as fascinating as the others she collected- white, with some orange dots- but she picks it up, nonetheless, to add to her collection.

 

“It’s two dollars for a five-minute ride.” her father tells her after talking to the boy. “You and I can get on this one together.”

 

“Um… dad? Can I ride it alone?”

Her father looks dumbstruck, because he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Carla, however, could give anything to not be seen riding with him. To her, it made her look like a baby- which she wasn't anymore.

 

“But, Pumpkin…” he begins, and when she scowls at him, he corrects himself. “Carla, we always do everything together. Besides, you’ve never ridden a horse before.”

 

“I don’t care. Let me just do this thing alone for once. Please.” she doesn’t look him in the eye as she says this. In another timeline, she could’ve ridden with him. However, she didn’t want this gorgeous boy- or any other bystander- to think she wasn’t independent. Independence, afterall, was attractive.

 

“Okay.” her father says eventually. “I’ll wait for you by our sandcastle.”

 

She was glad he relented, because she had made up her mind not to ride at all if he insisted on tagging along. Still holding the seashell, she walks up to the boy with his horses, and her heart skips a beat when he looks at her. What was in this boy that made her reject her father’s company for him? And what was in the common seashell she held that made her put it inside her memory box? She didn’t know, and she never did, but she forever remembers that day as the first time she left daddy’s arms for another.

 

++++++++++

 

Carla sighs as she thinks of the boy, Mark, and drops the seashell back in the box. It wasn’t as special as the other ones she collected that day, just as Mark wasn’t as special as the other guys she eventually dated. However, there was something in him- and the seashell- that made her want to keep a memory of.

 

Sifting through the other items in her box, Carla reaches the bottom to bring out a dog-eared photo of her in a metallic gold dress, posing by a sidewalk. Like always, she lets herself go back to that day, four years ago.

 

++++++++++

 

Her dad knocks gently on her room door. The room is white now, because the sight of pink became sickening to her as she grew older. White and blank, like her mind that evening.

 

“Carla, are you okay? It’s almost time.”

 

Carla puts her pillow over her head and pulls the duvets closer to her. “I’m not going!” her muffled voice screams back.

 

A moment of silence. Then, the door opens. “Carla, you’ve been going on and on about how excited you are for prom. How can you say you’re not going now?”

 

Carla groans, then removes the pillow from her face. “I told you not to enter my room without permission.” she says hoarsely and puts the pillow over her face again.

However, her father had already seen the tear-streaked, bloodshot eyes of his eighteen year old daughter.

 

“Pumpkin, what’s wrong?” he asks, and sits down on her bed, which is cream now.

 

“I told you to stop calling me that.” she mumbles, but she adjusts herself to create room for him. “And nothing’s wrong. I just changed my mind about prom.”

 

“Oh, come on. How can you change your mind so easily? We’ve already bought the perfect dress, and found the perfect hairstyle, and got the perfect guy to go with you.” he replies, sarcastically.

 

“Well, that perfect guy just stuck me up! He said he’s going with that stupid Avery girl. And now, I’m dateless!” she screams at him. She didn’t mean for her tone to be sharp, but it came out that way, and she couldn’t care any less.

 

“Are you serious?” her father asks, probably too old to understand the emotional drama she was facing.

 

“Do I look like I’m joking?” And before she knows it, she’s crying. As he always did when she was young, her father brings her close to his chest, and she doesn’t complain about being in daddy’s arms once more, where safety lies. “I hate that stuck-up douchebag.”

 

“Me, too. I hope he chokes on his punch. Actually, I hope he gets punched on his perfect face.” he says gravely, but she knows he’s joking and smiles a little.

 

“Yeah. And I hope all his teeth fall off so he looks like an old lady.” she adds.

 

“A really ugly old lady.” he confirms, and they’re both laughing. “You know what? You don’t have to go for prom- I wasn't comfortable with you going, because you’d leave your old man alone in his home.”

 

“You’re not old.” she chuckles. “You’ve just lived a long life.”

 

“Whatever you say. Anyways, you don’t have to go for prom. I’ve been thinking of trying that new restaurant down the street. There’s a promo for their special dinner, and what other better time to try it out than now?”

 

“Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do other than sulking...” Carla says. “Let me get dressed.”

 

“Great! Now, I have a dinner date. I guess fate brought us together, M’lady.” her father laughs, and moves towards the door. “Oh, and Carla? Wear your prom dress tonight.”

 

That evening, daughter and father walked hand-in-hand to the restaurant, eating dinner and making jokes like they were the only ones in the world. If one didn’t know them, one would’ve thought they were a couple, rather than a father trying to cheer up his heartbroken eighteen year old daughter.

On their way home, he took a picture of her because, as he said, she looked stunning, and it was that perfect douchebag’s loss for missing out on her awesomeness. Carla then kept that photo safely in her box, to remember that day forever.

 

++++++++++

 

A tear rolls down Carla’s cheek as the feelings for her beloved father come back. She puts the photo back in its place and doesn’t go through any more items that contained memories of her father, who she missed dearly. Right now, she could give anything for him to come into her room, to hear him call her Pumpkin, and to be in his arms- daddy’s arms- where safety lies.

 

Carla gently closes the box and puts it under her still disorganised bed. When she misses him again, which wouldn't be until another five days, she will bring it out and go through other objects that reminded her of him. To some people, he’s dead, and remained that way for two years. But to Carla, he was alive- even more than alive. To her, he is safe and sound inside her memory box.

May 26, 2020 08:14

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46 comments

Manel Tairi
14:19 May 27, 2020

Such a beautiful story ! Your descriptions were just incredible.

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Kelechi Nwokoma
18:05 May 27, 2020

Thank you so much. I tried as much as possible to describe everything, because most incredible strories on reedsyprompts have vivid descriptions. I'm glad you liked it :)

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Grace M'mbone
05:21 Jul 04, 2020

I loved growing wih the protagonist. I especially love how you brought out the reaction of the father when she asked to ride alone. Beautiful. Kelechi once again,this is amazing.

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Kelechi Nwokoma
14:02 Jul 04, 2020

Thank you so much, Grace, for this wonderful comment. I read my story again to the part where she asked to ride alone, and I'm not sure I did a good job there in terms of the showing vs telling rule. I just told the reaction but I didn't show it (Showing, not telling, is something my friends on reedsy have taught me) If I could rewrite it, I think I might do a better job. Overall, I'm still glad you like my story. Thanks, once again. I really appreciate it :)

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Grace M'mbone
17:49 Jul 04, 2020

At least I have learnt something more from you Kelechi,to show rather than tell. Thank you for the reply.

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Kelechi Nwokoma
18:07 Jul 04, 2020

You're welcome :D You could also check out reedsy's blog on showing vs telling. It's really good.

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Veena Parmar
21:59 Jun 26, 2020

Great story about a father daughter relationship and the importance of keeping someone alive through memories. Really touching!

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Kelechi Nwokoma
07:05 Jun 27, 2020

Thank you so much, Veena. I really appreciate this.

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Jeremy Jain Babu
06:23 Jun 05, 2020

'Memory Box'... A lovely story, I liked the name Carla alot😊

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Kelechi Nwokoma
06:37 Jun 05, 2020

Thank you so much- I'm glad you do. Thanks for taking out time to read my story. I really appreciate it.

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Kelechi Dim
13:48 Jun 02, 2020

Very nice and lovely story kelechi I promised to be reading your works and share them too and I've been doing just that can't wait to read another one dear

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Kelechi Nwokoma
00:43 Jun 03, 2020

Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.

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Rhondalise Mitza
18:15 Jun 27, 2020

You guys have the same name? Cool!

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Kelechi Nwokoma
20:57 Jun 27, 2020

Yes, we do. He's my real-life friend, actually. I asked if he wanted to take a look at my story a while back and he agreed. About 10% of comments are from my real friends, but most just give me feedback privately.

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Rhondalise Mitza
22:51 Jun 27, 2020

So great! :)

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Roshna Rusiniya
04:59 May 31, 2020

This is beautiful. Loved the last line.

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Kelechi Nwokoma
05:07 May 31, 2020

Thank you so much. It took a lot of writing and rewriting, but I finally agreed with myself that that one was the perfect ending to Carla's story. Thanks, once again!

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Roshna Rusiniya
05:13 May 31, 2020

You are welcome. A good work always takes time. If you have time, please have a look at my story. It’s called’ what changed between then and now’. I would love to know your take on it. Thank you

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Kelechi Nwokoma
00:09 Jun 01, 2020

Okay. I'll be sure to look at it.

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Sandeep T
08:33 May 29, 2020

It's simple yet a vivid Sweet story . Here's a like for Carla's yellow memory box

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Kelechi Nwokoma
17:27 May 29, 2020

Thank you so much, Tellabati, for the like and the comment. I really appreciate it :)

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12:30 May 28, 2020

Yet another good story! I loved this one as well =)

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Kelechi Nwokoma
16:54 May 28, 2020

Thank you so much, Elena. I'm glad you liked it :D I'm going to check out 'A Call from the Past' now. I bet it's awesome.

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Nat S
04:14 May 28, 2020

That was gorgeous! So adorable and yet so sad! You have such an amazing style of writing!

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Kelechi Nwokoma
04:21 May 28, 2020

Thank you so much. You, too are amazing!

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L. M.
01:21 May 28, 2020

The relationship between Carla and her dad is precious. The little details got the big ideas across. Such a bitter-sweet ending.

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Kelechi Nwokoma
01:31 May 28, 2020

Thank you so much. I'm glad you took time out to read my story and give me feedback. I really appreciate it. :)

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L. M.
01:40 May 28, 2020

Awww, you're welcome! :)

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Maggie Deese
22:37 May 27, 2020

This was a wonderful, heartfelt story. Amazing job on this one, Kelechi!

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Kelechi Nwokoma
22:43 May 27, 2020

Thank you so much! This means a lot coming from you, because you're a great writer yourself. I really appreciate it.

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Maggie Deese
22:48 May 27, 2020

Aw thank you! You are so welcome :)

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Kelechi Nwokoma
23:08 May 27, 2020

:D :D

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Amin Rahzani
20:42 May 27, 2020

I like how your stories rise near the end. I read this one and The Hope in our Stars and both were awesome and inspiring. But the problem was some words you used in the middle of stories kinda spoiled the ending.

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Kelechi Nwokoma
20:55 May 27, 2020

Thank you Amin for the feedback. I'm glad you like my stories. However, I don't understand what you mean by some words I used spoiling the ending. Could you please point them out, so I can take a look at them? I'd really appreciate it.

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Amin Rahzani
21:22 May 27, 2020

"Carla laughs again as the event played through her mind. Her father sure knew how to turn every situation into a joke, not matter how bad it was." I don't know but when I read this line I kinda had this vibe that ending would be something like what you wrote. Only I thought that today (the day that story happened) was his father's funeral, that's why she felt like an apathetic character

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Kelechi Nwokoma
21:37 May 27, 2020

Oh... I understand what you mean. Like it gave a hint of how the ending would be like, thereby spoiling it. Kind of like a spoiler. I'll see what I can do about that but if I can't change anything, I'll make sure not to repeat the same mistake in my next story. Thanks so much for the feedback. I really appreciate it :)

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Amin Rahzani
21:44 May 27, 2020

Keep up the good work I can't wait to read your next story

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Kelechi Nwokoma
21:50 May 27, 2020

Thank you so much. I can't also wait for your next feedback. Also, I've edited that part, so you can check it out if you want.

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Abby S
20:32 Jun 05, 2020

When i read the end, a tear rolled down my cheek just like Carla, because this story was just so beautiful. Keep doing what you're doing ❤

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Kelechi Nwokoma
20:50 Jun 05, 2020

Thank you so much for this lovely comment. I'm glad you were able to feel Carla's emotions with her.

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Emily Nghiem
09:34 Jun 04, 2020

You have a very sweet storytelling style, with very nice descriptions and flow. I would not want to interrupt the gentle smooth flow of your words, by overediting. To give you the bare minimum editing needed, I would fix: the semicolons that need to be commas, the hyphens that are normally typed as double dashes --, and ellipses that I would remove, replace the word "douchebag" that seems out of place with the rest of your story, and correct the hyphens, such as "purple and white" and "seven-year-old." There may be other minor editing, but I...

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Kelechi Nwokoma
11:53 Jun 04, 2020

Thank you so much, Emily, for this. I really appreciate the fact that you took time out to read this. For the semicolons and commas, I get confused with those a lot. Originally, my story didn't have some semicolons, but reading the winning story of last week's prompts, 'The Firebird's Answer', i tried to apply some of the punctuation Phoebe used in my own writing. Also, I understand the seven-year-old and purple-and-white need hyphens. Thank you very much for pointing those out. Although I'm quite good in English, little punctuation error...

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Lovely story! Very cute, you are really good at writing different tones of the father and the child (Carla). Keep it up! 💖

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Kelechi Nwokoma
22:56 May 27, 2020

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that you noticed the different tones in my writing and liked it. It means a lot to me. Thanks, again.

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No problem! I loved it very much! ^^

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