Daddy, hope you get our wish.

“When you wish upon a star”

“You’re going to miss it!”  Bonnie Jean poked her sister and repeated “Look up!  Look at the stars!  You’re going to miss it!”.  Aurora rolled over.  “Shut up!  I’m not going to miss it!”  Bonnie had been talking about this night for a long time.  It was so important that their mom gave permission for them to sleep under the stars.  She had even helped them set up the tent and monitored the fire in the hibachi that they had started.  

“Girls!  It is almost 8:00.  Please don’t stay up too late.”  She kissed them on their foreheads, covered them with a blanket and reminded them that they should sleep in the tent.  “Mom!  Bonnie Jean pleaded.  “I told you.  We need to see the stars tonight.  I just know that I will see it.”  Mom smiled and reminded them.  “I’ll be on the porch if you need me.”  She walked up the deck stairs, opened the porch door and went in.  The girls giggled.  They were finally being treated like big girls.  They had waited so long for this.  Mom could see them and heard the whispering as they giggled, looking up into the beautiful night sky.  She hoped they would see what they were looking for.  

A few hours went by.  The fire in the hibachi was still going strong.  The girls had been adding sticks when it started to die down.  One of the girls would run over to the porch to ask permission to add more sticks.  Mom would smile and say “go ahead but not too much longer.”  Once this fire burns out there will be no more adding ok?”  “Sure mom” and she ran back over to her sister.  The whispering would start again.  

Mom watched as the girls pulled stuff out of the tent.  She watched intently.  What on earth were they up to she thought.  It was a hot, humid July night and she saw no harm in letting the girls sleep out.  They had been planning this for quite some time. 

The girls were now halfway into the tent.  They had moved their sleeping bags and pillows and were both on their backs.  Whatever they were looking for must be pretty important.  They were fixated on the sky.  

There was a calendar on the kitchen wall. Each day one of the girls would put a red X on the date.   As it got closer the excitement built.  Mom would walk by the bedroom and hear conversation but it would stop when she popped in to say hi.  Something was going on and she had no idea what.  At dinner she asked the girls what the marking on the calendar was.  They smiled at each other.  They told her that they wanted to sleep out on July 19th.  They were old enough and had been doing a good job with their chores and showing how responsible they were being.  She had to agree.  Something strange was going on.  These charming daughters of hers had always been a bit messy.  Now she found them vacuuming, dusting, washing dishes, cleaning their rooms without her having to say a word.  She would walk by them cleaning and they would smile and say “hi mom” and keep doing what they were doing.

Today was July 19th and there was a circle on the calendar.  The day had come.  Mom had been helping them with the set up and had provided snacks and some iced tea for the event.  

Deb had been sitting on the wicker sofa on the porch.  She had asked her best friend to come over and hang out with her.  It was going to be a long night watching the girls outside and the two women decided it would be fun to hang out themselves.  Wanda called when she got there.  It was about 9:00.  “Hey Deb.  I’m in the front.”  Deb told Wanda she’d be right there.  She got up from the porch and went into the house.  She went to the front door.  “Are we all set?”  “Sure are!  Let’s do this!”  They hurried into the house and went into Deb’s den. “Good.  I’ll see you out on the deck in a few.”  Deb told her to come out when she was ready.  She went into the kitchen, poured their coffees and went out to the porch.  The lights had been dimmed so as to not ruin the little girls idea that they were doing this on their own.  

Wanda came out and they sat having their coffee.  They quietly chatted and were laughing listening to the girls chatting away, flipped on their backs looking up at the stars. They were shining their flashlights up into the night sky.  

Deb laughed with Wanda about the cleaning frenzy of late and how they were going to absolutely die when they discovered that the notes they had written in their diary had not been hidden as well as they thought.  When Wanda had seen that the bookcase in their room had been organized and dusted so carefully she knew instantly.  They would never have touched a math book to save their life.  The 3 ring notebook marked “MATH” was on top of the neatly stacked books.  “Hmmm. she thought to herself.  A math notebook?”  She had picked it one day when the girls had gone to swimming lessons.  She read the entire thing.  It was marked PRIVATE which made her laugh.  When she was done she knew what had to be done.  It was her turn to keep secrets.

The two women had to quiet themselves. They were laughing so hard.  They sat for a while as the fire burned.  It looked as though it was finally going out.  The girls were still quietly chatting and occasionally they would burst into a fit of laughter.  Deb watched as Aurora turned from her back onto her belly.  It looked as though she was losing steam.  Bonnie-Jean nudged her.  “Don’t fall asleep.  You’ll miss it!”  Aurora yawned and turned over onto her back again and turned on her flashlight.  They both were aiming it up into the night sky.  Wanda whispered to Deb.  Did you notice the sky tonight?  It is beautiful.  They did pick the perfect night for a sleep out didn’t they?”  Deb smiled.  “Yes they did.  They should not last much longer.”  The two women sat, listening to a smooth jazz album that they loved as younger women.  “Remember when we did something like this?”  “Yes I do.  It is nice to see that they are carrying on our tradition.”  

As they sat listening and just relaxing, Deb said “Hey Wanda look over at the fire.  It’s almost out.  I don’t hear any noise do you?” “No I don’t.” Wanda said.   Deb looked over.  Sure enough, she could see both girls were not stirring.  Bonnie-Jean was the snorer and there was no doubt they were both asleep.  Deb motioned to the door and said “I think it may be time.”  Wanda got up and went into the house.  Deb reached under the couch and grabbed her video camera.  She got it ready and when Wanda came to the door they looked once again at the diary page. 

“Dear Daddy. I know you can see us and you taught us about stars.  You are our star and we know you have heard our wish.”

The two women walked quietly over to the makeshift camp site.  As they got closer, Deb held up her camera and motioned to Wanda. “Bring him over.”  Wanda tiptoed over to the sleeping girls and stood by them.  She relaxed the leash, stood back and waited.  

In a matter of minutes, the girls woke.  They were crying and laughing at the same time.  They jumped up and down and wrapped their arms around their adorable puppy.  He was licking their faces and giving them all kinds of kisses.  “He’s here!  We knew he would come.  We knew that if we slept out under these beautiful stars our wish would come true!  Daddy would hear us and he would send us a puppy!’  

Deb had gotten the whole thing on camera.  She winked at Wanda, They all looked up at the stars and smiled.  “Wishes do come true!”