Life has many pitfalls. When you’re young and you witness an event you don’t understand, it can leave you perplexed.

Even though you block it from your mind, when you least expect it, it comes back to you in a very different form. This is what happens in . . .

Wishes Do Come True

The little girl never told her mother

or anyone else about what she saw

that day in the park four years ago.

Only five at the time, she observed

a huge man in a dark gray windbreaker

yelling at her grandmother in a way

that sent chills through her young body.

She turned her head, hoping what

she had witnessed would disappear.

She bit down hard on her lip,

trying to keep from screaming.

Unable to endure the shouting,

she turned back once again

to see what was happening.

Her grandmother wept uncontrollably,

tears pouring down her reddened cheeks,

as she watched the awful man

drift off into the distance.

Four years later,

her grandmother entered the room,

decorated with balloons and streamers.

The celebration of her granddaughter’s

ninth birthday warmed her heart.

She watched her smile as her mother

asked her to blow out the candles

on the chocolate cake,

overflowing with whipped cream,

and told her to make a wish

that would surely come true.

The little girl closed her eyes

and wished and wished,

as the air flowed from her mouth.

Opening them, she saw the flames extinguish

and giggled like any nine-year old would.

Thirteen years passed. Now twenty-two,

the young woman stood at the top of the aisle.

Dressed in a beautiful white wedding gown,

a classical music piece played in the background,

as she waited for a family friend, a kind gentleman,

to take her arm and walk her down the aisle.

She felt a presence come up behind her.

Taking a deep breath, she reached back

for the soft slim hand of the tall friend.

But it was not his hand she grasped.

A hand, large and rough, took hold of hers.

Surprised, she turned and stared

into the strong, penetrating eyes

of a man she had seen only once—

seventeen years ago—in the park.

The wedding march began to play

and the two walked down the aisle

and stood before the preacher.

The man spoke, “I, Albert Jefferson, give the

hand of my daughter, Samantha, in marriage,

to Joshua Lawrence.” As she again turned

toward him, tears welled up in his eyes. “It

has taken me many years to find the courage

to come back into your life, and with your

blessing, I will never leave again.”

With the broadest smile, Samantha leaned over,

kissed his cheek, and whispered,

“Birthday wishes do come true.”

Copyright © 2016 Alan Lowe. All rights reserved.