45 Playtime
“Right Fluff, are you ready?” Nana asked. The Little Red Haired Girl smiled at Daddy’s nickname for her. It made her feel fuzzy. “Yes” she replied.
“When we get out though the window I want you to cover your eyes with your hands Ok?”
“But I won’t be able to see anything.”
“You have to trust me, promise you will do that?”
“Ok” was the subdued answer.
“And I want you to wear this cloth around your head to protect your ears” Nana swiftly tied it under her chin before she could object.
“But I don’t like it, it looks silly” her words faded quickly as she got ‘the look’ from Nana.
“How will I hear you properly?” she asked.
“You will have to believe me when I tell you that you will Ok?”
“Ok” was a further subdued answer.
Nana was aware the child was getting scared. “Ok shall we let the games begin?” she asked trying to alleviate the child’s fears and lighten her mood.
“Yes” the Little Red Haired Girl smiled bravely “but how am I going to get out of the high window? It’s too high!”
“When I say jump I want you to jump as hard and as high as you you can.”
“That won’t work Nana, it’s too high!”
“I will help you. I will be with you and you will make it through the window. Are you ready?”
“Yes” she replied.
“After three. One, two. three, Jump.”
The Little Red Haired Girl floated for a while and as she peeped through her fingers, she thought she saw stars. No she was in the stars.
“Hands” Nana shouted “cover your eyes and do as you are told.”
The child knew Nana would not tell her a third time and her fingers shut and hands were glued over her eyes until she felt her bare feet land on something soft and familiar, and her nose, squished under her hands, smelt the grass. ‘There may be some daisies’ she thought as her fingers were tempted to move so she could take a look.
“Hands! Keep them over your eyes and sit down here on the grass for a while.” Nana guided her to sit and her voice was soothing but extremely loud. It made her ears hurt.
“Sit down and rest awhile child.”
“Don’t shout Nana it hurts my ears.”
“It will do for a little while until you get used to it. I am not shouting at you but you are in a heightened state which means everything you hear will be loud.”
“What’s heightened?”
“Extra awake, as if you’ve had a really good sleep and feel full of energy, like bubbles in a pop bottle.”
“Fizzy”
“Yes fizzy.”
“And why are the birds and bees so loud. It hurts me.”
“It will pass, your ears will get used to it. Why don’t you tell me about your dolls, your fairies?”
“Well this one is called…” and as she pointed she cried out as the shooting pain in her eyes was unbearable.
“Put your hands back over your eyes. You do not need to see and point at your dolls. Pretend you see them and tell me what they look like.”
“My eye hurts Nana, why does it hurt?”
“Because they need to get used to the bright light. It will pass. So tell me about your dolls.”
So the Little Red Haired Girl started to describe each one of them in quite astounding detail, and as she did so, Nana had chance to really study her. The freckles, her hair (just like her own) and her limbs, strong and smooth as if made from Alabaster. Not a crease on them. How miraculous life was, to create children cell by cell to produce another human being.
“Don’t you think?” the child was asking her a question and she hadn’t been listening. Tut Tut Nana. “What do you think?” Nana replied.
“Well I think Susie is the naughty one. She keeps running away and getting lost.”
“I agree. Do your ears still hurt?”
“Oh no! they don’t anymore” the child realised.
“Good then we can get rid of this cloth now. Keep your hands where they are and I will take it off for you.”
“Yes please. I don’t like it.”
“I know I know, but we will leave it here by the Pumphouse in case we need it when we come back. You never know. So when did Susie run off? and where did she go?”
“She wouldn’t tell me, she just said she went to help a little girl who was poorly and did not have a dolly.”
“Oh that was nice of her” and as the child talked the hands gradually loosened and then eventually started gesturing to go with her animated description of Susie’s behaviour.
“I think you can release your hands now and gradually and slowly open your eyes.”
“Will it hurt?”
“For a little while.”
“I am too scared to, it will hurt me.”
“Come on now, have I ever told you a lie? Have your ears got better?”
“Yes.”
“Then open your eyes. Trust me. You will see so much more than you are used to, it will be wondrous.”
“Will you be here in case it hurts?”
“Always” said God.
© 2025 Jennifer Harris. Free And Alive 555
