Gabrielle and Ben (College)

         The father stands with his daughter in a wheat field. She's tiny beside him. She's more charming "and cuter" than Shirley Temple. Her name is that of an Angel. She inherited her parents’ keen wit and intelligence. Her father is a giant to her. Her blue eyes look up to him. He lifts her up from the ground and holds her in his arms. Wind sweeps over the field. The wheat sways in the wind. He rocks her in his arms. She waves to a guitarist strumming folk music under a tree. At dusk, the father softly sings a simple song and she sleeps until sunrise. The day's dawn is no longer remembered. She takes him into her world and he allows the turmoil of the adult world to escape from his mind. He is there for her. Someday, she will rock him in her arms. She will be there for him.