Sofia, the Rooster

"Cock-a-doo-la-doo," she screamed.

Sofia ran into the room. "Grandpa! Grandpa! Wake-up! COCK-A-DOO-LA-DOO!!"

And so my day began, with the sweet chant of the rooster.

The rest of each day was: "Why?"

"Why are the ugly stepsisters mean?" (watching Cinderella)

Why is Paulina (the eight year old neighbor child Sofia was expecting to see this trip) not home?'

Followed by:

"Why is she on vacation?"

"Why is there vacation?"

"Why did she go to Washington, DC."

"I live in Washington, DC. Will I see her when I go home?"

Other times of the day:

"Why can't we see the moon?"

"Why is it cloudy?"

"Why can't we go on the same rides of the pier we went on last summer?"

"Why are they closed down"

"Why are they repairing the rides now?"

Nine days were spent with her questions and my incomplete answers; her exploding mind and my bewildered one: realizing how much we humans take for granted and how a child can puncture the balloon of our automatic assumptions.

She is gone now, and the world has retreated to its hazy acceptance of things as they are, unquestioned daily activities, as I and other adults (including her Mommy and her Gammy) automatically accept truths (or are they lies?); indistinguishable facts without a child's demand for logic and reason.

Life is easier now, but far more lonely...and much, much less vivid and alive.