i remember watching a movie on HBO about this planet where it always rained. they would have silly classes on how to apply sun screen like we used to have fire drills in school and never had a fire. there was a girl who lived on this planet that was from a planet that had a sun. everyone shunned her because she was different. no one would believe her when she told them about the sun. one day this mean little boy locked her in a closet. and, during the time she was locked in, the sun came out and the rain stopped. and, all she got to experience of it was tracing with her finger the bit of sunlight that came in through the slim crack between the closet door and the cement floor. i still remember the image of her pointer finger slowly and lovingly tracing that sunny thin line on the floor. and, that was the first time my heart was ever broken.
in college somehow this story came up, and the person i was telling it to had read the book that the movie was based on. she told me how it ended. apparently, that one hour of sunshine was enough to grow bunches of sunflowers and wildflowers. the children moved by their time in the sun changed their minds about this girl. they now knew she was not a liar. and, they felt bad that they had hurt and isolated her. the boy who locked her in the closet comes up with an idea to make it up to her. the next morning. she is sitting at her desk. and, one by one all of the children go by her desk and place a flower they picked for her on her desk. at the end, her desk was buried in beautiful flowers. and, she was so happy to finally be accepted. and, that was the end of the story.
years after college, i went out to dinner with my father. and something reminded me of the story, so i told my dad about it all and how it affected me. and, my dad already knew the story. he tells me how i was alone in the living room sitting in my baby walker watching television and he was in the kitchen. and, all of a sudden i burst into loud, hysterical sobs. my dad comes running to find out what is wrong. and, all i keep wailing is, "they wouldn't let her see the sun! they wouldn't let her see the sun!" finally i calmed down enough to tell my dad what i had seen in the movie. he was amazed that i was so affected by it and that i still remembered watching it. it is funny, cause i remember the sadness i felt at watching the movie because i experience the sadness again as i remember. but i had no memory of having a fit over it or alarming my dad or discussing it with my dad.
so, i asked him how he was able to calm me down and help me deal with it. and he told me that he simply told me that it wasn't real. it was just a story. and, that it was nothing to cry about.
i opened my mouth to respond. and, i closed again without saying a word. and, i smiled. it touched me that my serious not very patient with children father had taken the time to understand me and my tears and had taken the time to comfort me. so, i smiled.
and, as i drove home after dropping of my father, i sighed. and, i whispered, "daddy, children really do get locked in closets. what about them?" and, i quietly wept during the whole drive home. and, it rained.
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