\u23f1 ~4 min reading<\/p>\n\n\n
On Sunday, Dad took Sofiyka to the park, where there was a big snow slide. The winter was generous \u2014 snow fell all week. The children, together with the adults, rolled the slide so that it became smooth, as if polished.<\/p>\n\n
That hill was high. Very high.<\/p>\n\n
When Sofiyka went up the steps, she felt a little dizzy. The people below seemed small, like tin soldiers. Dad was standing below and waving his hand. He waved - and Sofiyka barely saw the wave.<\/p>\n\n
"I won't," Sofiyka told herself.<\/p>\n\n
She started to go back down the steps. But her dad met her at the bottom.<\/p>\n\n
"What happened, daughter?"<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 High.<\/p>\n\n
"I saw that you were scared.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Very high.<\/p>\n\n
Dad sat down. His cheeks were red from the frost, but his eyes were warm.<\/p>\n\n
"Shall I come with you?"<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 How is that?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 We'll ride together on one tubing ride. I'll be in the back, you'll be in the front. I'll hold you. We'll go down together.<\/p>\n\n
Sofiyka thought. Alone with dad is different. It's not so scary.<\/p>\n\n
"Aren't we going to fall?"<\/p>\n\n
"We won't fall. The tubing is stable. And I'll hold you.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 What if I cry?<\/p>\n\n
"Then I'll wipe your tears downstairs.".<\/p>\n\n
Sofiyka sighed. She nodded.<\/p>\n\n
They went upstairs again. Dad was carrying a big blue tubing\u2014like a cushion of air. There was already a line up at the top\u2014a girl with a green scarf, two twin boys, and another aunt with a little boy.<\/p>\n\n
When it was Sofiyka's turn, dad put the tubing on the start. He sat in the back. He put Sofiyka between his knees, wrapped one arm around her.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Ready?<\/p>\n\n
Sofiyka squeezed her father's hand. She closed her eyes. She nodded.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 One, two, three\u2026<\/p>\n\n
They flew away.<\/p>\n\n
The air whistled in her ears. Sofiyka felt the ground sink beneath them\u2014and then level out. As it lifted her up and carried her down. As the cold wind washed her cheeks.<\/p>\n\n
She wanted to scream - from fear or joy, she didn't know. Something that sounded like a scream and laughter at the same time burst from her chest.<\/p>\n\n
And then\u2014once\u2014they were standing below. The tubing came to a smooth stop. Dad laughed.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 You screamed!<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I don't know why!<\/p>\n\n
Sofiyka blinked. She looked up. The hill seemed smaller from here. Completely different.<\/p>\n\n
She suddenly noticed something interesting: the fear that had terrified her for ten minutes at the top lasted only a second during the descent. Maybe two. And then there was only the wind in her ears and the ground.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Dad.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 What, daughter?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 The fear\u2026 was brief!<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Yes?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Yes. I thought it would be long. And it was a second. And that's it.<\/p>\n\n
Dad smiled as best he could.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 You know, I'll tell you. Fear is often like that. It's only big before you start. And once you've started, it decreases very quickly. Because thinking about something scary is scarier than doing it.<\/p>\n\n
Sophie thought.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I still want it.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Do you want it yourself?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Yes. With my tubing.<\/p>\n\n
Dad handed her a small pink tube\u2014the one that Sofiyka loved.<\/p>\n\n
She climbed up. Her head started spinning a little again. But now Sofiyka knew: this hill was big, but the fear was short.<\/p>\n\n
Sila. Dad waved from below.<\/p>\n\n
Sophie took a deep breath.<\/p>\n\n
She pushed herself with her hands and left.<\/p>\n\n
This time she didn't close her eyes. She watched the white edges of the hill fly by. As her father approached below. Like a fresh, cold wind.<\/p>\n\n
When she stopped, her face was red and her eyes wide.<\/p>\n\n
"Dad! I'm alone!"<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 You are alone.<\/p>\n\n
During this walk, Sofiyka went down the slide twelve times. Maybe more. She didn't count.<\/p>\n\n
On the way home, Sofiyka walked alongside her father, holding his mitten and jumping up and down with joy from time to time. The snow crunched under her boots. The winter sun set pink behind the roofs of the houses.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Dad.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 What, daughter?<\/p>\n\n
"Shall we come again tomorrow?"<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 We will come.<\/p>\n\n
"I still want to. Because I know that fear is short-lived.".<\/p>\n\n
Dad squeezed her little gloved hand. And said nothing. He just walked by and smiled into her collar.<\/p>\n\n\n
\ud83d\udca1 Fear passes faster than you can reach the bottom.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n
A large slide in the park scared Sofiyka. Dad sat next to her, they went down together \u2014 and it turned out that the whole fear lasted for one second.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3318,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":""},"class_list":["post-2412","istoriya","type-istoriya","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya\/2412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/istoriya"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}