My Hero

Just then Libby came flying in through the back door. "Who does the limo belong to?"

We all looked at the tornado that came in through the back door, each of us as confused as the other, when the front door bell rang. Libby was still the only one of us standing and I suspect the light bulb moment I saw in her eyes made her move to the front of the house and answer the door before I could get there.

Melody Carlson looked just as stunning in casual wear as she did in power suits. The smile was for Libby; she saved the daggers look for me. It took the hand on my shoulder to remind me I was staring.

Mom's voice was just above a whisper. "She's nice, even though she hates you at the moment, and perhaps that's something you need to work on. She's a mother first, so stop assuming she's ever going to understand your reasoning in all this until you sit her down and explain yourself." The pause was only for Mom to take a breath. "She's also our guest, so play nice, son."

So, I played nice. I invited her in, and once we entered Mom's domain, Mom took over. Once Melody had sat on the couch, Libby sat next to her. Libby's cute smile came back then, but faltered when Melody handed her the same envelope that I had tossed and asked her to give that to me, please.

This time I had no choice but to open it. Four tickets spilled out and my daughter caught the one that escaped my grasp. She made sure she read it before handing it back to me.

"It's the white water prelims, Dad."

Ms. Carlson preempted any questions. "My daughter wanted to hand these to you personally but you were away and so she left them for me to give to you. I couldn't be at the airport for your arrival so I sent Mandy with them. She watched you drop them in the trash-can and rescued them."

That daggers look slotted right in with the end of her statement. Melody looked at my daughter before continuing.

"Daniela wants you all there; you will be my guests. She still has to do all the work, so she may not have much time to spend with any of us if she's going to make the qualifiers for the Olympic trials."

The questions gushed from my daughter: the when, and, of course, the how are we going to get there were answered easily by Melody Carlson. It felt like we now had a few days with a daughter on speed to contend with before we left for the event. She had been there an hour and none of us noticed until she stood and said that she needed to get going.

While I watched Melody get into the car driven by the woman I now knew as Mandy, Libby rushed over to the house computer and spent the next hour doing her own research. When she found the rest of us sitting at the kitchen table talking amongst ourselves, she could recite Daniela Carlson's age, her canoe stats and every contest she had won since taking the sport seriously. She also proudly announced that she even knew how long it would take by commercial airline to get to this weekend's event.

For the next three days my folks and I learned the sporting history of Daniela Carlson via my own daughter. It left me realizing that the daughter had the same drive to succeed as her own mother: that was for sure.

*******

I had a stunned daughter on my hands when she walked onto the private jet. My only thought was that her information was wrong; this toy got to its destination before the commercial flight would have. Mandy collected us all from the airport, drove us to our hotel and it also seems my judgment of Mandy was short of a few details. It took my mom to spot it first.

Mom had watched Mandy ever since she picked us up, she told me later that she had noticed that Mandy watched lips and very rarely made eye contact until the person had stopped talking. Acting on a hunch she started to use sign language with Mandy; Mandy's face lit up right about then.

The rest of us walked to the car, stunned as Mandy and Mom talked together in their silent language. I guess we have our community college to thank for that. Mom always told me as I grew up that learning is the key to everything. In Mom's case, she took ASL or American Sign Language, classes. When she was growing up, one of the children on her block was deaf; she always regretted not getting to know him because she was simply too young and didn't know how.

With Dad doing all the hours he could at work and Mom pregnant with me, she decided that it wasn't too late to correct one mistake in her life. She took ASL classes. I'd seen her use it at the Mall, even at the garage once when she fueled up the car and the cashier was struggling with one of the customers wanting something.

I asked her about it once; she told me that it was like a bike, it gets rusty sometimes, but something will always happen to remind her how to ride it. I love my mom.

We were left alone in our hotel that evening. In one of those moments, Dad took Libby for an after dinner walk to explore the hotel. It was then Mom turned to me with the same look I seemed to be getting a lot from women of late.

"Mandy said to thank you for saving her friend and to tell you that you're such a dumb ass."

Great, even the hired help had an opinion.

When I looked at Mom, waiting for her to at least expand on that, she didn't. We managed to get Libby to bed a couple of hours later and my folks and I sat around talking generalities until bed time.

*******

By ten the next morning we were fed, rested and on our way to the event. Mandy handed each of us a pass to hang around our necks. The letters 'V.I.P' claimed the top half and names of each of us were printed underneath. She got the car onto the private parking area and we walked over to one of the marquees positioned to the side of the course. A few tables and chairs were at one end and a huge screen was at the other, showing a feed of the white water course.

I just stopped and stared at the huge picture that was to one side of the television screen. I knew the picture well; I had worked on it and handed it to Daniela in the form of a pen drive. Since I had some dealings with the newspaper company that printed it, I had phoned my contact there and asked if I could buy the copyright for the photo. When my curiosity over who Daniela Carlson was satisfied, my graphics mind went to work on the photo, and now I was looking at the end result.

Thinking back, I didn't get a chance to enlarge the picture on which I worked, Mandy came for me before I could project this very picture onto the big screen. Daniela was beautiful without any help from people like me; just seeing that picture as big as it was proved that all people like me could do was bring into the light what she's hidden in the shadows for so long. A truly lovely woman with a fierce will to succeed.

My friend at the paper and I bartered and came to an agreement. The original showed Daniela on one of the white water courses, and although it looked good, my graphic design mind and skills made it look ever so slightly better. Adding slightly more spray to strategic areas before I turned my attention to Daniela's features, the tricky part, I had set about heightening her cheekbones and squaring her jaw line ever so slightly to give her a more determined look.

It didn't look too bad on my computer screen but they had the picture seriously enlarged, placed on canvas and it looked true to life. My attention was on the picture, which was why I didn't notice her until she spoke.

Melody's pride in her daughter burst forth when she said. "When you left, she opened her laptop and downloaded what was on that pen drive you gave her. She burst into tears and showed me this. I have the original to compare it by and I keep coming back to this one. So far, I've had to have six of these done and my daughter even has this as the background on her business cards. Thank you for this."

Looking at Melody Carlson was easy to do. I wondered if keeping the smile on her face was going to be just as easy.

"Does that mean I'm out of the doghouse for now?"

I got punched on the arm, my first ever physical contact with this woman, and I would carry the bruise for days to come.

Being the curious type, I just had to ask, "Why does your daughter have business cards?"

That smile came back and paused for a while before a touch of sadness replaced it.

"When Daniela decided that this was what she wanted, I also insisted that an education had to be attached to it. One of the best slalom instructors in this sport lives in England, Oxford in fact, so we enrolled her into the University and onto their business management course. It also seems that each of the students had to create and have printed their own business cards."

A klaxon sounded and interrupted our conversation. The television screen showed water slowly being added and speeding up around the course, and within a few minutes, the course was a torrent of white water. A lone figure filled the door to the marquee. My daughter may have been a few feet from me but I still heard her gasp as she recognized the woman coming in.

Daniela scanned the room and then smiled when she spotted everyone there. Libby came and stood close while Daniela hugged her mother before turning her attention once again on me and the munchkin in front of me. Both young ladies looked at each other and shared a smile before Daniela got down on one knee to be closer in height to my daughter.

"Hi, I guess you know who I am, so I'm going to throw a guess out there and say you're Libby."

It took me prodding Libby before she found her voice again. That's when the dam broke and those two set off on a conversation that even I had trouble keeping up with. It ended with a hug between them before Daniela stood and looked once again at me.

"I snuck out to check if you had arrived yet. I'm glad you came. Stay and watch and I promise I won't mess it up this time,"

With that she leaned in, kissed my cheek and dashed out the door once again. With her wet suit on, but open, I didn't notice while she stood in front of us, but when she left and the top of her wet suit came in view, the words 'My Hero' were printed onto her suit in the space between her shoulder blades. It still took me looking at Melody Carlson before she answered that un-asked question on my lips.

"Don't go thinking it's hero worship; she originally just wanted to thank you and as publicly as possible without splashing your face over the papers. She talked to one of her sponsors and that's who put that on her wet suit. Daniela even talked them into possibly making it a line in their product, and I'm led to believe they are crunching the numbers on that as we speak."

The look of alarm was clear even to her; she smiled that all-knowing smile and then added to her statement,

"You have until after the Olympics to get used to the idea, both her wet suit sponsor and Daniela aren't going to change anything until then. Plus, they promised to look closer at the idea if she wins a medal. You may have to get used to seeing some of the top athletes wear that across their suits as well."

She heard me sigh; she even watched me roll my eyes before she smiled again. That's when she placed her arm into mine and turned me towards the table at the far end of the marquee for a coffee.

"Oh stop it! In fact, I will even add, get used to it. She knows your name now, so there's no escape and, judging by the conversation she had with Libby, I get the feeling those two are going to be really tight from now on."

That's when I admitted I phased out about a third of the way through our combined daughters' conversation. She laughed and promised to add that small titbit of information into a conversation she would have with her own daughter really soon. I admit, I spent the next however long enjoying my time with Melody Carlson, right up until I heard Libby give out a scream and tell us that Daniela was next down the course. That's when we joined my folks over by the big screen.

The commentator was giving everyone out there some background on Daniela. Whoever was with him suddenly talked over the top of him. "Look at her back; you have got to see this."

Just then Daniela was given the green light, the programs director must have been listening to both the commentators because he purposely kept the same camera on her as she passed the camera's position, the words 'My Hero' showed just above her own life-preserver.

When I looked at Melody she had that same smile. "Oh, didn't I tell you. The same sponsor had her life-preserver adapted slightly so it doesn't cover it up."

She feigned innocence, but I didn't buy it for one second. The feeling of a hand going into mine caused me to look down at my daughter. She had that same smile while her eyes showed genuine pride.

I gave her a hug and heard a muffled, "You're my hero as well, Daddy."

Every time I didn't believe I could love my Libby anymore than I did, she went and did something like that and proved me wrong. We all continued to watch Daniela's journey down the rapids as she dug her paddle into the white foaming water so she could claw her canoe back the way she had come to attack the pole dangling just above the water.

Every now and then Libby would comment about her position on the course or how many poles were left, her eye was obviously on the time as well because as Daniela passed the finish line my daughter let out such a screech that we all looked towards her, shocked. When she realized what she had done, my daughter did look a bit shamefaced.

"Sorry Daddy, but she has just set a record for this course, and on her first attempt as well."

The look of pride didn't go amiss when I cast a glance at Melody either.

"And you know this how?" was my only question.

The pride in my daughter just glowed right on back at me, when she explained that while she was doing her own research on Daniela, she did manage to dig up the White Water Centre's own records on the course.

I think I had just found Daniela Carlson's number one fan.

*******

Two more canoeists made an attempt at keeping up with Daniela that morning before one fell foul of missing a pole and incurred a penalty, the other taking a swipe at the manmade obstacle before turning over her canoe. The smarter ones down the running order ran their own race against the clock rather than Daniela, after that.

Some light snacks found their way onto the tables at the other end of the marquee. Ordering Libby to eat was unusual for us, but since her attention for most of that morning was on the huge screen, it was easy for us all to understand why.

Daniela made another brief appearance just as we all sat to eat; she grabbed a plate and grabbed nibbles and an orange juice from the main table before joining my daughter at her table. Both went into a huddle before Libby let out a shriek and leapt onto Daniela, wrapping her arms around her and nodding her head into Daniela's neck. It was only when she had calmed my daughter that both came to me.

"My coach says I have to focus on this event; even with all of you here I have to focus. That being said, with your permission I want to take Libby out on the warm up pond for a paddle around when the event is over."

It's hard to deny two young ladies with such a plea in their eyes; I just got a nod of my head out before they both did a happy dance. Daniela then quickly looked at her watch, gasped and then said she had to leave, we all got a quick hug and she practically ran out of the marquee 'My Hero' still sitting proud across her shoulders. A minute or so later, the klaxon sounded once again and Libby took up her position in front of the big screen along with my folks.

Melody came and handed me a bottle of water before sitting next to me, looking a little lost. Perhaps I was imagining it, so I asked. "If you don't have other plans, would you like to join my family and me at dinner tonight?"

It was fun watching the shock and then decision making part of her brain take over her features that afternoon.

This time I added a smile when I said. "Or does your skin still crawl around me?"

She went the cutest shade of pink right about then.

"As a mother I still can't understand your thought process when you walked away from my daughter, but so many people tell me I'm being an over-protective mother." She seemed to withdraw into herself for a moment and then nodded her head before looking at me and saying. "Thank you, I will join you for dinner."

We talked some more about that day as we both cast glances at the screen and who was on the course. I understood her anger; as a father I would more than likely have felt the same, but Daniela was alive and breathing when I left to collect my own daughter.

Melody again challenged my own thought process when she said. "As a parent you must understand how I felt."

I couldn't deny her statement, and she seemed to relish the victory she seemed to feel from it. That was when I turned the whole conversation on its head when I asked her what would have happened if I hadn't been there? Melody seemed to think about that, and then wince as her eyes filled up before her hand dropped into her bag for a tissue.

Melody Carlson actually chilled out after that, and we joined the rest of my family in front of the screen again when Daniela did another run at the course. The clock said she was two tenths of a second off the new course record. Since she was the one that broke it in the first place, I don't think she was too worried about it.

When the klaxon sounded once again to announce the end of the day's events, word came down that Daniela was staying with the other competitors that night. I can only assume her coach must have meant it when he told her to stay focused, and being with other canoeists for the night would do just that.

Mandy came in a few minutes later and talked to Melody, both sets of hands frantically signing for a moment before she turned to me.

"My daughter has been given an hour before she has to join the rest of the competitors; she sent Mandy for Libby, she needs to get kitted out before she can join her at the warm up pond."

It was fun to watch Libby practically drag Mandy out of the Marquee, although she gave Mandy her hand back when she realized that she didn't know where she was going and had to let Mandy lead. Melody made a call, and when she put her cell away we followed her and for the next thirty minutes we watched both Daniela and Libby in a two person canoe going around the warm up pool; from the safety of some large room in the main building with very plush seats that overlooked the pool.

*******

We had been back at the hotel for an hour. I let Mom, Dad and Libby get showered and changed while taking myself out of the way and for a walk around the grounds. The hotel pool was deserted but for a lone Mom holding on to a baby while introducing her to water. I watched with interest and a smile, my Mom had done the same with Libby all those years ago while Cheryl was off on one of those 'must have' courses.

"Typical guy, always getting in the way."

Her voice startled me out of my revelry; Melody was sitting in a chair at the edge of the pool, and true to her opinion of us guys, I had stopped to watch the activities of the young mother and her child while blocking her own view. She pointed to the chair next to her and smiled.

"Sit, it's the only way to get you out of the way." Her smile did let me know her comment was in humor.

We watched the young mother for a few minutes before either of us said anything. Finally the young woman held her daughter close to her chest and carefully went up the steps to get out of the pool.

"Daniela was seven months old when I did that to her; she's never been far away from water since then."

I told Melody that I had to get Mom to do that for Libby. I was terrified I would drop her. Melody laughed; it was so cute hearing that. She asked why her own mother hadn't introduced our daughter to water, and I paused for a moment.