Little Nicki (Weekend Freewrite 4/28/18 (prompts 1-3)

I loved the way she said "balloon." She said it as if she were blowing bubbles. Little Nicki had been born smart beyond her years, but she couldn't form words very well. The lips were shaped in an angle. At the age of 4, she learned to move her mouth a certain way. She loved to say balloon. She would giggle and point to her lips. She would then write down on her write board, that the sound tickled her lips. Her mom and I loved how happy she was. It didn't matter what her struggles were, she would always make us laugh and smile. The doctors want to do corrective surgery, but need to wait until all her baby teeth are in, so as to not mess up her mouth. The teeth are in perfect shape, just the lips are not.

The house on the corner had always been the subject of gossip. I was the only one who knew the truth. They had two children who also suffered the same thing as Nicki. The towns people said they took the kids to a special home because they didn't want to deal with having "defective children." Oh, but it was the total opposite. Their children were in a hospital awaiting their surgery. The twins were unable to eat or drink, unlike Nicki, so they had to be fed through tubes. The doctors were taking care of them, as they were barely a year old.
The city mayor then decided to test the water in the town. He said it was too coincidental, that two families had children, born with the same defect. We just got lucky and our child was able to eat and such. My wife and I thank the lord every day for this special little girl in our lives.

Sometimes we both wonder what goes through Nicki's mind. We live on a beautiful beach, so we spend a lot of time relaxing on our back patio. Nicki often sits there under a crooked umbrella, and stares out at the ocean, for what seems like hours. Not a sound comes out of her, nor a twitch, if a butterfly lands near her. She just sits quietly, while snuggling with her favorite teddy bear. She loves that pink and green teddy, a gift from her grandma when she was born. The sounds of the birds playing in the sand below, catch her attention, and she starts smiling again. The surgery time is set of one more year. This will be a long wait for us, for her. But together, we will get through it.