My name is Liana Barnum. I am currently 18 years old, though my birthday is only in a couple months. My parents are P.T. and Charity Barnum. I have two younger sisters who I love all the way to the sun and back. We have Caroline the brunette beauty with light brown eyes. She is 10 years old and wants to be a ballet dancer. Next up is adorable Helen. While both Caroline and I inherited our fathers hair and eye color, Helen took after our mom with her blonde hair and sparkling green eyes.
Today my sisters, and I dragged mom into playing with us instead of doing laundry. We were all having fun waiting for dad to get home. I was ducking behind a crate when I spotted a familiar face. Mom was talking to him so I decided to keep playing with the girls. After getting mom out we switched to a game of tag.
"Hey, you partners, look who moseyed into the Corral." Mom said.
"Daddy!" Caroline and Helen shouted and ran up to him jumping on his back.
"Did you bring a present?" Caroline asked.
"A present, for what?" Dad responded
"For my birthday!"
"Your what?"
"My birthday." Caroline said again and I sat down next to mom with a huge smile on my face.
"It's not your birthday." Dad said walking around with them on his back. "Okay. I do have a present." He put them down and we all sat in front of him in excitement and anticipation. "but not just any present. Oh, no. The most amazing birthday present ever." He said pulling a box onto his lap and opening the lid. Caroline and Helen looked at each other with smiles permanently etched on their faces. "This extraordinary machine was originally created by Leonardo da Vincii, 400 years ago." He said as he was putting it together. ''but the blueprints had been lost for centuries, until just last week, on a stormy night, when a sunken pirate ship washed up on the shores of Nantucket. They found skeletons and treasures, and the blueprints were recovered by none other than J.W. Mercantile." He lit up a single match. "The blueprints crossed my desk very briefly but I managed to commit them to memory. And if I have remembered correctly..." He closed the lid of the box pulling out the object. He spun the top of the object causing all of us to stand up and look at it in awe.
"Woah." I breathed out.
"Happy Birthday Caroline." He paused for a moment allowing us to take in the sight. "This is a wishing machine. You tell it your wishes and it keeps them safe until they come true." He said as we turned to him. "Even if you forget them. They're always there."
"Can I tell a wish?" Helen asked.
"Step right up. Go ahead."
"I wish to marry Santa Claus" she whispers into the contraption.
Dad and I chuckle as he says "That is a good wish."
"I wish for ballet slippers." Caroline whispers.
Mom and dad look at each other before responding "Hey that's-that's a good wish too."
Helen grabs my hand and puts me in front of the device. "I wish for us to never stop having fun. No matter what."
"What's your wish mommy?" Helen asks.
"I wish..." She leans down "for happiness like this forever. For you, and you, and you, and for your father." she says placing a hand under our chins before ending at dad.
"Boring!" Helen exclaims.
We all laugh as mom asks "Boring? Since when has happiness ever been boring?"
Care and Helen
Care
P.T.
Ev'ry night I lie in bed. The brightest colors fill my head. A million dreams are keeping me awake.
YOU ARE READING
Beautiful Ways
FanfictionA man who comes from wealth meets a girl who doesn't. Or... Phillip Carlyle joins the circus and falls for Liana Barnum, P.T. Barnum's oldest daughter. Liana wasn't raised with much but she loved what she had. For 10 years of her life it was just he...
