I remember the smell of fresh clothes, and you iron them and fold them in tiny little pieces and out them on my bed. I remember watching you go far far far away to the castle on a pond we were skating and I was too scared to follow. I remember we cycled to the sunset and collected blackberries all the way home. I remember riding my bike towards the only spot of light in the sizzling woods at a pouring night. I remember how we burst out laughing after me knocking off a road sign whenI first rode my bike. 

 

 

   Janelle wakes up on her sofa. She looks out of the window at the sun staring right back at her. Birds have been humming like every single morning. Breakfast time has long passed and Janelle’s stomach is groaning. She gets up from the tiny pink sofa bed and says morning to the giraffe that wakes in the crook of her arm. Daddy must be sitting under the lemon tree having his jasmine tea. Up the stairs to the backyard, long white sheets are waving next to an empty table. Janelle loves the smell of fresh laundry. Where’s daddy? Did he forget my breakfast? The giraffe smiles at Janelle and suggests she follow the smell of jasmine.

 

   Janelle walks on to the alley between her house and the next. She remembers there is an old man living near where daddy usually gets her bread. She walks and walks and walks until she stops to watch a big lady stretching on a balcony above. Not sure if the lady is too big or the balcony is too small. It looks like the lady was standing in a bathtub halfway popping out from the building. “Hey, what are you doing strolling barefoot down the street, honey?’’ Janelle now realizes why she is feeling a bit chilly and insecure. “Do you know where my Daddy left the bread?’’ The big lady disappears from the bathtub balcony and shows up at the gate of the building. “Come on in you little monkey!” She gave some bread to Janelle and a spoon of milk for the giraffe. Those breads look exactly like daddy usually gives Janelle for breakfast with the shape of hippo, peacock, duck, deer and bear. They taste like sponges but Janelle is too hungry to bother.