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Italy
One bright and cheery day in September, many parents were preparing to send their children to school. Our story here centers around two such children, who were gearing up for their first day of scuola dell'infanzia, kindergarten. One was a little girl and her papa, who still had to get her a new set of crayons. The other was a little boy and his papa’s assistant. They were on their last item, a notebook for writing in.
The boy stares longingly through the window of a toy shop. A new display of stuffed teddy bears caught his attention. There was one, near the bottom of the bunch, with a shiny blue bow tied around its neck. He dared not ask for it, he knew that it wasn’t on Papa’s list and Papa’s word was law. Everyone listened and didn’t dare defy him. Just as he managed to peel his eyes off of the bear, Papa’s assistant called for him to catch up.
“Diego, hurry up, your papa said we have until three o’clock to finish this list. Let's get going!” Diego gave the bear one last longing look before hurrying to catch up.
Just as he did, the little girl's voice called out.
“Papa! Papa! Look! Look!”
“Do you like the teddy bears Elisabetta? Why don’t you pick one out? You’ve been a very good girl today.” He smiled at her the way only an adoring father could. Her eyes immediately lit up.
“Thank you Papa!” she exclaims as she swung the door open and ran into the store, her chuckling father following close behind.
Sadness and longing filled the boy's heart, rooting him to the spot. Papa never went shopping with him. He always sent his assistant. In fact, Papa was nearly always busy. If there was one thing that Diego wanted more than that bear, it was to have Papa look at him the way that the little girl's father looked at her. But Papa was a very busy and important man, and one day Diego was going to fill Papa’s shoes and be just as important.
***
The time went by slowly, but by the time Diego found himself sitting in a classroom, his young mind had forgotten any time had passed at all and the nervous excitement of starting school had butterflies fluttering in his stomach.
From his comfortable spot in the corner he observed his new classmates clambering chaotically around the classroom. In the corner of his eye he saw a pink tutu prancing into the room. To his astonishment it ignored the loud room of people and sat on the floor next to him. The large brown eyes within it were accompanied with a wide smile, despite missing two front teeth. Without asking for permission, the girl within The Tutu grabbed his hand.
“Ciao! My name is Elisabetta. What’s yours?”
Diego hesitated before deciding to lie. “Ciao, Elisabetta. My name is Luca.”
She bought the lie immediately, his papa would be so proud of him. He must make sure to tell him of his success when he gets home.
“It’s nice to meet you, Luca. This is Ducky!” She reached behind her and a fuzzy teddy bear emerged from the folds of The Tutu, a silky blue ribbon tied in a neat bow around his neck. All Diego could do was stare at it, he knew instantly that it was the same teddy bear from the store. The Tutu had gotten what he wanted instead of him, even though he was sure that his papa was much more powerful than hers. However, she was the one who’s papa bought her the teddy. He knew his papa would not get him a teddy bear, he would have to do that himself.
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