Coincidence

“I’m telling you, the nation is controlled by little mice on exercise wheels!” His eyebrows do a little jig on his face like they have John Travolta's dance routine in Saturday Night Fever.

“What makes you so sure of that?” A six-year-old puts her hands on her hips and asks quizzically.

“How do you think electricity gets to you? Every time you turn on that nightlight the mice work overtime to make sure you can sleep at night!” The dad points at a horse nightlight across the pink pin-striped room. At the foot of the light bowed cats with mittens, dogs with bones, and more horse. Stuffed animals flow over the girl’s bedspread, the dam broke and it just couldn’t handle the compression of so much synthetic filling!

The little girl, in her one piece pajamas, begins tapping her foot in thought. With one hand still on her hips she brings the other to her chin where it rests thoughtfully. At the end of her tapping foot a white pompom bounces in excitement like a Jack Russell Terrier about to receive a treat.

All at once she stops. “I don’t believe you!” She’s the Cheshire Cat; her lips part to expose huge ivory piano keys. A giggle escapes her mouth.

“I’m your dad, Little One. Would I try and trick you into believing something that wasn’t true!” The dad smiles and walks from the doorway over to the child cemented like a statue in the center of the room. He picks her up and holds her close. She smells of flowers and dirt. She was probably playing in the garden earlier, he thinks to himself. He tucks a strand of dark brown hair behind her minute, delicately pointed elf ears and notices a smudge. You can always count on this girl to be outside!

“You were out in the garden today weren’t you!”

“How did you know that? Did Mommy tell you?” Her smile breaks like a wave and calmly reaches shore. Her face in no longer like the Cheshire Cat, just a curious cat.

“Yes she did!” He lied. He would hear all about it whether he had heard it from Mom or not.

“What were you’re adventures today? Did you find Mr. Wormy again? Or did you see Samuel the ladybug?”

`

Her eyes light up intensely like when a light bulb goes out, there is one last bright surge of energy before the darkness. “No! I made a new friend today!”

“Tell me about her!” The dad walks over to the bed, still holding the child. He sweeps the bed clear just enough to squeeze the girl under the comforter and in amongst the animals.  

“It was a boy Daddy!”

“Oh excuse me, tell me about him!” He shoos a mouse with a piece of cheese away. It lands on the floor by the nightlight. He sits down replacing it, just right of the little girl securely tucked into her blankets.

“Well he was really fuzzy. And he had a pink nose. That’s my favorite color so I was happy! He made a noise that made me laugh. Mommy said it was a puppy. Since I’ve never seen one in real life I didn’t know what it was until Mommy told me! He had a tag and a bell on a necklace around his neck. Mommy said it was a collar like the one that Lucy has but bigger and especially for dogs. She said that dogs and cats are different and that this puppy wasn’t the same type of animal that Lucy is. I told her I already knew that because Mrs. Schermer at school is teaching us about animals. Mommy went inside for a bit because she said she needed to call the owner of the puppy on the telephone. I sat outside and played with him while she did! We’re friends now!” She speaks with pride on the last sentence.

“That’s good Sweetie! I’m glad you had a fun day! Now get all snug, it’s time for bed!” The dad tucks in side in again for good measure kisses the little girl on the forehead and begins to stand up. Right as he is about to turn the big light off in the room the little girl pipes up like a silent butterfly.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Little One?” He turns around and looks at her small little body outlined in the sheets. The inordinate amount of stuffed animals still parade around the little girl and her eyes mirror sleep.

“Do mice really run the world?” She yawns once; her piano keys make one last appearance before turning in from a long day of performing.

“That’s what I hear. Sweet dreams now.”

He turns the light off, and eases the door closed until just a crack remains. He glimpses once into the room before retiring for the night. He sees the stuffed animals congregating at the base of the nightlight; the mouse with the piece of cheese is sitting perfectly erect, facing him. He grins and begins walking down the hall.

A Quick Dip

“Try and hold your breath for as long as you can!”

The teal water below the two boys glistens in the sun. A dragonfly zooms by and in a nearby tree a bird cheerfully tweets. It’s the epitome of summer. The temperature is a comfortable 82°, and the two are halfway down the center of a dock about to make a feverish dash to jump off of the end.

“I bet I can beat you to the end and hold my breath longer than you can,” The taller of the two confidently states! He places his hands on his hips for added justification.

“Betcha can’t!”

“On three I’ll prove it to you!” Both of them place their hands in the air and begin to count together.

“1…” One finger shoots up on both hands.

“2…” a second follows; the shorter of the two stifles a laugh.

“3!” 

They take off in a steady sprint and jump off of the dock mimicking leaping frogs; one last heavy breath sounds from both of them before they touch the water. They land, sending up sprinkling reports as the water is displaced and abruptly interrupted.

Within seconds of disappearing they both return to the surface gasping.

“It’s soooo cold!” The taller one sputters.

“Ugh,” The shorter boy begins hysterically coughing. “It took my breath away! Did it do that to you too Sam?”

“Yeah!” They both doggy-paddle to the ladder on the dock extended into the water. Sam beats the other brother and climbs up.

“Alex, when we’re done later, wanna play catch?” 

Alex grunts loudly as he struggles to pull himself out of the water.

After finally getting a foot up he says “Yeah, sure. I’ll only play if you play fair this time.” The foot he placed on the first rung of the ladder suddenly slips on the growing algae and he finds himself back in the water.

A loud, playful laugh erupts from atop the dock, “What’d you do that for?”

“I didn’t mean to! The step was slippery!”

“You’re clumsy!”

“Hey! At least I’m not weird!”

“Keep telling yourself that little bro!” A wide smile spreads across Sam’s face.

Alex attempts the ladder a second time, this one being successful. Breathing heavily, Alex collapses on the sun-warmed, wind-worn dock at their perfect summer lake cabin.

Every summer the boys and their parents come here to spend a month. It’s the stereotypical summer all kids grow up dreaming about. There are no worries, and not a care in the world. The most important thing about the lake cabin is that the house doesn’t require any homework.

Sam lies down on his stomach next to Alex in the mid-day sun. Water glistens on both of their bodies like tiny diamonds. From the shock of the water goose-bumps erupt on their skin like tiny volcanoes.

“That was so cold,” Sam wails!

“Yeah! We can call it a tie. Clearly I won though!” Alex puffs his cheeks slightly with pride.

“You did not!”

“Did to!”

The boys get quiet for a moment, the sound of minute waves lap under the dock and fill the silence. A very brief time passes and the boys exchange looks. Slowly a face-splitting grin breaks Alex’s face. His eyes sparkle, and he lifts his eyebrows. A drop of water drips down his cheek, leaving a small trail behind. Alex leans in, closing the gap between him and his brother. He hushes his voice to an almost inaudible whisper, lowers one eyebrow and says:

“Let’s do it again!”