Monday, December 26, 2016

Q's Puppies

Q. and I went to Borders the other day and, as usual, she tried to get me to buy several hundred dollars' worth of merchandise. She was particularly focused on Diva Puppies.

I was equally focused on denying her this (in the wake of Christmas presents galore). At some point in the "bargaining process" I asked her if she wanted to save up her own money, at which point she told me that she had her own money. Since Q. is one of the world's most accomplished liars, I assumed that she was just making this up . . . until she showed me the $15 her Aunt had given her as a Christmas present. I told her she could buy what she wanted with her own money, but when we looked at the box there was no price visible. I was looking at some books, so I told her to hold on for a moment and then I would help her find out how much it cost. As I went back to looking over the books, Q. sauntered up to the cash register--cutting in line, of course--and the next thing I heard was her pipsqueak voice asking the cashier how much the Diva Puppies cost. I watched as she held a conversation with the cashier, then came back to me and told me the price. She had enough money, so I told her to hold on for a moment while I picked out a book (I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket), but she asked if she could buy it herself, so I told her to go for it. She got in line, waited her turn, paid for her puppies and was, of course, ready to leave immediately.

When we got home Q. went to her room. I assumed that she was just playing with her puppies, but when I looked in she was holding a paintbrush in her hand and was painting one of the bobble-head puppies pink. We had a short conversation about putting newspaper down before painting, and then I left her to go at it. A little later she emerged with her three painted puppies, telling me that she was going to give one to her boyfriend E., one to Little Bo Peep, and keep one for herself.

Now there's a song of innocence.

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