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Gracie was laughing happily as Mia pushed her on the swing in the backyard. The sun was out so the girls were enjoying the chance to play outside. Malcolm was taking advantage of the sunny day too and was about to start mowing the lawn with the hand push reel mower.
‘You’re funny, daddy!’ Mia called out to him as he wheeled the mower out of the shed, laughing at him.
‘What’s that supposed to mean, lass?’ Malcolm asked.
‘Your legs are white.’ She pointed at him, giggling even more.
Malcolm looked down at his legs. He had decided to wear a pair of shorts to do the lawn mowing. ‘Laugh all you want, lass. I’m a Scotsman. I don’t tan, I’d just burn to a crisp.’
‘No burn, daddy.’ Gracie said. ‘No burn!’
‘See, lass. Listen to your little sister. No burning for me.’ Malcolm agreed with his youngest. ‘Girls, stay out of the way there until I’m done.’ He got a chorus of yes’s from them and got to work on the lawn.
An hour later, the lawn was done and Malcolm was pushing the mower back towards the shed to find his daughters on the fresh mowed lawn petting the neighbour’s cat. As soon as the cat spotted him it yowled and ran away.
‘You scared kitty.’ Gracie said with a pout.
‘Kitty should know better than to try and come into our house then.’ Malcolm answered her. Mia stuck her tongue out at him. ‘Keep sticking that tongue out and I’ll grab it and stretch it until you can’t ever get it back in your mouth.’
Mia laughed at him.
With the lawn mower back in the shed, Malcolm watched the girls playing for a bit before looking up to the sky. There were no clouds to be seen for miles around. ‘Girls? Want to do something fun today?’
‘Yeah! Fun!’ Gracie answered first.
‘Let’s get cleaned up and go get some ice cream.’
‘Ice cream!’ Mia got up and helped Gracie up as well.
Nothing got kids moving faster than the offer of ice cream. Malcolm followed the girls into the house to get changed himself. It was no surprise that he was halfway into his trousers and shirtless when they both raced into his room to announce they were ready to go. ‘Girls! The door was closed!’
Gracie ignored him and was already trying to get up onto the bed.
‘Sorry, daddy. Gracie ran in first.’
‘Gracie can’t reach the doorknob yet.’ Malcolm pointed out but Mia didn’t let details get in the way.
‘Hurry up, daddy.’ Mia was soon sitting on the bed beside Gracie. Between the two of them they started to bounce up and down on it.
‘Stop that, you two.’ Malcolm warned them with no effect. ‘Grrr, I’ll get mad at you two.’ They just laughed and kept bouncing. Malcolm shook his head, pulled a shirt on over his head and then grabbed Gracie into his arms, sending the girl squealing in laughter. ‘Come on, lass. You want ice cream still?’
‘Yes!’ Mia ran from his room and down the stairs.
‘What about you, little lady?’
‘Ice cream, daddy!’ She smiled at him, grabbing his ear as he carried her down the stairs. Mia was already putting her shoes on by the time Malcolm got down the stairs with Gracie. ‘Let’s get your shoes on, little lady.’ He set Gracie on the bottom step and helped get her shoes on. ‘You going to walk all the way to the ice cream shop or you want to ride.’
‘Ride, daddy.’
‘Ride it is.’ Malcolm got the stroller out of the closet and bundled Gracie into it. Mia held the door for him as he wheeled Gracie out of the house. ‘Thank you, Mia.’
‘You’re welcome, daddy.’ Mia waited as he locked up the house.
They walked the three blocks from the house to the local shops. The trio weren’t the only ones out that day enjoying the sun. Making their way to the ice cream shop they passed a number of other neighbours. Many of them stopped to say hi and chat.
Arriving at the ice cream shop, Gracie bounced non-stop until Malcolm got her out of the stroller. Mia took hold of her sister’s hand and went up to the display case of all the different flavours of ice cream available. Malcolm waited in line and just kept his eye on the girls. ‘Mia, don’t let Gracie put her face on the glass.’
‘Okay, daddy.’ Mia stopped Gracie getting too close to the glass display window. ‘What flavour you want, Gracie?’
‘Nilla.’ Gracie pointed at the flavour she liked.
‘We’ll share a cone?’
‘Waffle cone!’ Gracie announced.
‘Sprinkles?’
Gracie made a face. ‘Dots. Want dots.’
‘I get the chocolate then.’
‘Okay.’ Gracie agreed. Mia took her by the hand and went back to Malcolm.
‘Daddy, we want to share a vanilla waffle cone with the dots on top.’
‘Thought you liked the sprinkles not the dots.’
‘I do but Gracie wants the dots. I get the chocolate.’
‘Ah hah. Made a deal did you?’
‘Fair’s fair.’ Mia declared.
Waffle cone for the girls in hand and a cup of ice cream for himself, Malcolm navigated the girls and the stroller out of the shop. They headed to the small park that they passed coming to the shop. He found a spot on one of the benches to sit on as the girls happily sat down on the grass beside one another to share their ice cream.
‘Mia, here, don’t let it drip all down Gracie’s chin.’ He handed her a small napkin to use. ‘Want me to call mommy and see if she has time for a visit before we go home?’
‘Yeah! I’d like to visit mommy at the shop.’
‘Book!’ Gracie broke into a smile with another drip of vanilla ice cream working down her chin. She poked her finger towards the ice cream in the waffle cone.
‘No, Gracie. You have to lick the ice cream not pick it up.’
Malcolm pulled his mobile from his pocket and kept one eye on the girls as he called Dani.
Behind him on the other side of the bench, one of the other park goers settled in with their dog beside them. The large dog was well behaved and sat quietly beside it’s owner but facing the girls. It watched them eating their ice cream, it’s tongue lolling out as it panted after it’s walk.
‘Puppy.’ Gracie pointed at the large dog with an ice cream covered finger.
‘That’s not a puppy, Gracie. That’s a dog. Puppies are small.’
‘Puppy.’ Gracie said again as she got up to go pet it.
‘Ask first, Gracie.’ Malcolm caught the girl getting up.
‘Robi is good with kids. It’s okay if you want to pet him.’ The owner smiled.
‘I play puppy?’ Gracie asked.
‘You can pet him.’ The dog owner said.
Robi, the white dog with some black spots on his fur, sat there quietly as Gracie toddled over and began to pet him. Mia, holding the waffle cone in her hands, came over and was soon petting the dog too. The ice cream cone became an afterthought as Robi snuffled closer and nudged his muzzle against Gracie’s hand almost knocking the youngster over. Gracie laughed and Robi whuffed softly.
‘He’s soft.’ Mia gave the dog a hug and got a long, wet lick in response.
Robi, patient and gentle, enjoyed the attention but more importantly he happily waited for the melting ice cream cone to drift closer to him. As soon as it was in range, Robi’s tongue lapped at the vanilla ice cream to devour a good part of it. Gracie giggled loudly at the sight of the ice cream disappearing with another long lick of Robi’s tongue.
‘Hey!’ Mia realized what was happening and tried to get the cone away from Robi but he got in a third lick which left very little ice cream in the cone.
‘Robi!’ The dog’s owner gave him a brief tug on his leash. ‘I’m so sorry, girls! He knows better than to eat ice cream.’
Malcolm turned around and had to fight back a laugh at the dismayed look on Mia’s face as she stared at the remnants of vanilla ice cream in the cone.
‘Ice cream gone.’ Gracie said with a pout. ‘Puppy ate.’
‘He did.’ Mia pouted too.
‘I’m really sorry about that.’ The dog owner pulled out his wallet and handed over a five pound note. ‘Hope that covers it.’
Malcolm waved off the money. ‘It’s nothing, mate. They had already eaten half the ice cream before Robi finished it. Gracie! No! You’re not going to have the cone. It’s got dog spit on it!’ He grabbed it quickly from his daughter before she could bite into the cone itself. ‘Are dogs any easier?’
The dog owner laughed and handed over the five pound note anyway. ‘No, mate. They’re worse. Kids at least learn to talk at some point. Come on, Robi. Let’s get you home before you eat anyone else’s ice cream.’