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Gracie sat quietly in the large leather chair in her father’s office. It was big enough and she was small enough to lie on her stomach with one of her colouring books in front of her. Today’s picture was one of her favourites: Paddington’s Journeys. Suddenly, she sat up. ‘Juice, Daddy?’
Her father, Malcolm, looked up from his computer. ‘Thirsty are you?’
‘T’irsty.’
Malcolm smiled at her. ‘Okay, little lady. I’ll get you a juice.’ After a quick save of his latest column, he headed to the kitchen and got his daughter a cup of juice, tightening the lid to prevent spills. Back in his office, he handed his daughter the juice. ‘What you colouring, Gracie?’
‘Paddi’ton on train.’ Gracie pointed to the train on her colouring page.
‘Your train is orange.’
‘Orange train.’ Gracie repeated with a smile. She dropped her crayon and took the juice from him. ‘T’ank you, daddy.’
‘You’re welcome, Gracie.’ Malcolm ran his hand over her curls. ‘We should cut your hair soon.’
‘No!’ Gracie declared.
‘It’s getting long and curly.’
‘No cut.’
‘We’ll ask mommy tonight.’
He settled back at his desk to work on his column. The only sound in the room was the rain against the window until his mobile rang. ‘McNiall? What’s going on?’
On the phone, his boss was quick to fill Malcolm in with a minor crisis happening with the sudden resignation of a local politician. ‘I know you’re the national guy, Malcolm, but Randall is on vacation and this has caught me off guard. No hints this bugger was going to pull the trigger this week. I need you to go to the press conference. It’s being held at City Hall. Swing by the office and we’ll have your press creds ready for you.’
‘But…’ Malcolm tried to cut in.
‘Now, Malcolm. The press conference is within the hour with luck. I want this to run in the evening paper.’
‘Alright,’ Malcolm caved and then, with the call ended, he sighed. ‘Gracie, looks like our quiet day in is over.’
‘Daddy?’ Gracie sipped at her juice, looking at him with curiosity.
‘Want to go play with your friends at the daycare?’
‘Play time?’
‘Yes, play time. Though you’ll need to wear your raincoat.’
‘Paddi’ton coat!’ She clapped happily.
‘Yes, your Paddington coat. Put your book and crayons away please.’
Gracie slid off the chair, hands grabbing her book and the crayons to place on the bookcase in the office. Carrying her cup of juice, she followed Malcolm from the office and up the stairs. Malcolm pulled out clothes for his daughter with one hand even as he dialed the daycare. ‘Hey, Annie, can I bring Gracie over for a few hours? Mia’s at school, Dani’s at work and I’ve been called in to attend some press conference.’
‘Of course, Mr. Tucker. Can you get her here in 20 minutes? We’re planning on a walk with the kids today down to the fields. Nature day of sorts.’
‘Sure, I can be there soon.’ Malcolm hung up. Putting the little dress he was about to dress Gracie in he opted instead for a pair of trousers and a top. ‘Here we go, little lady. Let’s get you changed. Looks like you’ll get to go for a walk in the fields with your friends.’
‘Walk?’
‘Yeah, remember the last walk where you got to watch the birds fly all around?’
‘Yeah! Birdies. Dey sing pretty.’
‘They do. Hopefully the rain doesn’t stop them singing.’ Malcolm expertly got her changed and went to his own room to change. Gracie followed him and scrambled onto her parents’ bed to keep him company. ‘You don’t have to watch me get changed, little lady.’
‘Want be wit’ you.’ Gracie stated.
Malcolm, used to it, just opened his wardrobe to select a suit and quickly changed into it. ‘There we go, all set.’ He fixed his tie and held out his hand to Gracie. She took it, squealing happily as Malcolm lifted her up off the bed and onto the floor. ‘Go downstairs, raincoat and boots day.’
‘Yeah!’ Gracie took off before him.
Malcolm was struggling to get Gracie’s second boot on when the cab pulled up in their drive. ‘Come on, Gracie. Car ride time.’ With her little hand disappearing in his large hand, Malcolm and his daughter got in the cab. It was only a few minutes when they pulled up in front of the daycare. ‘Play time, Gracie. I’ll just be a minute, hang on.’ After the cab driver nodded, Malcolm opened the door and soon he was handing Gracie over to Annie. ‘Thanks for the last minute help, Annie.’
‘Anytime, Mr. Tucker.’ Annie held out her hand and Gracie took hold of it.
‘Hi!’ Gracie beamed at the woman. ‘Play time?’
‘Walk time, Gracie. See if the birds will sing again.’
‘Birdies pretty sing!’
Malcolm waved as he got in the cab and was soon off to the press office.
Annie and her colleagues began to get all the youngsters ready to go for their walk. Gracie sat beside one of her friends, waiting patiently as she was already in her boots and raincoat.
‘Alright, class, time to go walking.’ Annie announced, her eyes taking in the small group of youngsters all dressed in bright coloured raincoats and boots. ‘Remember to hold hands with your neighbour until we get to the park.’
Gracie took the lead, her hand gripping one of her friends, a little ginger haired girl named Amelia. ‘Walk wit’ me?’
‘Yeah.’ Amelia nodded and the pair of girls wound up at the front of the line just behind Annie.
As they walked past the small line of local shops, Gracie smiled and waved frantically at anyone who looked their way. Once away from the shops, the small line of kids walked in pairs past the homes. At one house, a small dog came up to the fence to bark at the passing group and Gracie got told off for trying to leave the line to pet the dog.
‘Sorry.’ Gracie apologized but craned her neck backward to watch the dog until they were too far away for her to look at it anymore.
A few minutes further down the walk they came to the parkland which had been left to wild growth for the local wildlife. The rain had finally stopped, leaving the path and grass damp. There weren’t many birds in view but they could hear them in the bushes. ‘No straying off the path.’ Annie reminded the kids as two of her colleagues made their way down the path just around a bend to act as a ‘fence’ to keep the kids going too far down the path. The grass was tall but not so much that any of the youngsters could hide in it.
Free to wander about the park path without holding hands, the kids all scattered about. Some of the boys began to chase one another until they spotted a large frog that they all became fascinated with. Gracie, not caring for running about with the boys, made her way down the path towards the other daycare workers. One small bird came out of the bushes and flitted over the youngster making her laugh and watch it as it flew away. Not watching where she was walking, Gracie suddenly found herself stepping into a puddle.
‘Huh?’ She stopped and looked down at the water. The daycare workers were just around the bend and couldn’t clearly see what she was doing. Lifting one foot, Gracie dropped her foot again and made the water splash up. She giggled. Repeating with her other foot, Gracie giggled again as more water splashed up.
Amelia came up to Gracie, curious as to what her friend was doing. ‘Water?’
‘Splashes!’ Gracie was going back and forth between her feet to set the puddle splashing and sloshing. She took a few more splashing steps into the puddle. It got a little bit deeper and when she stomped a foot down and water shot up higher with some water hitting her trousers before dripping into her boot.
Behind her, Amelia began to mimic her friend. Her own feet splashing and sloshing until she was right beside Gracie. With the two of them stomping their feet, the puddle got more muddy. One of the boys, having lost interest in the frog, joined the girls in their splashing fun. Gracie wanted to test how deep the puddle got so began to walk through it until she reached the other end. The other two kids followed her in a line. Two other girls left their intense study of a cluster of wildflowers, came over to where the splashing fun was happening.
The youngsters were all laughing and splashing as Gracie led them round and round the puddle in a march. She had them all lifting their feet up high to splash down into the puddle with each step. With each lap through the puddle, it got muddier and the kids boots and raincoats were getting spotted with the muddy water.
‘What are you lot doing?’ Annie, attracted by the noise, stood there watching them. Gracie, having led her friends in their marching play, stopped in front of Annie. As Gracie looked up, her face pouting slightly in apology. ‘I see lots of messy.’ Annie knelt down and wiped a splat of mud off Gracie’s face. ‘How did you get mud on your face?’
One of the boys had turned back to the puddle. He took a few running steps and then jumped up as high as he could to land in the puddle. Laughing loudly, the water sprayed up and showered most of the others with more drops of muddy water.
Annie had to fight back a laugh at the sight of the youngsters in their raincoats with fresh streaks of muddy water dripping off them. ‘I think it’s time to head back now. We’ve got some cleaning up to do now.’
Malcolm, tired and greatly annoyed at having been sent off to a press conference that lasted only twenty minutes after an hour long delay, returned to the office and handed in his temporary press credential badges. His submission for the paper didn’t take long at all and he handed it off to McNiall.
‘Thanks for your help, Tucker. I’ll make sure you get proper compensation.’
‘Anytime,’ Malcolm said, hoping it didn’t happen often. Leaving the office, the sky was still grey but the rain seemed to have gone for good. He thought about walking but decided he just wanted to get home sooner rather than later. Dani would be home soon after picking up Mia from school. That gave him time to collect Gracie and get dinner started.
Back at the daycare, Malcolm went inside and was about to get Annie’s attention when Gracie spotted him.
‘DADDY!’ Gracie cried out and dropped her toy she had been playing with to run up to him in a rush. Her arms went round his legs to hug him.
‘Hey, little lady. I missed you.’ He ruffled her hair.
‘Hugs, daddy!’
‘You want a hug? I’ll give you a hug.’ Malcolm bent and picked up his daughter to hug her close.
‘Mr. Tucker!’ Annie didn’t catch him on time.
Gracie was hugging him around his neck, her legs pressing against his suit jacket. Malcolm had not noticed that her trousers were covered in spots of mud. There had been no amount of cleaning that could be done by the daycare to clean her clothes, just her raincoat and boots. ‘Love you, daddy.’ She was planting a kiss on his cheek even as her legs swung against him, smears of partially dried mud streaking his suit jacket.
‘I’m sorry, Mr. Tucker.’ Annie was grabbing a handful of towels as she approached Malcolm.
‘What?’ He was a bit confused at first until he looked down and saw the mud on his daughter’s trousers and the new streaks on his jacket. ‘Oh.’ He looked at Gracie. ‘What did you get up to today, little lady.’
‘Play in park. Puddle splashes!’ She beamed happily at him. ‘Like puddles.’
‘I bet you do.’ Malcolm kissed her on the cheek, making her giggle. He waved off Annie’s offer to help clean his jacket. ‘Part of being daddy. I’ll get it cleaned properly.’
‘We did try but she just got so covered in the mud.’ Annie apologized.
Malcolm sighed but smiled. ‘I’ve had worse happen. Thanks again for watching her last minute.’ He left the daycare, his daughter still in his arms. ‘You like puddles do you?’
‘Puddles fun!’ Gracie smiled. ‘Splosh splosh!’ She mimicked the sound the water had made earlier,
‘Splosh splosh indeed. Let’s get you home. How about some sploshing in the tub?’
‘Yeah! Baf time!’