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‘Mia!’ Malcolm strode back to the young girl’s side. ‘Hold the end of the tape measure here.’
‘I was, daddy.’ Mia stated as a fact.
‘It has to stay right here.’ He pointed to the spot on the ground. ‘I have to measure to see if the swing set will fit here.’ Mia, still holding on tight to the tape measure stood up. ‘Look.Let’s try this.’ He took the end of the measuring tape from his daughter and set it back on the ground. ‘Stand on it, lass. No moving.’
‘Okay, daddy.’
Gracie, the youngest, sat on the ground watching them happily. She was happy for the moment to play with a ball to amuse herself while they measured. It didn’t last that long and she got up and toddled over to her father, grabbing at his arm.’Daddy, up.’
‘One moment more, Gracie. Then daddy will pick you up.’ Malcolm looked at Mia. ‘Stay right there.’ Gracie just plopped back down on the grass to wait.
Mia managed to follow his instructions just long enough for him to measure the flat part of ground. ‘Thank you, Mia.’ He noted the measurement down on a piece of paper.
Gracie got up on her feet and walked over to her father. She poked her finger at the page he was writing on. ‘Colour?’
‘No, Gracie. Not on this page.’ Malcolm folded it up and tucked it into his pocket. Gracie, having been patient till then was stretching her arms up to be picked up and Malcolm ceded to her wishes.
‘Want go in, daddy.’
‘Yes, little lady. We’ll go back in now. Mia, come along.’
‘Can I stay out a bit longer, daddy?’ Mia asked. ‘It’s not raining.’
‘No leaving the yard then. And if it starts to rain at all you come inside right away.’
‘Yes, daddy! Thank you!’
Malcolm carried his youngest daughter into the house and was soon absorbed in helping her colour for a while, hoping she’d settle soon and want to have a nap.
Mia, happily left outside, found her skipping rope where she had dropped it in a clump of longer grass. Singing aloud, Mia spent a good thirty minutes skipping rope. The sun broke through the clouds finally and Mia tired of her skipping rope. Dropping it on the ground, Mia was distracted by the sunlit patch of long grass. A bright red ladybird was resting on one long blade of grass and Mia lay down on the ground to watch it happily walking up the length of the grass.
So intent on watching the insect, Mia didn’t notice that she wasn’t the only observer of the insect. A tabby cat was watching as well. He was hidden in the grass, with only a slight twitch of his tail more out of curiosity than readying for the kill. His coat was made of stripes of different shades of brown with some black patches.
The sunlight shifted and the ladybird flew off. Mia continued to lay there quietly, her eyes still on the patch of grass that was now empty of insects. Her eyes caught the movement of the tabby cat as it moved forward towards her. Mia held her breath.
They had seen the cat navigating the top of the fence a number of times. At other times, the cat would dart across their yard and under the fence where there was a large enough gap for it to escape. Mia had been worried that the cat was hungry all the time and daddy had told her that the cat looked too fat to be hungry. Besides, he said, if the cat were that hungry it would be meowing at them for food. All it ever did was run off.
‘But he must get cold at night outside, daddy.’
‘Silly lass, the cat has a fur coat. That keeps him warm.’
Mia had accepted that explanation from her father. Now though, she lay there still as a statue as the tabby cat edged closer. It’s tail was straight up with a little twitching at the tip. Slowly, Mia moved her hand towards it and it froze for a moment. So did Mia. Then, the cat stepped forward tentatively and then, it bent to sniff curiously at Mia’s finger. The tabby rubbed his chin on her finger and then walked along the length of Mia’s arm, brushing against her and purring softly.
‘Kitty.’ Mia said softly but it was enough to break the spell and the tabby bounded off. ‘Aww, kitty!’ Mia sat up with a sigh. The patch of sun suddenly disappeared. Mia looked up and saw the clouds had gotten darker. ‘Time to go in.’
Every day, Malcolm would walk Mia home from school accompanied by Gracie. The younger girl would more often than not fuss and not want to be pushed in a stroller anymore. ‘Big girl, daddy! Like Mimi!’ She couldn’t quite manage the whole three blocks to the school so Malcolm was the horse his daughter rode when the little girl got too tired. Mia, racing up to Malcolm once she was out of the school door, always hugged him hard. Then, Gracie would want to walk once more beside her sister. At least until she got tired once again.
‘Change first, lass.’ Malcolm reminded Mia when they got back to the house. ‘No playing in your uniform.’
‘Yes, daddy!’ Mia was followed up the stairs by Gracie.
‘Play?’ Gracie asked her sister.
‘We play outside, Gracie.’
‘Ball!’
‘We can play ball. Or we can play wait for kitty.’
‘Kitty!’ Gracie clapped her hands.
Soon, the two girls were in the back yard, kicking the ball around. Malcolm had slowly been working on the corner of the yard to flatten it and get it ready for the play set they had bought. The girls were eager to play on it but Malcolm hadn’t set it up yet. After playing with the ball, the girls settled on the grass. Mia pulled up some of the long blades of grass and was trying to teach Gracie how to braid them.
‘Miaaaaow.’ The tabby cat, used to the girls now, approached them with expectations of being petted. Gracie giggled and toppled forward to try and cuddle the tabby. It turned to the little girl and headbutted her with affection. After some rubbing and petting, the tabby was more than happy to flop on its side and let Gracie pet one of his legs while Mia scratched between his ears. It was soon purring happily with the attention.
‘Kitty come in.’ Gracie said to Mia.
‘Daddy says kitty is fine outside.’ Mia explained. ‘I wish kitty could come in.’
‘Sleepy kitty.’ Gracie leaned forward and rested her head on the cat’s back.
‘Miaow.’ He lifted his head, looked at Gracie then rubbed against Mia’s hand again. Gracie yawned and got some cat fur in her mouth.
‘Sleepy Gracie.’ Mia smiled at her sister.
‘Sleepy.’ Gracie rubbed at her eye with her fist.
‘We have to go inside now, kitty.’
The cat purred in response. When the girls walked to the house, he ran off under the fence again.
A week later, the girls walked along with Malcolm. They huddled close to stay under the large umbrella. It had been raining all day.
‘No playing outside today, girls. Mia, go get changed. You can play in the front room quietly okay?’
‘Okay, daddy.’
‘Thank you, lass. Come here. Give me a hug before you go racing upstairs.’ Mia, always eager for her father’s hugs, ran into his arms for a big bear hug. Malcolm gave his daughter a kiss on her cheek. ‘You’re growing up fast, lass.’
‘I’ll grow up big enough to hug you properly too, daddy.’ Mia declared.
‘You hug just perfectly right now, lass.’ Malcolm beamed at her and Mia kissed him once more before racing up to her room to change.
Mia came back downstairs and sat on the floor in the front room, colouring beside her sister. The rain pounded on the windows. ‘I’m thirsty. Gracie, you thirsty? Want a drink? Juice?’
‘Juice!’ Gracie agreed with Mia and the two of them wandered into the kitchen.
Malcolm, unaware of what the girls were up to, was caught up in editing his most recent newspaper column. The door to his office was open so that he could hear anything the girls got up to. It wasn’t the first time that Mia helped herself to a drink. They kept the lower shelf of the refrigerator stocked with kid-safe juice boxes for the girls to grab on their own. Gracie wasn’t big enough yet to open the door herself but Mia could.
With a juice box in hand, Mia went to the back door just off the kitchen and looked out into the backyard.
‘Play outside?’ Gracie asked, her eyes just barely able to look out the lower half of the door’s window.
‘It’s raining. Daddy doesn’t want us playing outside in the rain.’ Mia put her arm around Gracie’s shoulders. ‘Daddy will put up the new play set this weekend. I’ll push you on the swings, Gracie.’
‘Swings!’ Gracie smiled and tilted her head against Mia.
‘Daddy’s going to set them up over there. In that corner.’ Mia pointed to the nearly ready level spot. ‘He says there’s a little play house with it. We’ll be able to play in there when it’s raining.’
As they looked out in the yard, the tabby cat ran from the fence to the back door, meowing loudly in protest at the rain.
‘Kitty!’ Gracie squealed happily.
‘Kitty!’ Mia gasped. ‘Kitty’s getting all wet. He shouldn’t be outside at all in this rain.’
‘Kitty?’ Gracie pointed a finger at the window at the drenched cat.
Mia grabbed the door handle and opened the door. ‘Here kitty, come inside and get dry.’
‘Miaow!’ The tabby entered the house. He quickly shook out his fur, sending rainwater flying.
‘We need to dry you off, kitty.’ Mia guided the cat gently with her hand on its back into the kitchen. Gracie followed along and sat happily on the floor. The cat, used to the little girl, sat beside her and began to try and clean itself off in an attempt to dry itself off. Mia managed to grab a dishtowel off the table and came to sit on the other side of the cat. She began to rub the cat off with the towel. It meowed in protest when she rubbed a little roughly but it didn’t get upset or scratch the girls.
Despite the cat’s loud purring and the girls’ chattering in the kitchen, Malcolm was oblivious to the four-legged visitor. It was an hour later that he finished his editing and came to the kitchen to start getting dinner ready for them.
‘What are you two up to?’ Malcolm was more intent on starting dinner than looking at what the girls were doing. His sudden appearance spooked the cat and it yowled suddenly and scrambled out of Mia’s comforting arms. ‘What the fuck!’ Malcolm was just as spooked at the high-pitched noise from the cat.
‘Daddy! Bad words!’ Mia scolded him sternly even as she turned to try and calm the cat. Gracie was laughing hysterically at the commotion.
‘How the hell did a cat get in the house!’ Malcolm was right behind his daughter to try and corral the cat.
The cat, while trusting the two little girls that he’d formed a connection with, was in no way trusting of the stern faced Scot that was now chasing after him.
‘Daddy! Stop! You’re scaring Kitty!’ Mia was trying to tell Malcolm to back off but Malcolm just wanted to get hold of the cat and get it out of the house.
It was a scene that would have had even the great Benny Hill laughing. Malcolm was bent over to try and grab the scared cat as it did everything it could to avoid Malcolm’s large and looming hands. Mia, was right behind her father, trying to convince him to leave the cat alone. Gracie couldn’t resist joining the chase and was soon quickly toddling behind the other two.
‘Not in my den you furball!’ Malcolm called out as the cat turned quickly into the open door of the den. It was there, the chase ended, as the cat scuttled under the filing cabinet in the corner of the room. ‘Fu… DAMN!’ Malcolm groaned. ‘MIA!’
‘Daddy?’ She barely squeaked out a response, her voice very quiet.
Malcolm closed his eyes for a full ten seconds, slowing his breathing and trying to calm himself down. ‘Mia. What happened?’
‘Sorry?’ She looked at him with saucer sized eyes.
‘What happened, lass?’ Malcolm asked again.
‘The kitty was wet. I only wanted to dry him off and stay dry until the rain stopped.’
‘How in he... ‘ He caught himself again. ‘The cat just meowed and you opened the door to let it in?’
‘It was wet, daddy. He’s a nice kitty. He plays outside with us. He likes to be petted.’
Malcolm pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘You’ve been playing with the cat outside before now?’
‘Yes, daddy.’ Mia stood there, hands behind her back and her eyes on the floor.
The cat remained under the cabinet, silent and waiting. Gracie lay on the floor and watched the cat under the cabinet, her short arms reaching towards it but the cat was still too spooked to approach the girl.
Malcolm knelt down to face Mia directly. ‘Mia, lass, you should have told me you were playing with the cat outside. It’s not our cat. It shouldn’t be in our house.’
‘But it was wet, daddy.’
‘He has his own home with another family.’ Malcolm explained to his daughter. ‘They feed him and keep him dry.’
‘He does?’
‘Of course he does. We need to help him out of the house now so he can go back to his own home.’
‘He can’t stay here? With us?’ Mia’s eyes began to water in disappointment.
‘No, lass. He has his own family who would miss him a lot if we kept him.’
‘I like playing with him though.’
‘I’m sure you can still play with him outside whenever he visits, lass. But not inside the house.’
‘Outside is okay?’
‘Yes, lass. Outside is fine. Just not inside.’
‘Not even when he’s wet?’
‘Not even when he’s wet. He has to go to his own family when he’s wet to get dried off.’
Mia sighed. ‘Okay, daddy. Sorry, daddy.’ She threw her arms around him and hugged Malcolm tight.
‘It’s alright, lass. Let’s see how we can get your kitty friend out of the house now.’