Warm And Dry Now

 

*!O!*

          Billy didn’t seem pleased. It was almost like his feelings were hurt. It was as if he had been put in a false position, having not done his duty somehow. But he sat with Emmy anyhow, now that all the excitement was over.

          Her little halo of black curls were dry, and she was warm with a fresh set of clothes on. She’d had a scrambled egg, half a slice of toast and some orange juice. She walked solemnly around the room telling Honda, “good dog!”, and purring at Billy.
          “Auntie,” she said, “big kitty! Tail!”
          Julia’s black eyes beheld the child softly. “Yes,” said Aunt Julia.
          Beth was doing up the bedroom, and folding laundry and such little tasks.  Jessie had left to do some shopping for the family. So, Emmy had Julia and the animals to keep her company.
          “I got wet. A chicken went down, and I went too. The chicken didn’t get in the water. I did,” remarked Emmy.
          “Beth,” called Julia, “I think Emmy and I will go outside for a few minutes and talk a little.”
          “Sounds good,” said Beth from the bedroom.
          So, the ancient lady and the brand new one went out together into the bright day, both having to be rather careful on the steps.  Julia had her cane to help her. Emmy clung to Julia’s left hand. Honda followed them out of course, not to be left out of anything. He busied himself making sure everything was normal outside, running all around the yard and garden.
          “Emmy, do you know what a promise is,” asked Julia while they strolled slowly over to the chicken run.
          “Don’t know,” said Emmy. “Maybe I can help you know,” said Julia. “A promise is when you say you will do a thing, and then you do it, because you said you would. It is something between people that must be done right.
          “Like this, if I said, ‘promise you will not hurt Billy’ and you said, ‘I promise not to hurt Billy’, then you would remember to never, never hurt Billy. A promise to Mommy or your Daddy or to me must be kept. You must do it if you say you will.  OK?”
          “OK Auntie Julia. I promise to not hurt Billy!” But she was laughing because she wouldn’t hurt Billy anyhow. Maybe she thought it was a kind of joke old people make. Like it would be funny to say, ‘promise me you love your Mommy!’ Silly promise!
          “Here is a different promise Emmy.  This one is very big and important! This one is not funny.”
          Julia bent over to look right into Emmy’s jolly little brown eyes, so they were level with each other. It was a quiet and serious moment.  Emmy stopped giggling when she saw Julia so close and so almost stern.
          “I want you to promise that you will not go out alone again.  Promise that you will wait for Mommy or Daddy or me to take you outside, like I did just now. Emmy, promise? Will you promise? This is a very important promise.”
          Emmy could see that Julia was not laughing and that this promise was not a joke. She even seemed to weigh the concept for a few seconds. Then she kissed Julia’s cheek as she had been taught, and she said, “OK Auntie Julia. I will wait for Mommy or Daddy or you to go outside.”
          Julia said “good, that’s very good, and very important!” She stood up then and took the child’s hand and they continued their little stroll.  They checked out the garden rows.  They looked at some birds in the trees around the house. They looked through the fence at Matilda and the other hens. Jessie had fixed the gate so that a small girl could not unhook the latch. Emmy would have to be taller before she was able to release the hens again.
           He had also fixed the house door with a little hook up high, just to make sure. But Aunt Julia thought it was more important to speak to the main actor in the morning’s frightening incident.
          “Emmy let’s go in and tell Mommy what a promise is.  Can you tell her?” asked Julia.
          “I will tell her. Yes!” as they went carefully back up the two little steps.

The rest of it; They haven't taken my phone yet.docx