"Scroggy"

Bath-time was over. The nightlight emitted a soft and friendly orange glow. The toddler, smelling of baby soap and clean pyjamas, lay in the crook of her mother's arm. Her hair curled away from her temples, framing big, wide eyes.

The cat sprang up beside them, waving his tail and purring. Her little pudgy fingers reached for him.

"Gentle hands, remember," the mother said.

Realising neither human was going to produce a tin opener from amongst the pillows, he glared and jumped down.

Milk dribbling down her chin, the girl said,

"Mine 'till 'toke Bobo." She mimed stroking a cat, head to tail. "Mine a TEND."

The mother, smiling, spoke quietly, to preserve both the tangible pre-sleep fuzz in the room, and the bright bubble of the child's imagination. Under this gentle Listening, the tot said,

"Mine NUBBER 'tend cat. Scroggy."

"Is Scroggy a boy-cat, or a girl-cat?"

"Girl."

"What colour is she? Black or ginger, or grey and white...?"

"Pink!"

She let the kid babble on, let the sparkling strands of that imagination unspool in the room. In this way, she discovered that Scroggy liked going for walks on a lead like a dog, and that the little girl had two "tend dogs", as well. One named Scooter, and the other named Woof-Woof.

These moments slip through fingers like sand. Delicate, and, in their temporary nature, hardly there at all. Cheap and sparkling like costume jewelry, yet, in their own way, more precious than diamonds.

The mother treasured these minutes, or tried to. When she remembered. The little moments of connection after long days punctuated by tantrums, nursery rhymes, and stress.

She tucked the cherub into bed. Kissed the edge of those curls, as fine as the line between imagined and real, and tiptoed from the room.

The girl, not fully asleep yet, peeped through her lashes into the dim light. She smiled to see her companions blinking at her on the bed.

"Has she gone?" asked the pink cat

One dog snuffled her fingers, the other wagged his tail.

"Yes," whispered the girl. "She's gone."

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Word count: (excluding note): 366

Submitted on: 22nd April at 22:17

*Quick Author's Note*

First, and most importantly: thank you for reading!

A Year of Stories: I'm writing a story every day this year. This one makes an 113 day streak since the 1st January. I can't believe I've come this far! I'm collating them all here.

Prompts: If you'd like to have a go at my unofficial April Challenge (Fucked Up Fairytales) I've linked it at the bottom. If you'd like some more prompts to get your creative juices flowing, I've posted a list of prompts for April, and I've linked that as well.

Thank you

Thank you again! Especially if you are one of the people who has been staunchly reading these daily scribbles since the start of the year. I see you, and appreciate you 😁

I do my best to reciprocate as many reads as possible. If you leave me a comment, that makes it much easier. I'm behind at the moment, but I will catch up!