The "lost art"

The other day, both my neighbor and I were sitting in our own backyards.  We weren't conversing over the fence, as we sometimes do but just quietly enjoying the weather, and me, my crossword puzzle.

After a little while, the silence was broken by the sound of her six year old daughter opening the back door and announcing "I added a flower!"  A few minutes later, she opened the door again and announced, "I added some fishes!" . . . As the announcements continued, I surmised that she must be painting a picture and was obviously so excited about it, she wanted her mom know about each addition to her masterpiece.

Then came the sound of screaming and crying . . . I was alarmed at first, worrying that my little neighbor had injured herself but then I realized she was yelling at the family dog.  Within minutes, she and the dog were in the backyard and through her tears, she was telling him he couldn't go back into the house until he told her why he had ruined her life.  The little girl continued to cry as she said, "Why do dogs have to come in and ruin little girl's lives?"

I didn't mean to be eavesdropping, but it was kind of hard not to.  I wondered what Cricket could have possibly done to ruin her life.  Just then I got an image in my mind of Cricket standing over the little girl's artwork, admiring her accomplishment . . . as water dripped off his muzzle and all over the painting.

I could feel how much he had wanted to share in her excitement and show his appreciation for what she had done.  I could also feel how terrible he felt that he had ruined her painting.  I wished there was something I could do - I felt so bad for the little girl and for Cricket - but I didn't think it was my place to intervene.

As time went on, her approach softened a bit and she was no longer talking about him ruining her life.  In a calm voice, I heard her tell him that he needed to tell her why he ruined her picture, or he wasn't going to be able to go back in the house.  She must have picked up the same thing I did from him (that he just wanted to admire her artwork and that he felt really bad about ruining it) because the next thing I knew, she and Cricket were heading back into the house.

From the sounds of things, she and Cricket are back to being the best of friends and I have a feeling he'll think twice about drinking a bunch of water before he admires anything else of hers.