happyboy

There she stood, her red hair blowing about her, in front of her doe-like eyes, poking her ears, waving back and forth. She curled her toes in so hard that both her feet were on the verge of cramping into knots. Time stood still and was lost all at once, paralyzed inside her own body she watched him coming closer and closer with an inquisitive look etched across his face. "Could he tell? Did he know? What am I going to do?"

She laid one hand against the fence post and rubbed it nervously, she felt a warmth grow about her cheeks, she wished she could turn back time, change what had happened, make everything better. What would he think of her, what would he do when he found out? He was now standing right in front of her. He reached out and grabbed her arm and she bravely met his gaze and said, "I went pee-pee in my pants."

"Oh, no, Ember! I asked you before we left if you had to go to the bathroom," Uncle Seth bemoaned

"I didn't have to then, it just happened," she said, her resolve suddenly improving, the wide stance she had taken to avoid feeling her wet OshKosh corduroys now looking more and more like that of a warrior "it was an accident, I didn't mean it."

Uncle Seth smiled and bent down on one knee to better look into his three year old niece's eyes, "I know Funny Face, I know but you have to be more careful, okay? Next time, let's use the bathroom before we go to the park just in case."

"Okay," she said and then gave a cute thumbs up and a wink charming her Uncle enough that he would probably still give her that chocolate chip cookie when they got home. He was a sucker for such things. As young as she was, there was many a time that he felt she was smarter then she was letting on. She had wet herself, yes, this is true but then again, who hasn't? She knew better but, the innocent child in her chose sweet relief over uncomfortable practicality and took responsibilty for it in the end. Ahh, what to do, what to do?

"Well, let's get ya home and into some clean pants."

Ember laughed and began waddling down the block. "Hey, hey, little penguin girl, let's pick you up, I think that'll be a lot quicker. Oh, my Lord! Stinky-Stinky!," he said and held his nose closed so that his voice sounded funny.

"Ha, ha, ha, Uncle, yo silly! Silly-Silly!"

"I know, you're lucky I love you so much. Woooo! Oh, man! You're just a little girl, wow!

"Uncle,"she shrieked with laughter and threw her head back, shaking it this way and that as the wind blew her red hair gently about her small face...