I’ve rarely been around kids, except for my sister Christa’s daughter, who’s only two years old. I’ve only seen the toddler twice, and both times I’ve kept my distance, the painful reminder of what I almost had keeping me from bonding with her. I’m a shit uncle and have apologized to Christa for being so. She says she understands, and I’m sure she does, but I’ve seen the look in her eyes when she’s visited those couple of times. I’ve seen the sadness lurking when I purposely put space between me and her daughter.
I reach for my gloves and lift my chin toward the kitchen. “Go ask your mom.”
“Yah!” he yells, then turns on his foot and runs to the kitchen.
Just as he’s reaching for the doorknob, the door opens and out walks Gwen. He skids to a stop in front of her.
“Whoa there, kid,” she says, holding out her hands. “What’s the rush?”
I slip on my hat and force back a chuckle when Daniel’s words come out way too fast and sound like one long word.
“Mr.AlexanderhashorsesandhesaidIcouldgoseethemwithim.” He pauses just long enough to take a breath. “Can I, Mom? Can I?”
She looks over at me, and I give her a chin lift, letting her know it’s okay. Instead of answering Daniel, she walks over to me with him following her, his head tipped back, looking at her with a pleading look.
“Are you sure it’s okay? Daniel can be… quite rambunctious at times.”
Daniel switches his focus to me, his lips moving as he silently says please over and over again.
“Yeah. We’ll be fine,” I tell her.
“Yes!” Daniel screeches. He shoves the puppy into his mother’s arms and runs to grab his jacket.
“Hat and gloves too, Daniel!” Gwen says, laughing at her son’s animated behavior.
Once he has both on, along with his boots, Gwen stops him when he tries to pass by her. She squats down in front of him and puts the puppy on the floor between her legs. He starts waddling away immediately.
“You listen to Mr. Alexander, you hear? And keep your hat and gloves on the whole time.” He nods rapidly with a big grin, and she zips up his coat to just below his chin.
Before the puppy can get too far away, she scoops him up and stands. Facing me once again, she says, “Please keep a good eye on him.”
As any mother would be, she’s worried about her child being near a large animal. I can’t fault her for that. I actually admire it. She cares a lot for her kids. Anyone can see it by the way she interacts with them and her expression when she looks at them.
I give her a single nod, before turning around and opening the door. A blast of snowy, cold air hits my face when Daniel and I walk down the steps, but he doesn’t seem to mind. His face is still splitting in two with his happy grin.
It’s put down a lot of snow since yesterday and it doesn’t look to be letting up. Earlier this morning, I shoveled a path from the house to the barn and one to the truck, but it’s already several inches deep again. Daniel chooses not to use the path, and instead trudges through the deep parts of the snow. It’s up to his knees and he seems to be struggling a bit, but he’s still determinedly moving forward. I slow my steps to keep pace with him.
“How many horses do you have?” he asks, lifting his leg high and stomping it back down.
“I’ve got two that are mine, but there’s seven in the barn.”
“Wow!” he exclaims. “That’s a lot!”
“Take slow steps just in case there’s something under the snow you can’t see,” I tell him when he stumbles and barely catches himself.
“Why do you have horse that aren’t yours?”
“Because I train them.”
He stops for a minute, his mouth falling open in astonishment. “Really? That’s so cool!” I crack a smile at his enthusiasm.
It’s not toasty warm like the house, but once we step inside the barn, there’s a significant change in temperature. Soft neighs come from the horses as I close the door behind us. Daniel just stands there for several seconds, taking in the few horse heads that are poking out of the stalls.
“Can I pet one?”
I chuckle at the pure wonderment in his tone. Walking over to the basket of apples, I grab out a couple and carry them back over to Daniel.
“How about feeding them a treat?” I hold one out to him.