Bad Seed

I spun around and saw Lanie sprinting down the hallway. She launched herself into the air and right at Amanda, who was poised to catch her in her arms. Why the hell was Lanie up? I just left her damn room, and she was snoring, for crying out loud.

“Hello there, pretty girl,” Amanda said. “I thought you were sleeping.”

“Nope. I was pretening,” Lanie said.

“Pretending, huh?” Amanda asked as she winked at me. “Well, looks like you got your uncle good.”

“I did,” Lanie said, smiling. “What’s that?”

Lanie pointed to the pot in my hands as it began to burn my palms.

“Soup,” Amanda said. “To repay your uncle for dinner.”

“You stay? I have some?” Lanie asked.

“One question at a time,” I said as I set the pot on the stove.

“Amana you stay?” Lanie asked again.

Her eyes were pleading with Amanda to stay as her hesitant stare turned toward me.

“I don’t know. Can I?” Amanda asked.

“I was going to make a grilled cheese for dinner, but this is better. Lanie, you can have some, but afterward, you need to go to bed. You didn’t have your nap today, so you have to go to bed early.”

“But I’m not tired,” Lanie said.

“Says the girl who was snoring a moment ago. Come in, Amanda.”

She stepped over the threshold of my house with Lanie in her arms. I started spooning the warm soup into bowls for everyone while Amanda settled with Lanie at the table. I heard them giggling and whispering to each other, and the smile on Lanie’s face was larger than I’d ever seen it. Her eyes were sparkling as she played with Amanda’s hair, and she was giggling when Amanda tickled her.

Yes. Lanie was getting way too attached to this woman.

“Oh! I brought you something,” Amanda said.

“What?” Lanie asked. “What is it?”

“It’s something I drew the other day. I figured you might like it.”

I set the bowls of soup on the table as I watched Amanda pull a folded piece of paper from her back pocket. She handed it to Lanie, unfolding it carefully so my niece could see. I grabbed all of us drinks as Lanie gasped at the picture, then suddenly the small girl was at my feet.

“Look, Uncle Bwian! Look! It’s a bird!”

I set the drinks on the table and took the picture from Lanie’s hands.

It wasn’t only a bird, however, it was an entire scene. The bird was perched on a windowsill outside, and it was backdropped with the forest. The detail was incredible, and the shading of the pencil was expertly done.

“Did you draw this?” I asked.

Amanda’s eyes connected with mine, and I felt my voice catch in my throat.

“It was a bird that landed on the windowsill yesterday. Nothing spectacular. I needed a distraction after cleaning all day,” she said.

“This is nothing spectacular?” I asked.

“Just a little drawing. I figured Lanie might like it.”

“Thank you, Amana!” Lanie said.