I was in a Texas fairy tale.
After Daddy washed all the nooks and crannies, he sudsed up my hair and rinsed that too. I wanted him to stop and explore a few places, but he got me clean like he was on a mission. A mission that felt important. He mademefeel important, and it was overwhelming. I wanted to hide from it and then run toward it, but I wasn’t sure which to do first.
Instead, I let him dry me off and dress me. He was so gentle I almost wanted to cry, but I wasn’t sure he’d understand I was still happy. Like a superhero, I swallowed every tear until they were gone ’cause he prolly wouldn’t believe in happy tears. Daddy put me in my super cute cow-print training pants and a summer romper with snaps, and I felt like the cutest little in town. But maybe I was the only little in town?
Daddy moved around my kitchen like he’d been there a hundred times, pulling out eggs, milk, cinnamon, and bread like it was no trouble at all. My heart felt huge just watching him.
“Will you sit at the counter and keep me company while I’m fixing it?” he asked.
“Yep! I can help, Daddy.”
“Can you lay out the bread on the pan for me? I need to let it get a little dry before I put it on the griddle.”
“Okey-dokey.” I hopped off my stool and carefully lined up the slices on the sheet pan, nice and neat, while he whisked things together. When we both finished our jobs, Daddy pulled it all together like magic. The French toast came out perfect on the very first try ’cause he was a good cooker.
“Jasper, do you have any applesauce and powdered sugar?” he asked.
“I do, Daddy, I do!” I jumped down again and ran around the counter, digging through my cupboard until I found them. I held them up triumphantly. “What do you need them for?”
“Because I don’t like maple syrup, but I still like it a little sweet.”
“Can I try it?” Syrup was fine, but applesauce was one of my favorites. Why didn’t I ever think to put it on French toast?
“Of course you can, sugar. But I was wondering if there was something I could try with you.”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t know what it is.”
“Answer’s still yes.” I shrugged, then added, “Wanna give you Daddy Day too.” Oh. My. Good. Goats. Daddy blushed. A real, live red blush, and I gave it to him. That made me smile so big.
“Could I feed you breakfast?”
“Yep! Yep!” I agreed instantly. Daddy ushered me to the table with our fancy French toast and a couple of forks. He made a second trip for his cup of coffee and my coffee, which he poured into a sippy cup. I thought it was super-duper sweet that he got my sippy without even asking if I wanted it ’cause he already knew. Daddy might not have been a Daddy before, but he sure knew what to do.
“All right, sugar, let’s get some food in you.” With a loaded fork, Daddy fed me my whole breakfast. It was the sweetest thing. A couple of times, he forgot to hide his smiles and gave me really big ones. The happy in my tummy got bigger and bigger.
I made my Daddy smile, and he hardly ever did that. I felt like the bestest boy.
“After breakfast, you wanna play with me?”
“Sure, what do you want to play?”
It was my turn to blush. “Play zoo ’cause the barn doors moo. It’s funny.”
“Where can I get a barn door that moos? That would be pretty cool.”
“I dunno, but maybe you just gotta get a cow?”
We cleared our plates and put them in the sink for later. I scrounged my toys out of the closet so we could play outside before it got too hot and muggy. Daddy carried them and waited for me to set up all my fences and animals. My zoo had animals you could pet, so I figured it was okay if they had a barn for all the animals to live in.
We settled on the wooden plank steps. I started setting everything up while Daddy sat next to me, watching as I arranged the animals. A few times, he said maybe I shouldn’t put animals next to each other, but I told him my tigers liked the cows. They were friends, and they’d never eat a friend.
Daddy looked like he was trying not to laugh. I narrowed my eyes and gave him my meanest mean-mugging face. “You laughin’ at me, Daddy?”
“I would never…promise.” Except, when he said it, he looked like he was trying to control shaking shoulders. I was gonna be nice and pretend I didn’t see him making fun of me.
“Daddy, what animal you wanna be?”
