Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS WRITER
The first time I heard about “the rain event” was on the TV, sprouting nothing but disaster, never in a 100 year flood, 3 months rainfall in 2 days etc, so everyone went home early from work so they wouldn’t be caught in it. Everyone wanted to be safe and sound in the comfort of their own homes when it hit and it was my day to pick up my 4 year old nephew Riley.
So we got home as the rain drizzled down and he headed straight to the toy box. He pulled out an old wooden toy frog, that had seen better days and it was one of those toys where you pushed the button on the bottom and the frog collapsed then stood up straight as soon as you released the button. He also pulled out a plaster mound of a set of teeth, ‘ahh my old dental nursing days’ I thought to myself as he quickly tossed it back in the box completely uninterested in that.
He then wanted to go out in the back yard and make a pond to put the frog in. I suspect he also just wanted to get wet, like you do when you are 4. As with most negotiations with a 4 year old, it was swift as he simply walked to the sliding door, opened it and stepped off the deck and into the rain. I had no chance of stopping him being completely on the other side of the room.
So he stood in the rain, which was the most disappointing ‘rain event’ ever, the best I could do was resign myself to the fact we were both going to get wet, so I downed my coffee, grabbed an empty tupperware container and the box of chocolates from the bench and headed to the sliding door.
I left the box of chocolates just inside the door but in plain sight so that I could use them later to bribe him to go back inside when I’d had enough. Let’s be honest, it was really going to be about me, as kids don’t care about getting wet. As I stood on the deck before I stepped into the rain, I wondered at what point do we start caring about getting wet and cold. When in our lives did we start caring about wet hair, ruined makeup, soaked shoes and cold hands.
Clearly with an active 4 year old there isn’t much time to ponder, only time to join in and seize the moment and put the old wooden toy frog, now called “Froggy” into the pond and play a game of froggy swimming in the rain.
Just at the point when I was sick of being cold and went, the lightening flashed and the thunder struck, it looked like the rain event was about to arrive.
The thunder was so loud, it felt like it was in the house next door and both of us jumped out of our skins and Riley was so startled he started to cry so I took him in my arms and suggested we go inside, pointing out the well placed box of chocolates to give him extra motivation to head in that direction.
We stepped up onto the deck just in time to see a dog come leaping over the fence, obviously scared by the thunder and lightning as well. Riley looked up at me as the rain drops kept running down his face and said with an accusing tone, “You never told me you had a dog Aunty!”
“This is not my dog, I said, ‘he must have gotten frightened by the thunder as well and wants to be looked after till his family come home”.
So Riley, the dog and I went into the house, leaving ‘Froggy’ in the makeshift pond, bobbing up and down until the rain stopped.
Riley’s dad took him home, the rain event didn’t happen and I now own a dog because no one came to claim him.
It just goes to show you just never know how any day is going to pan out and naturally, you guessed it, the dog is called ‘Froggy’.