It was finally the day off that Douglas had wrangled out of Carolyn. It was Amanda's eleventh birthday and Douglas was getting to spend the day with her. Normally, he would have planned something big and fun for his daughter, but she had specifically asked to just spend the day at his house, not doing much of anything.
Douglas opened the door to find Amanda waiting patiently on the step. When she saw him, she jumped into his arms.
"Hi dad!" She whispered in his ear as they held each other tightly. After a moment, Douglas set her down gently in the hall.
"Hello Amanda. Happy Birthday." He spoke in his usual slow manner, but smiled broadly.
The girl ran over to the couch and plopped down on it. They would be spending the day watching all her favourite movies. She had sent a list to Douglas of the titles, and he'd gone to get them all. Well, he had actually given the list to Arthur, since most of them were ones that Arthur owned and loved.
"Which one are we going to watch first, daddy?" Amanda asked as her father busied himself in the kitchen getting bowls of snacks ready.
"Whatever one you want to start with." He called back. She ran her eyes over the stack of DVDs on the coffee table. Her brown eyes, so like her father's, lit up when she saw her entirely favourite favourite movie: Up.
She popped it into the player and sat back down in anticipation. Douglas set the bowls of chips and popcorn and jelly beans on the coffee table and smiled as Amanda snuggled up to him. It had been far too long since they had spent a Movie Day together.
"Ah, Up. I should have known." Douglas rulled his daughter's curls as she pressed play.
*******************
"Daddy?" Amanda pressed PAUSE.
"Yes?"
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"It sounded like a dog. Outside. I'm going to go look." She jumped off the couch and ran to the patio doors. After a few seconds, he heard a few things at the same time: a squeal, a door sliding open and a bark.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy! Look!" Amanda hurried back to the living room with a scruffy puppy clutched to her chest.
"Amanda. You have a puppy."
"Daddy, can we keep it? Please, please, please?"
"You forget that you don't live here, and I'm away quite often."
"Oh yeah…" Her face fell and Douglas immediately regretted his words. "Okay, I'll put him back outside?" The puppy turned to look at him too. Darn that double pair of big brown eyes.
"Well…" Douglas relented. "Maybe he could stay for the rest of the movie."
"It's a girl, dad. Besides, I can't finish the movie now - the puppy needs a bath in case of fleas."
"How do you know it's a girl?"
"I'm going to be a vet, dad." Amanda said matter-of-factly, and she marched right out of the room, the puppy proudly in her arms. Since the movie held no draw for Douglas, he followed her.