Animaniacs and its characters belong to Warner Bros.

When I came home that evening, after a long day of baking chocolate chip cookies and doing housework for my good friends the Seven Dwarfs, Mindy and Buttons still hadn't returned from the retirement village. At first, I wasn't very worried, thinking that perhaps my little girl was just spending some quality time with her grandma. But as it got darker and Mindy still didn't return, I sent one of the dwarfs to the retirement village to bring her and Buttons back. I went to sleep rehearsing the scolding I would give to that bad dog Buttons for not bringing Mindy home when he was supposed to.

"Your mother-in-law did wheelies on the shuffleboard court all day yesterday," said Apathy the dwarf with his usual indifference.

I gasped. "What are you saying?"

"She never got her marionberry pie. Buttons and Mindy never showed up."

"Oh no! OH NO!"

Apathy shrugged and returned to his brothers.

I sent one of the other dwarfs, Perky, to Acme Falls, the nearest village. Maybe Mindy had misunderstood me and gone there by mistake.

Perky was grinning when he returned from Acme Falls; I assumed that meant good news.

"They saw Mindy and Buttons," Perky said cheerfully. "A cranky old squirrel said Mindy followed her and her nephew as they went to some wishing star-"

"Wishing star?"

"-and a dog and cat said Buttons helped them throw an explosive elixir at the tax collector trying to kill them-"

"That makes no sense!"

"-and then Buttons and Mindy were with them as they escaped an avalanche-"

"AVALANCHE?!"

"-and then they were all arrested by the king."

"King Salazar the Pushy? That horrible man?" I felt so sick by now that I almost didn't hear what Perky said next.

"...little girl...died..."

"MINDY"S DEAD?!"

Perky continued to smile. "It was some orphan girl, and she was only faking it so that her brother could get to the wishing star before Salazar. Then everyone was let go, and no one from Acme Falls has seen Buttons and Mindy since then."

I recalled my last words to Mindy: she had said, sweetly and genuinely, "Okay, Bumblebee Lady, I love you. Buh-bye!" All I'd said was an absent-minded "Bye, hon."

I finally realized that I was one of the worst mothers in the world, if not the worst. Good mothers didn't send their three-year-old daughters on errands through the dangerous woods with only a hungry dog to look after them. Good dog owners didn't let their dogs go hungry. I had put baking cookies over my sweet little girl's well-being, and ignored and scolded my good, loyal dog.

I looked up at the starry night sky and silently made a wish:

I wish Mindy and Buttons would come home. If Buttons brings Mindy home safely, I will stop caring if Mindy calls me "Lady" instead of "Mom", and I will give Buttons as much food as he wants! I'll never call him a bad dog again!

I was crying tears of joy when I finally saw Mindy walk up the path to our cottage, an exhausted-looking Buttons at her side.

"Mindy, darling! You're back, you're safe! Thank goodness!"

Mindy beamed at me. "Hi, Mom!"

I gasped, hardly believing my ears. "Mindy, you called me 'Mom'! You called me 'Mom'!" I picked up my beloved child and hugged her. "It's a miracle!"

Buttons looked so pleased when I set the tower of steaks before him, one steak for every time I called him a bad dog.

"I'll be a better mother from now on," I promised Mindy as I tucked her into bed that night.

Mindy smiled sleepily. "Okay, Mommy," she mumbled. "I love you. Buh-bye."

The End