"Hm...Aha!"

The sudden sound of paint splattering against a canvas echoed in the pet shop. A light pink monkey rubbed her hands together and shoved one into the can of paint again, then made a fantastic leap into the air and spun once before throwing the red and blue paint onto the white surface. She landed abruptly, and admired her work.

She turned when the sound of claws clapping came from behind her. Russell stood nearby clapping and looking at her painting.

"Wow! That's awesome, Minka!" He exclaimed, making his way over to her. "Thanks Russell!" She replied, then jumped over to the canvas and lifted it up, and put it on the ground to dry. She pulled a new blank one out of a bag then placed it onto the easel. She scampered back to the 3 paint cans and jumped into one, throwing her two hands in the other two separately. She carefully jumped back onto the newspaper along the floor, then squinted at the blank board.

"You're mine," She said under her breath, before leaping at the canvas, forcing her hands and feet onto it then sliding back down to the floor, the paint marks streaming down it's white surface.

"It reminds me of, uh, um, waterfalls." The orange hedgehog told her. Minka smiled with satisfaction. "But it isn't done yet, Russell." She replied back, then stood up.

Her eyes gleamed as her hands were dosed a third time in a mix of red, blue, black and pink paint. She flexed her fingers and pulled her arms back. She thrusted them forward, spraying the colors over the canvas, making a blurred effect on the streams from earlier.

"Hm..." She said, touching her chin with one finger. She turned to Russell. "What do you think?"

"I think it's wonderful!" Exclaimed Russell. "I love the blend of the color on that white background."

Minka looked down. Something wasn't right here. The colors just didn't fit. She left the small area and came back with green paint. She tossed a glob onto the board.

"No..." She said aloud. Blinking, she went back over to her art supplies. She scanned her available colors. She had used all of them...except...brown? No...Purple? No...she used purple already...

Her mind flickered when Russell came up to her. "Hello, Pet shop to Minka." He smiled. "I'm missing a color." She told him. "I used all of them except one, but I don't know which."

Russell looked at her supplies. "Hm... did you use grey?"

"Yes."

"Mint green?"
"Yep."

"Cyan?"

"What?"

"Yellow?"

"Yeeessss." Minka said exasperatedly. Russell frowned. "I think you used all of them, Minka."

"But I didn't!" Minka told him. "My painting won't be right without-!"
"...orange."

"Orange?"

Minka gasped in excitement. "THAT'S THE COLOR I NEEDED! ORANGE!" She jumped to her supplies and grabbed the orange paint can. She raced to her canvas and dipped her tail in the paint, then threw it at the canvas.

"Perfect!" She hollered. She looked to Russell.

"Thanks a lot, Russell! If you weren't here with your orange quills I would never have remembered!" She leaned over and hugged him gently. He just stood there kind of awkwardly.

"Uh, um, you're welcome, um, Minka." He said, rubbing behind his head. They broke apart. "I'm gonna go paint now!" Minka raced back to her canvas and continued painting away.

Russell felt his heart melt slightly. Ah, Minka... He thought.

I hope one day you'll know you paint my world.