A Mishap in Keeping Warm
"There ya go, princess." Neil looked up from where he'd put a unicorn Band-Aid on the back of Grace's hand and helped her get down from the bathroom counter.
Grace sniffled. "Thanks, Daddy."
"Can you tell me what happened now?" Neil asked. Earlier, he'd heard Grace wail in pain and immediately ran from the living room to his and Eva's bedroom. There, he'd found a torn piece of blue clothing, his weeping daughter on her knees and clutching at her hand, and Maizie, who darted out of the room like she was being chased by dogs. The last time Neil had seen his daughter and her cat had only been about five minutes ago, when they'd been playing in Grace's room, and he'd had no idea what could've happened to make Grace so upset so quickly. In any case, she'd been crying too hard to tell Neil what was going on, but a hug, some soothing noises, and tending to her scratch had more or less calmed her down.
"Maizie was staring out at the snow," Grace said. "I thought she wanted to go play outside, so I tried to put a sweater on her."
"Why would she need a sweater? She's got a fur coat."
"Yeah, but it's short. Short fur means she gets cold easier than cats with long fur."
"So how'd that work out for you?"
An unhappy frown crossed Grace's face. "Maizie didn't like it. I tried telling her the sweater would keep her warm, but she kept making noise and moving around."
"And getting her claws into anything that touched her?"
Grace nodded, not realizing that Neil was being rhetorical.
"Well," he continued, "now we know, right? No putting clothes on the kitty."
"Yes, Daddy."
"Whose sweater did you use, anyway?"
"One of Mama's."
Oh, crap. Neil resisted the urge to groan. Eva was going to kill him when she got back.
"Am I gonna get grounded?" Grace asked, looking at her father anxiously.
Neil tried to smile. "No, no, hun; you're not going to get grounded." Eva would be angry enough to lecture Grace, certainly, but she didn't love that blue sweater that much. "I think Mama will want to talk about not messing with her stuff, though."
Eva would also bite Neil's head off about not keeping an eye on what their daughter was doing, but Grace didn't need to hear that.