Soul Magic

BEING A DADDY

Wisdom creeps up on me! Oh, those who know me know I don’t “do wisdom” deliberately.

I could smell the trouble before I walked into the room this morning. Our ten week old pup, Zara, had been very, very naughty – and I was very, very grumpy. I left her in no doubt that she was a bad girl, cleaned up the mess, put my shoes on and took her out for a walk.

Our walk was across some wild and wet grassland and when we came back we were both mucky. I put some soapy water in the kitchen sink and plunked her down in it. I won’t say she enjoyed her impromptu bath, because she didn’t, but she endured it. Unfortunately she got away from me before I could get her properly dried. Being in the tumble-dryer scared her – only kidding!

Anyway, aside from her bed, Zara’s favorite place is a big towel we keep under a radiator. It’s one of the coziest places in the house. It’s also where she gets sent when she’s naughty.

At this time my twelve year old daughter, Amy, stumbled out of bed and Zara went nuts with excitement. Still a bit grumpy I wasn’t in the mood and I shouted, “Zara! Towel!”

Amy wasn’t pleased with me. “How can you be so cruel? Why’s her fur like that?” I explained that Zara had just had a bath, and wasn’t dried properly yet. I wanted her to stay under the radiator so she would get dry and wouldn’t catch a chill. “So, I’m not really being cruel to her,” I concluded.

“Well she doesn’t know that,” Amy pointed out.

“Ahhh!” I could feel myself getting ready for some child-baiting. “That’s the eternal curse of being a daddy. You spend years telling your children what to do for the best, but they don’t understand. They just see you as a cross old curmudgeon trying to spoil their fun. Then they go their own way and get into all the trouble you tried to save them from.”

Amy just rolled her eyes, picked Zara up – and then the two of them ignored me!

That’s when the wisdom arrived. It might have been my imagination – or it might have been the voice of God. Either way it came in the form of a rumbling laugh and six mighty words from on High…

“Now you know how it feels!”

— © David McLaughlan

“Finding the extra in the ordinary.”

Visit David’s SFPNN Featured Author page at:  http://www.sfpnn.com/david_mclaughlan.htm

If you want to see more of the world the way David sees it, visit http://www.myspace.com/wayfarerstales

E-mail: David

For more Soul Magic stories visit: http://www.sfpnn.com/soul_magic.htm