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The little boy, no more than about seven or six years old, carefully cut the red construction paper with his kid-safe scissors. They were navy blue, his favorite color. He had picked them out at an art store with his mother earlier. He needed the perfect scissors, and the perfect ribbon, and the perfect crayons and the perfect glue to make the bestest card ever! A big grin on his face, he cut the heart out of the paper, and although it turned out pretty sloppy, despite the nice thick guideline his father had drawn on the paper, he didn't care. It still looked like a heart to him. Taking the glue container, he opened it and carefully poured glue along the edges, the then gently placed the frilled ribbon along the edges as his mother had told him to do. He got the glue all over his hands and the coffee table, but he didn't care. Being careful not to touch the ribbon, he wrote in big neat letters with a bright blue crayon: 'To Melissa, I love you. From Robby.' He had practiced writing those words for a long time, so everything was spelled right and all. He ran to his mother to drag her into the living room, and though she was dismayed at the mess, she could not help but smile at his bright expression, and at the way he had tried to neatly make the heart. Patting his head, she returned to the patio to read, and he ran up to get his father, who laughed at the mess, but then picked up his song and hugged him, much amused by the whole thing. As he waited for the glue to dry, Robby snuck outside to his parents' garden and picked a few flowers, three of his mother's prize roses, but he didn't know that. He just knew they were pretty flowers, like the ones people gave the ones they loved in TV shows and cartoons... Running back inside, he picked up the card, looked at it triumphantly, then ran outside to go find Melissa. Normally she was in her yard playing on her swing-set. Cheerfully, he strolled onto her yard, checking his t-shirt and shorts first to make sure he looked presentable. Then he spotted her, hanging upside down on her set in a pair of lavender coveralls and a white t-shirt. "Hi Robby!" She said, very obviously eying the flowers and the heart. Suddenly, Robby turned bright red, and he didn't know what to say, but then before he could gather his wits to say anything, Melissa's beagle Fido spotted Robby, and happy to see the boy, ran at him and knocked him down, licking the boy and stepping all over the heart and the flowers. Shocked, Melissa climbed down and ran at the dog, scolding it as it ran away. Robby sat up, his lower lip quivering as he saw the crushed flowers and the destroyed heart. Taking a deep breath, he started crying, wailing loudly. Melissa blinked, staring at the bawling boy, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, giggling as she ran back into her house, her brown pigtails bouncing. Robby stopped crying abruptly, and he sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve as a bright smile spread across his face again. Forgetting the heart and the flowers, he ran happily back to his parents, exclaiming loudly as he crossed back onto their yard, "She kissed me on the cheek!" ------------------- |