Sand Panda
And now for an original ficlet. You can blame Katherine for this (although she'll likely deny any accusations) little bit of fun. I was typing a comment to her and accidentally typed 'sand panda' instead of 'sad panda'. The rest....is silly fiction history. ;)
Jimmy waddles down to the water, his chubby feet sinking into the sand as he bends down to fill his little bucket. He bats around with his free hand, just in case his sister Katie was telling the truth about there being tiny sharks in the shallow water. He doesn’t like sharks.
Bucket filled, Jimmy follows his footprints back to where his rather remarkable little pile of sand is waiting for him. He grins, dumps the water into a small hole he dug a few minutes before, and gets to work. This’ll be the best thing yet.
An hour later Katie wakes up, pushing her sunglasses off her nose and up into her dark curly hair. “Jimmy?” she mumbles, and when he doesn’t immediately answer she sits up. After all, Mom and Dad will ground her until she’s thirty if she loses her baby brother, and she’d really like to get her license before then. “Jimmy?”
Jimmy waves a pudgy hand over his back in response and Katie wanders over to see him fiddling with what is, at first glance, a pile of sand. She blinks a few times and her eyes widen as the shape her brother has made comes into clearer view. “Jimmy?”
“Do you like him?” Jimmy says brightly. “His name’s Bill.”
Katie stares at Bill, his squinty eyes- which she can’t help noticing are made out of her favorite earrings- staring up at her as Jimmy pats its little brown head. “That’s....that’s real great, Jimmy,” she says finally. “Why’d you make a....well, what is he?”
Jimmy sighs in the six-year-old’s equivalent of ‘you have got to be kidding me’ and points to Bill’s round ears. “Don’t you remember? You were talking to Mom earlier and said you were a sand panda. I thought he might cheer you up.”
“A sand....Jimmy, I said didn’t say sand panda, I said....oh, never mind.”
She’s going to kill her parents for making her get braces.
Jimmy waddles down to the water, his chubby feet sinking into the sand as he bends down to fill his little bucket. He bats around with his free hand, just in case his sister Katie was telling the truth about there being tiny sharks in the shallow water. He doesn’t like sharks.
Bucket filled, Jimmy follows his footprints back to where his rather remarkable little pile of sand is waiting for him. He grins, dumps the water into a small hole he dug a few minutes before, and gets to work. This’ll be the best thing yet.
An hour later Katie wakes up, pushing her sunglasses off her nose and up into her dark curly hair. “Jimmy?” she mumbles, and when he doesn’t immediately answer she sits up. After all, Mom and Dad will ground her until she’s thirty if she loses her baby brother, and she’d really like to get her license before then. “Jimmy?”
Jimmy waves a pudgy hand over his back in response and Katie wanders over to see him fiddling with what is, at first glance, a pile of sand. She blinks a few times and her eyes widen as the shape her brother has made comes into clearer view. “Jimmy?”
“Do you like him?” Jimmy says brightly. “His name’s Bill.”
Katie stares at Bill, his squinty eyes- which she can’t help noticing are made out of her favorite earrings- staring up at her as Jimmy pats its little brown head. “That’s....that’s real great, Jimmy,” she says finally. “Why’d you make a....well, what is he?”
Jimmy sighs in the six-year-old’s equivalent of ‘you have got to be kidding me’ and points to Bill’s round ears. “Don’t you remember? You were talking to Mom earlier and said you were a sand panda. I thought he might cheer you up.”
“A sand....Jimmy, I said didn’t say sand panda, I said....oh, never mind.”
She’s going to kill her parents for making her get braces.