2014 Prompt Responses - 1. Prompt 301

“Daddy! Daddy! Come look at the pretty kitty!” Alyssa came running through the front door, letting it slam shut behind her. She was clutching Fred, her thread-bare teddy bear in one hand and reached for mine with her other hand, tugging me outside to see the kitty. I sighed in exasperation. Alyssa was always finding some sort of wayward creature to “rescue”. Most of the time they ended up being a neighbor’s dog or cat (thank goodness).

She dragged me around the corner of the house, just past Brad’s cherished rose garden, and I came face to face with the “kitty”. Alyssa let go of my hand and started to run up to hug the animal as I yelled for her to stop. I reached her in two strides and managed to shove her out of the way just as the skunk raised its tail and let loose a stream of foulness all over my brand new suit. As I scurried backwards to get away from the stench, I stumbled and landed right in the middle of Brad’s garden. So in addition to being horrifically stinky, I was now being pricked by dozens of thorns. I gingerly tried to raise myself out of the garden, only to have my hand slip and end up right in a bed of thorns. I ground my teeth to keep myself from letting loose a string of profanity that would eternally hover in the air like smog, and somehow managed to extricate myself from my prickly prison.

Alyssa sat on the ground where I had shoved her and started to wail. “You hurt the kitty, Daddy! Kitties aren’t supposed to smell like that!”

I wanted to go comfort her, but didn’t want to get the skunk’s stench all over her, too. “Honey, that wasn’t a kitty. It was a skunk. It isn’t hurt, skunks spray stinky stuff when they’re scared to make us go away. Now let’s go inside so daddy can get cleaned up.”

Alyssa sniffed a little bit, and then got up, accepting my explanation. When we got inside, Alyssa went to her room to play and I went into the bathroom to attempt to clean up. I was cursing that damn “kitty” and lamenting the loss of my expensive new suit. I was just hoping to get de-stinkified before Brad came home. Tonight was supposed to be a special night for us. I had made reservations months ago at one of the most exclusive restaurants in town to celebrate our five-year anniversary. I was frantically trying to scrub away the stench when I heard a knock on the bathroom door. “Alyssa, honey, you need to be patient and wait while daddy tries to…”

The bathroom door opened and I heard Brad start to gag. “Oh my god, Kevin! What the hell happened? It smells like you were sprayed by a skunk!”

I leaned my head against the shower wall, groaned, and rolled my eyes. “Your astute powers of observation never cease to amaze me, Captain Obvious.” Brad opened the shower curtain and turned off the shower. He stood staring at me for a moment, arching an eyebrow at me. I looked at him and sighed. “Alyssa found a “kitty”.”

Brad managed to last a whole two seconds before bursting into laughter. I took a step toward him with an evil smile on my face. “Hon, I could really use a hug right about now…”

Brad made a beeline out of the bathroom. “Stay there, Kevin. You don’t want to spread the stink all over the house. The bathroom is bad enough! I’ll get some supplies that will take away the smell.” He came back a few minutes later with a bowl full of something fizzing and Alyssa latched on to his leg. “Sweetie, go play in your room while poppa helps daddy get rid of the kitty stink.” He looked at me and snickered. I was never going to live this down. “You’ll need to take your earring out or else it will react with this stuff.”

Brad stepped out of the bathroom while I washed myself with the concoction Brad had brewed. He returned momentarily with a garbage bag and some tongs. He looked decidedly green as he started putting my beautiful new suit into the bag. “Is this a new suit? I don’t recognize it.”

I looked at him sadly. “Yes. I bought it special for tonight.”

He smirked at me. “Oh really? Why? Is tonight something special?”

I stepped out of the tub as I toweled off, amazed at how effective that goo had been at removing the skunk smell. I sat down on the toilet seat dejectedly. “I had such a romantic evening planned. I made reservations months ago at that restaurant you’ve always wanted to go to. I wanted us to have the perfect romantic dinner for our anniversary. The neighbors even agreed to take Alyssa for the night.” I looked at him forlornly. “We’ll never make it on time, now. I’m so sorry, babe. I wanted tonight to be perfect.”

I turned my head away, not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes. I felt his hand gently tilt my face toward his. Instead of disappointment, I saw something very different.

He smiled at me. “After five years together, I guess we know each other a little too well. Guess where I have reservations tonight? For 7:00. Plenty of time for us to get there.” He ran his hand down my cheek and kissed me softly, then reached down to take my hand.

I winced as he touched where I landed in the rosebushes. “I fell in your roses when I was trying to get away from that damn “kitty”. I’m so sorry, Brad. I know how important those rosebushes are to you.”

“Not nearly as important as you are.” He said as he kissed me.