Florrie gets a fright when she is babysitting

Florrie’s 14th year — #6

Read all Florrie’s earlier adventures here:

“See you later!”

Florrie stood at the door with Toby beside her. The youngster, who was fiercely baring his teeth, was dressed as an orange dinosaur.

“Want to do a jigsaw, or play Connect 4?” she asked him, after shutting the door on his parents’ departing car.

“Can’t I play tag with Richmond?” Toby asked.

Florrie looked fondly at the dachshund puppy, who was out for the count. He had curled up in the rug and cushion den she had built for Toby, and was still puffy under the eyes from running madly around the garden.

“He’s only a baby,” she told him, “you’ve worn him out! Let’s do something quiet while he sleeps.”

Toby wore an inscrutable expression, then said, “I’m much older than him, aren’t I?”

“Oh yes, you’re very grown up. Richmond isn’t even one yet.”

The small boy flopped down next to the dog and gently stroked its brown silky ears while Florrie pulled a jigsaw puzzle from a drawer.

“This one?”

She’d picked one he had completed many times before, and he slotted the pieces together with ease, barely looking at the picture on the lid. When it was fitted together, Toby gave a punch to the air and ran around the room with his arms raised, until his dinosaur tail nearly swept the puzzle off the table.

“Hungry?” Florrie asked. “Let’s see what your Mum left you.”

They trooped into the kitchen, with a yawning Richmond hot on their heels. The pup was always optimistic there would be scraps.

She reheated his meal in the microwave and smiled when she removed the plastic dome.

“Look at that Toby, your food has a secret message.”

Toby studied the potato letters set out beside his chicken dinosaurs with a grin.

“B — r — a -” he started to sound out, his face scrunched with concentration.

“Look though, that ‘e’ on the end will make the vowel say its name.” Florrie coached him, pointing to the edible letters. “Have a bite of this t-rex while you’re thinking.”

Toby chewed and swallowed then tried spelling out the word again.

“B r — a y… Bray — v. It says I’m brave Florrie!” His eyes sparkled with delight.

“And so you are Toby. Remember how you used to be scared of dogs? And then you met Richmond, who isn’t scary at all, and now you and he are best friends.”

The little boy cleared his plate while Florrie tipped some kibble into a bowl for the puppy.

“Can I feed him Florrie?” Toby was already scrambling off his stool.

“Sure if you’ve eaten all your veggies,” she smiled.

She placed the bowl in Toby’s hands and Richmond shifted his gaze to the small boy, food is power!

“Tell him to sit and hold your finger up so he knows to wait.”

Toby did both things very solemnly. The puppy sat, but his little tail wagged in anticipation.

“Put the bowl on the floor but say wait and keep your finger up.”

Toby did as Florrie instructed and Richmond kept his eyes glued to that finger.

“When you say ok, point to the bowl with your finger,” Florrie whispered, so as not to break Toby’s spell over the dog.

“OK!” Toby said decisively, and when he moved his finger, the dog sprang towards his food and immediately chowed down.

“Let’s wash our hands and then you can have dessert,” Florrie said with satisfaction. “Your Mum told me there was ice cream and strawberries.”

Later, when Florrie loaded Toby’s plates into the dishwasher, she asked:

“Did you use this fork, or did you just think it was for combing your hair?”

Her teasing made Toby snort with laughter, and while she tidied up, they played a game of deliberately mistaking what things in the kitchen might be used for. Toby thought his Mum’s big ladle might be a guitar, Florrie suggested the cake spatula could swat flies and when Toby saw the rolling pin he guessed it was for weight lifting.

Florrie was in mid-giggle when something black and fast moving crawled out from under the curtain. Initially she shrieked with surprise, then disgust flashed up her spine as she recognised the gangly leg movements of a spider.

“What’s the matter?” Toby was on the alert.

Florrie didn’t want to scare him, but she couldn’t disguise her arachnophobia.

“It’s a spider,” she told him, keeping her voice steady, although her heart was bumping her ribs. “I’m a bit silly when it comes to spiders, even though I know they won’t hurt me, I just don’t like the way they crawl.”

“I’ll save you!” Toby said.

Holding his little hands like claws and baring his teeth, he began to creep toward the spider, which had stilled against the skirting board. But the moment his shadow fell on the spider, it began to scuttle away. Florrie tried to suppress a yelp. But before Toby could take another step, Richmond darted forward and grabbed the scampering mini-beast in his mouth.

“Oh, Richmond!” Florrie was shocked and appalled.

The puppy happily smacked its lips and the spider disappeared from sight.

“Richmond was brave!” Toby gasped, looking at the small dog with admiration.

Florrie wanted to scoop the puppy into her arms for a cuddle, but she was worried there still might be spider’s legs in his mouth.

“You deserve a treat mister,” she told him instead, looking in her bag for a bacon flavoured chew. “He might only have a little body, but he has a lion’s heart,” she told Toby, and he agreed.

“Richmond is a T-rex like me, that’s why he has short front legs.”

That made Florrie laugh; she couldn’t wait to write about this in her diary.

“Right, get into your jammies then come back downstairs; I’m planning to read you a story about a mysterious seashell .”

This episode of the Florrie series is in response to Jonathon’s Mashup #23, my scores for prompts and constraints are as follows:

#1 Explore a character’s phobia — Florrie’s arachnophobia concerns how they move their legs [2]

Unique writing method — word spelled out in potato letters [1]

Orange colour — Toby’s dinosaur costume [1]

Tired animal — Richmond the puppy is tuckered out from playing with Toby [1]

Makeshift comb — Toby’s fork [1]

A moment of childlike innocence — Toby’s sheer delight at completing the jigsaw or Toby’s feeling of superiority that he was more grown up than the puppy [2]

Hyperbole — Richmond has a heart like a lion [5]

Plus [1] for totalling it up [14]

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