“No! No!
I won’t let you!”
James was
on the brink of tears.
“Jamesieboo,
we have to put Sampson in the laundry.”
“But
Sampson can’t breathe in the water! He hates swimming!”
“Look,
James, Sampson’s filthy. Just look at these patches of gray on his fur. He
needs a good washing.”
“No
he doesn’t,” he pouted.
“James,
Mom’s not going to let you play with Sampson until he’s all cleaned up. He’ll
give you germs!”
My
brother’s big doe eyes widened.
“Sampson
would never give me germs.”
“He would
if you don’t let me put him in the washroom.”
James
looked at the stuffed animal he was holding.
“Germs
are bad,” James said thoughtfully.
“Germs
are bad,” I repeated.
He
whispered something into Sampson’s ear. Then, he put his ear against Sampson’s
little muzzle. After a few seconds, he looked up at me.
“Sampson
said he’ll go wash,” my brother translated, “but he wants me to come with him.”
“Does
Sampson really need you to come with him to the laundry room, James?”
“Yes,” he
articulated, “He said he’s too scared to go by himself. He needs me with him.”
“Well,
all right, Jamesie. But the basement’s going to be chilly. Go grab a cardigan.”
I
balanced the basket of laundry on one hand and held my brother’s with the
other. James was clutching me tightly, with a look of solemnity on his face. I
felt like an executioner as we went down the steps to the basement.
“James,”
I asked when we reached the laundry room, “are you all right?”
“Germs
kill people, right?” James asked seriously, staring at the laundry machine.
“What?”
“Mrs.
Schoonover showed us a video about germs at school yesterday.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Melanie
cried and she had to go to another room to watch another video about happier
things.”
“Did you
cry?”
“No. But
it was kind of scary,” he admitted. His eyes were on me, now. “You don’t think
Sampson has a lot of germs, do you? I
mean, not so much that it’s going to kill him, right?” James’s huge eyes were
filled to the brim with worry.
“No,
Sampson probably doesn’t have so much germs that it’s going to hurt him. But in
order for it to stay that way, we need to give him a wash, okay?”
“Okay. It’s
kind of like me having to brush my teeth every day even though I don’t want to,
right? Or else my tooths will all get black and the tooth fairy won’t want it
for her tooth house.”
I looked
down at him in adoration.
“You’re
absolutely right, Jamesieboo. It’s exactly like that.”
“Okay, I
think Sampson’s ready. But he’s really scared.”
“Give him
a kiss.”
James obeyed.
A few droplets of tears escaped his eyes as he put Sampson into the washing
machine.
“Sampson
doesn’t like water,” he said after I put in the detergent and pushed a few
buttons.
“He won’t
mind a bath once in a while,” I said as I gave him a hug, “Don’t you like it
when you get out of the shower and Mom dries you with a soft towel?”
“Yeah.
But I think I’ll wait here until he’s done. He’ll be upset if I don’t.”
I
frowned. “Mom will be upset if you stay down here all alone and catch a cold.
Let’s go upstairs. I’ll make you a cup of hot chocolate.”
“Can’t
you stay with me until Mommy comes?”
“I…” I
began to protest, but James sat down on the floor of the laundry room, intently
gazing into the washing machine. So stubborn…but very sweetly so. I followed his
gaze into the washing machine. Little flashes of brown came into view every
once in a while. Lady was also brown. I smiled wistfully as I remembered throwing
a fit when Mother refused to let me bring Lady to kindergarten. I wondered what
I would have done if Lady was thrown into the washing machine. I chuckled at
little James’s maturity. I knelt down and poked his plump red cheek.
“Of
course I’ll stay with you, little Jamesieboo.”
The
concern in James’s eyes changed into a little sparkle as he looked at me. My
heart also sparkled.
“Come on
now, get on my lap,” I said.
James
crawled into my lap and went on staring at the washing machine.
“Thank
you, Joyce” he said quietly.
“You’re
very welcome, James,” I replied.
