I was awoken by a pressure on my chest and then little fingers prodding at my cheeks. As I roused from a seemingly great nap I realised that the tiny fingers were tapping morse code onto my cheek.
'Wake up, want park now'
And with that I opened my sleep crusted eyes but shut them quickly again as the light was overwhelming.
"Hey Katie, do you mind dimming the lights?" The pressure from my chest was gone and the world became significantly darker.
"Thank you hun." I opened my eyes once again to see Katie kneeling next to our sofa, my hearing aids cradled carefully in her hands. I gratefully grabbed them from her with a thank you and tumbled off the sofa.
A blanket was wrapped around my shoulders like a cape, a warm comfy cape.
"Alright Katie cat, my ears are in. Whats up?" I walked into the kitchen to see her already sat up on the island with a cup of milk in hand.
"Wanna go out to the park, so does Lucks. Pleaseeee can we go?" Voice slurring slightly with sleep. Speaking of the dog he was pawing at his food dish so I filled that up as I replied.
"Yeah course, just gimme 20 minutes to coffee up and wash up. Go grab a snack and get dressed ok?" I was already putting the coffee pot on, my personal one with a purple rim. I had my own because I drink straight from the pot ; less washing up.
I headed for a quick shower, passing Kate in the hallway and giving her a little head pat.
"Why don't you go watch some TV while I get ready."
She nodded and I heard the tell tale voice of Linda from Bob's burgers say something about her sister. Cool.
My shower was quick, just a scrub over with a 3 in 1 and a comb tugged through sopping wet hair. I often sung in the shower I couldn't hear it but on bad days it made Katie know she wasn't alone. They've become less common now but they happen all the same and well she's one of the only things I'm willing to come up with a plan for.
The 3 in 1 had a distinct scent to it, somewhere between mint and skunk, the second of which I've become uncomfortablely familiar with. As I step from the shower I rub a towel roughly over my shaggy hair and pull on some baggy tac pants and clean underwear that id found on the bathroom floor.
I walked into the living room still shirtless to grab a shirt off the back of the sofa but I can't help but laugh when a little voice pipes up, "Put some clothes, on dont be a slob!" Sassy as kid could be
"Alright who taught you that one?" I got out through gasping laughs., "if its Grills i swear to god."
Grills is one of our neighbours/tenants, super cool guy and like his 'name' suggests he does great barbeques every other Sunday on the roof. He has a habit however, of teaching the apartment kids creative insults and swears. Its funny until you get called in by a teacher to discuss your kid's choice of language, we'll ignore that I bought her ice cream afterwards.
"Wasn't Grills, some guy was saying it to his friend when they walked by the apartment."
"What've I told you about people watching?"
"Always watch out for the tracksuitians and never get caught." Small and slightly chastised.
"And were you caught?"
"Yeah but the guys seemed fine with it, one of them waved at me. He had a gloves on but only for one hand." Observant kid, I'll give her that.
"Huh, weird. Anyways are you all dressed?" She nodded and I gave a quick glance at her feet," And socks?" She scurried off to her room and returned with socks and a sheepish smile. I just sighed and pointed at the sofa.
