It had somewhere else to be.
Sit Nicely
Pia had promised to sit for a picture.
Her friend Tomo was making invitations for a gathering, and he wanted to draw each guest on the front of a card.
“Should I smile?” Pia asked.
“If you like.”
“Should I look at you?”
“If you like.”
Pia sat on the grass, lifted her chin, and arranged her paws neatly in front of her.
“How’s this?”
“Very nice,” Tomo said.
He opened his sketchbook and began with the shape of her ears. Pia kept her chin lifted while he drew the top of her head.
Then he stopped.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Your tail.”
Pia looked down. The end of her tail had curled around beside her paw.
“Is it in the way?”
“Only a little.”
She moved it behind her.
“There.”
Tomo added her eyes and the line of her nose. He had just begun on her whiskers when the end of her tail appeared beside her other paw.
Pia looked down again.
“I put that behind me.”
“I saw you.”
She moved it back. Tomo returned to his drawing.
A moment later, the tail appeared between her front paws.
The Other Side
“Would it help if I sat on it?” Pia asked.
“Would that be comfortable?”
“Probably not. But I might stay there until you’ve finished.”
Tomo considered the picture. He had only drawn her head so far.
“I may be a while.”
Pia laid her tail along the grass and placed one hind foot gently over it.
“Try now.”
Tomo drew a line down her neck. The tip of her tail twitched beyond her foot.
“Is it moving?” Pia asked.
“Just the end.”
“That’s allowed.”
Tomo began adding the spots on her shoulder. A blue butterfly passed near Pia’s ear. Her tail slipped free, and its tip rose above the grass.
“There it goes,” Tomo said.
Pia turned her head. The butterfly had settled on a flower beside her.
“I think it came to see the picture.”
“Would you like me to draw it too?”
“It hasn’t promised to sit still.”
Neither, Tomo thought, had the tail.
He did not say so. Instead, he turned the sketchbook around.
Pia looked at the drawing. Her face was there, along with one ear, half a neck, and a few spots.
“What happened to my other ear?”
“I was saving it until you settled.”
“I thought I had.”
“Most of you has.”
A Moving Subject
The butterfly lifted from the flower. Pia watched it cross the grass. Her tail moved slowly from one side to the other.
Tomo watched the butterfly too.
“Does your tail do that every time something flies past?”
“I don’t know.”
“Shall we wait for another butterfly?”
“We might be here all afternoon.”
They waited anyway.
A yellow butterfly appeared near the hedge. Pia followed it with her eyes. The end of her tail curled.
Tomo pointed.
“That one moved it.”
“Perhaps it was the breeze.”
The butterfly flew away. A breeze passed over the grass, but Pia’s tail stayed where it was.
“Perhaps not,” she said.
Tomo sat beside her so they could both see the tail.
“Shall we count the spots while we wait?”
Pia found a red spot near the tip. Tomo began with a black one farther down.
“One, two, three,” he said.
“Four,” Pia added.
The tail moved.
“Was that five?” Tomo asked.
“That was the same one.”
“Then I was farther along than I thought.”
Pia held the tail still with one paw. Tomo counted again, but she could not see the spot beneath her paw.
“You’re covering one.”
“If I let go, it might move.”
“Perhaps we don’t need to count them.”
Pia released her tail. It curved around in front of her.
Plenty of Room
Tomo looked at his sketchbook, then at Pia. She was sitting with her head bent and her eyes on the curved end of her tail.
“Could you stay like that?”
“I’m looking at my tail.”
“I can see.”
“Is that how you want me in the picture?”
Tomo nodded. He turned to a clean page and began again.
Pia watched the tip of her tail. It moved once, then settled near her paw.
“Is it still in the way?” she asked.
“No. It’s exactly where I need it.”
She remained there while Tomo drew. When the blue butterfly returned, her tail lifted a little.
“Sorry,” she said.
“That’s all right. I’ve already drawn the curve.”
“Will the butterfly be on the invitation?”
“Only if it comes to the gathering.”
“It may not know about it.”
“We could make another card.”
At last, Tomo put down his pencil and showed her the picture. Pia’s head was lowered, her ears were alert, and her tail made a generous curve beside her.
“It’s quite a large tail,” she said.
“You said you wanted to sit comfortably.”
“I did.”
“And that was where it was comfortable.”
Pia studied the drawing again. The red spot near the tip was easy to see.
“I like that you remembered this one.”
Tomo leaned closer. “I think that was number three.”
“Or four.”
They began counting the spots on the drawing. This time they reached the end without losing their place.
Pia looked down at her own tail, then back at the page.
“May I see that part again?”
Tomo tilted the sketchbook towards her. The tip of Pia’s tail curled over the bottom of the page.
“It has somewhere to be,” he said.
Pia moved it aside.
“For now,” she said.
Livora Gracely ♥
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