Domino

We returned home from shopping to find that Chienne had eaten the rest of the oatmeal raisin bars Mom made for me.

Because Chienne was unusually subdued after being scolded (I love oatmeal raisin bars!), I brought Little One's cat up from downstairs without fear of a canine/feline battle.

Having deposited Cat in Little One's room, I flopped back on the couch while Mom rested with Smallest One, trying to coax her into a nap.

Dad, remembering he'd read that raisins caused kidney failure in dogs, reached for his laptop to look up said forwarded email.

Cursing when he realized the wireless wasn't working, he decided to go into Little One's room - where the router is kept - to fiddle with wires.

Unknown to Dad, Little One had placed a table behind her door to prevent the accidental escape of Cat.

Upon knocking over said table, the normal placid Cat panicked and scratched Little One across the belly.

The subsequent sobbing howls brought Mom from Smallest One's room in an attempt to comfort her elder granddaughter.

After injury examination and Neosporin application, we had settled in the living room again to argue over whose fault it was - perhaps mine because I put the cat in there, perhaps Dad's because he barged in without more care.

Mid-argument, I scampered down the hall, hurrying toward Smallest One as she cried. I found her on the floor, asked her if she'd fallen out of bed and scooped her up when I couldn't get anything from her muffled explanation.

I rocked her for a moment before she asked for Grandma and I tucked them in to watch SpongeBob before coming back to the living room.

I returned to the living room with a bottle of water I was beginning to wish were alcoholic and sighed, glancing across the room to watch Chienne sleeping peacefully - no raisin-induced poisoning or family-driven panic in her little doggie world.