Pink Dreams

His three and a half year old daughter played in the garden as he browsed through the newspaper and sipped on a steaming cuppa. He scratched his ankle as it accidentally brushed against a drop of morning dew on a blade of grass. Penny, the dachshund he had bought for his daughter, jumped around the toddler viciously, wagging its tail and trying to nibble on a piece of her frock.

"Daddy, look!", she exclaimed.

"What, baby?"

"Look, Pink!", she squeaked.

What was a bud till the previous evening had grown into a beautiful pink Button Rose. It hung coyly on the delicate stems of its plant, almost giving up to the weight of dew drops that pooled between its petals.

"Hmm..." He smiled and nodded his head, raising both his eyebrows to express excitement. His eyes then returned to his newspaper.

"Daddy..."

"Yeah, baby?"

"Why's this pink so pinky pinky?"

He looked up into her wide baby eyes. Her eyebrows were raised in concern and not answering this question would be a sacrelige.

"Because.. uhmmmm.... Well, i guess i don't know, baby."

She gazed at the flower intently, and narrowed her eyes.

"That's because i know!" She said, with delight streaming out of every tiny place on her face. "That's because daddy's so daddy daddy, mommy's so mommy mommy. And.. and I am so me me and Penny is so Penny Penny! That's why this pink is so pinky pinky!... Doesnt that make sense, daddy?"

He smiled at her affectionately. "Yes, sweetheart. Absolutely." He obviously didn't want to mess up with her.

After just a second, she stopped smiling and stared at the plant.

"Daddy?"

"Hmm...?"

"Would this pink wear away?"

His eyes met hers again. But they were not baby eyes any more. Was she trying to ask him something?

"Would it?"

He did not know that as well. It was just a baby question, he thought and hoped she came up with something. But she didn't. Instead, she looked at the flower again, then at her feet, and then fiddled with the buckle of her shoe. Her pony tails dangled and Penny hopped higher and higher to nibble on them as well. She bit her lip and raised her little head.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Maybe then there would be many more pinky pinky flowers all over here, right daddy?" She grinned.

"Oh yes, yes baby.. lots and lots and lots of them!" He answered, closing his newspaper, relieved.

She picked up a twig and threw it for Penny who just blinked at her in amazement. "Fetch!" She announced.

He put his newspaper down on the table and looked at them for the rest of the time they played around in the garden.