The Little Fireman

I frequent Kaldi Coffee & Tea in Atwater Village. It has a great extended sidewalk in front and lots of neighborhood activity thrives there. Next door is Heartbeat House, a dance/yoga studio that nearly killed me once. (It wasn’t their fault; I tried yoga after two very dormant years.)
Heartbeat House also has a class for toddlers and parents. I love those mornings. Sadie, my dog, has a perfectly wonderful demeanor for toddlers. She is also darn cute, and the parents mostly know that she’s safe now, so long as their kids don’t pull her tail or anything.

That’s all exposition. Here’s the story.

Photo by Scottie Images

I’d met this brother and sister duo before this day. The Little Fireman is a young guy about four or five years-old with a sister somewhere in the terrible twos, except for the fact that she’s not terrible in the slightest. He nearly always wears some semblance of a full-on fireman outfit. Often the outfit is paired with his version of a fire truck siren, as he runs around the sidewalk patio. These sights uplift even the jaded soul in her comfy pants on a caffeine constitutional.

One morning The Little Fireman came over and talked to me about his dog. We shared stories of shedding, which toys our respective pets enjoyed (his: tennis ball; mine: none), how eager they are to greet us when we walk through the door –

You know, dog-owner stuff. I won’t get into it here. You understand.

His Mom is a lovely woman with a knack for letting her kids play without shadowing and always alert to encourage them to be polite. She came over and told The Little Fireman they were leaving. He said goodbye to Sadie and left. I smiled and told his Mother:

He was telling me about his dog. He sounds like a great owner.

To describe the look on The Little Fireman’s face …. I don’t know if I can until I am a Mother. She stared at Her Little Fireman and said softly:

He really wants a dog. We don’t have room right now.