Amy Able

     Amy Able loved her grandpa, and Grandfather adored his Amy Able.

     "What shall we do today? The aged yet sturdy man gently asked her. 

     Grandfather's curious brow furrowed into planting rows of deep, wizened wrinkles.

     "We can do anything you'd like."  He added.

     "Pet store!" Amy instantly yelled, her voice squealing like a cute monkey begging for a banana.

     "Really," Grandfather teased, beaming with pure affection. "And why do you want to go there?" 

     "To see puppies and kittens!" Squeaked the four-year-old girl.

     Her sincere glee shone bright and hopeful as a full, tropical moon on a cloudless, island paradise night.

     Grandfather chuckled softly to himself, and told her, "Okay Amy Able, go get your coat and hat and meet me at the portal."

     "Yes Grandpa." She answered sweetly.

     Grandfather opened the front door and the pair stepped joyfully out into the morning sunlight. Amy's cobalt blue eyes sparkled like twinkling stars in a lavender sky, and she grinned wide and deep as a glacial crevasse.

     "Oh, it's lovely!" She exclaimed. "Isn't it wonderful Grandpa?"

     "It surely is my darling." Grandfather agreed. "Yes, indeed it is."

     "Billy, look out!" Amy Able suddenly screeched, her angelic face turning tragic. 

     Amy's wee right arm and index finger frantically pointed toward the street, and Grandfather turned just in time to witness the neighbor's seven-year-old son Billy hit the brakes of his Stingray bicycle and whoosh its back tire to a halt just inches away from a speeding black sedan.

     "Oh my God, Billy!" Grandfather called out, hurrying toward the road. "Are you alright son?"

     Amy did her best to shadow Grandpa and stood next to Billy.

     "Billy's okay now, I saw the car in time." She declared.

     "Gosh, thanks Amy!" Exclaimed Billy. "I didn't see any cars!"

     "You didn't have a chance to," Grandfather cut in, "darn fool must've been doing forty-five maybe fifty in a twenty-five.

     Amy Able tenderly patted Billy's shoulder, and added, "Don't worry Billy, I did it for you."

     A look of astounded astonishment commandeered Grandfather's square-jawed mug.

     "How on earth did you see that vehicle?" He queried Amy.  

     "I heard it coming." she plainly answered. "It sounded mean Grandpa, like it wanted to hurt someone."

     Outside the Furry Friends pet store an obese woman sat alone in a beat-up wheelchair. She had a worn-out look on her face and tired eyes. Both her legs were removed from just above the knees. Amy had never seen a person in such poor physical condition, so when her stare met the gal's, it stuck like Elmer's glue.

     "Hello sweety!" Cackled the queen bee, energetically throwing out her flabby arms and offering the innocent child a stranger's warm embrace.

     Grandfather knew cigarettes and booze had produced that scratchy, haggled voice, and instinctively wanted to keep his granddaughter away from the disheveled female.

     "Come on little baby and give Miss Eang some sugar now!" Urged the missus. 

     "Whoa, wait a second..." Grandfather softly ordered. 

     But his objection came too late, and Amy Able disappeared into the dame's great mass like a herring being engulfed by an octopus.

     "Alright, alright, come on now that's enough." Grandfather insisted. "We don't want to bother this nice lady."

     "Oh, it ain't no bother," the matron shot back, "I needed me some lovin' this mornin'. And may God bless this here sweet child, yes Lord, dear God almighty bless her!"

     Amy Able struggled slightly against the disabled mare's strong grip, yet managed to turn her precious, wavy haired, blond head towards Grandfather.

     "This mama has a good heart Grandpa." She announced. "We should give her some money so she can buy something to eat." 

     "My name's Katie, Katie Clark, and that's the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a long time sweety. You are an angel my love, a completely wonderful and amazing angel sent from heaven."

     Amy Able peered up at Katie, and purred, "You can have the five dollars Grandpa has for me. I don't want you to be hungry today."

     Crocodile tears began pooling in the old doll's lotus shaped orbs, and she released her pythonic clutch. Yet the youngster kept her small arms draped high and tight across Katie's bovine hips, and remained scrunched in close to her mountainous chest.

     "Thank you for your kind words." Whispered Grandfather, as he handed Ms. Clark the Lincoln.

     "I want this one Grandpa! This is the one I want!" Amy Able hollered, picking up a Bengal kitten.

     Amy's honest joyfulness strummed playfully upon Grandfather's paternal heartstrings, and he took a moment to relish the freshness of her extravagant delight. A tingly feeling materialized at the top of his spine, bringing neck hairs to sensational, silent attention.

     "Really?" He dreamily asked. "Why that one?"

     Amy replied by holding the dainty feline against her heart and kneading it with eight infatuated fingertips.

     The gorgeous gesture gob smacked Grandfather right down to the bottom of his being, and with his voice breaking, he answered, "Okay if that's the one you want you can have him."

     An aura of exquisite ecstasy fully enveloped Amy Able's persona, as she turned the cat over to emphasize the area between its legs.

     "My kitty is a girl Grandpa, see?" She explained. "And her name is Tiger because she looks like a lion."

     Amy Able scurried to find grandmother, unzipping her rainbow-colored parka as she ran. Grandmother heard the pair come in and had already begun making her way out of the kitchen towards the dining room. The two came together at the living room entrance, just as Amy Able raised the family's newest member high into the air. 

     "Grandma, look!" She shouted.

     The tot's perky features flashed with the luminosity of a performer after a great audition.

     "Oh what a pretty creature!" Grandmother cried. "Why she's gorgeous Amy! I love her already." 

     "Her name's Tiger!" Amy informed her.