A Child's Treehouse

“Gramma, this is beautiful! Can I go up there?”

“Yes darling. This little treehouse is built by your grandpa for you.”

“Oh! So, this is the surprise grampa was talking about in the call?!”

“Yes baby. Did you like it?”

“Oh, I loved it gramma. I can’t wait to see grampa and thank him for this surprise!! Eeeehhh!” Nora ran to her grandma and hugged her tight.

 

Nora woke up the next day excited. As she reached home in the evening yesterday, she could not spend much time in the treehouse. After supper, grandma, grandpa and Nora played some board games. When they lay down to sleep, Nora told them about her friends and how they use to ride their bicycles to the park nearby and play there.

“Good morning grampa”

“Good morning, my little girl” Grandpa took her in his arms and planted a kiss on her cheek.

“Grampa, shall we go to the treehouse?”

“Yes, we’ll have our breakfast and then go. See, Grandma has made your favourite chicken nuggets for breakfast.”

After having their breakfast, Nora, grandma and grandpa went to the treehouse. Grandma read out some stories to Nora, which she enjoyed listening to. After some time, grandma and grandpa got down. Nora said she wanted to stay there longer. So, they left and Nora stayed there. She looked outside the window, and saw a small puppy on the road across. After a while, she saw two boys who were throwing stones at the puppy and laughing.

Nora felt sad and angry. She went down the treehouse and sneaked out of the gate.

“Hey, don’t hurt the puppy.”

“Is this your puppy?”

“Yes, it’s mine.”

Nora went to it, and took it in her hands. The puppy’s hind legs were hurt. There were wounds, and it was squeaking in pain. Nora took it, ran inside the gate, and closed it after her. She took it up to the treehouse.

When grandma returned the to the treehouse with some milk for Nora, she was surprised to see a little puppy in there. Nora told her what happened, and said, “I am sorry gramma. I took it up without asking you. But can we please keep the puppy? It is hurt and looks scared, probably hungry too.”

Grandma smiled and told that she can keep the puppy. Nora showed its wounds to grandma. She said she will dress the wounds, and that it will be fine. Nora placed the bowl of milk in front of the puppy. The puppy drank it. She placed it on the slab of the window and caressed it, “Don’t worry puppy. Gramma will dress your wounds. You’re safe here. Nobody will throw stones at you anymore.”

Grandma and Grandpa came up to the treehouse with some cotton and medicine. They dressed the puppy’s wounds. Grandpa got a little mat for the puppy. Nora spent most of the day in the treehouse with the puppy.

When they sat for supper, grandpa asked her how was the puppy doing. Nora said that it was tired and sleeping most of the time. “Grampa, should we get a kennel for puppy so that it can stay down with us if it is scared to stay up alone in the treehouse?”

“Uh.. yeah.. sure. We shall get one tomorrow.”

The next day Nora and grandpa went to a shop and got a little kennel, some biscuits, a scrub and some little warm clothes for the puppy.

Days passed by. Nora spent her time in the treehouse, playing with the puppy, talking to grandma and grandpa, listening to their stories and playing board games with them after supper. She also made a friend or two in the neighbourhood who sometimes came to her treehouse to play with her puppy.

Nora was loving it here, and when she thought of her vacation coming to an end, she felt really sad. “Gramma, I didn’t want to go back. Though I like playing with my friends there, I am loving it more here, being with you and grampa, and playing with puppy in the treehouse.”

“Oh, my little girl. There are still many days left for reopening. And we will sort it out. If you don’t wanna go, you stay here with us. No worries. Don’t be sad now.”

More days passed, and the vacation was actually coming to an end. Nora’s parents came home to stay with her grandparents for a few days, and then to take her back. Perhaps thinking of going back, Nora almost caught a little fever. She was tired and didn’t go out to play. Her mom had put her to sleep. Puppy who never usually went inside the rooms, peeked into each room that day. When it saw Nora sleeping in a room, it went side and lay down on the floor. When Nora was awake, she was so happy to see the puppy by her side. She got up and hugged it.

Tomorrow Nora had to go back.

Nora took her grandpa to a corner, and whispered into his ears, “Can we sleep in the treehouse tonight?”

“No, little girl. I’m sorry. But nobody sleeps in a treehouse. Let’s sleep in our room comfortably.”

“Please grampa, let’s sleep there. Or else, puppy and I will sleep. I’m going tomorrow, and I really want to sleep there tonight.”

While grandpa did not want to disappoint Nora, he also knew that it as a bit strange to sleep in the treehouse, especially when Nora’s parents were also at home now.  But he said, “Fine. We’ll sleep there”.

Grandpa bought some fancy lights and hung it around the treehouse. They took their supper outside, sat in the yard of the treehouse, and ate. It was fun. Nora’s mom and dad went down into the home later.

As usual, Nora slept in between grandma and grandpa, and listened to the stories read out by them. It was a bit congested, with three people and a puppy sleeping in the treehouse together. But it felt nice, almost like some childhood adventure.

After Nora slept, grandma said, “Who thought we would ever sleep in a treehouse at this age, like this?”

“Yes. This child’s treehouse has, somehow, almost become a home for the past two months”.