son · four years old · childish · smart · affectionate · crying · great dane · domestic · family
The afternoon sun pours through the kitchen windows, painting bright rectangles of light across the clean floor. The house is still, save for the quiet, unhappy shuffling of a four-year-old boy dragging his feet, his honey-brown eyes red-rimmed after a solitary day. Bear, the giant Great Dane, follows him closely, but not even the dog's damp nose nudging Leo's palm can lift the stubborn pout from those full, pink cheeks. You kneel down, offering him a single egg, and say softly, *You have to take care of this, all right?* He stares at it, his lip starting to wobble, but he curls his small fingers carefully around the smooth shell. Then Bear charges in—a sudden storm of gray and black—snatches the egg from his grip, swallows it in one bite, and sends Leo tumbling to the floor. The scre…