A Beagle’s Flower Crown
Felicity frowned softly to herself as her hazel eyes were trained steadily on the item in her hand. She stuck her tongue out in focus, subconsciously, as her fingers weaved tiny flower stems together.
It was hot today; the sun was bright outside, relentlessly sizzling people’s skin and bringing with it a painfully hot oven heat. But, in the shade, it was a different kind of universe, at least to Felicity, the only one brave enough to step outside on this particularly boiling hot summer day. There was a soft, cool breeze, faint and teasing, in the shade where Felicity was, under a tree in her garden.
She was sat cross-legged on the grass, its green blades playfully pricking her legs, and the breeze softly tugged on her long hair. She puffed out a breath of air through her mouth when an irritating fly dared saunter near her, instantly causing it back off. Her eyes never left the flower crown she was slowly developing in her hands. She was already wearing one of her own on top of her head, but the one she was making at the moment was for her pet beagle, Bean.
Bean was sat obediently next to her in the shade, placing his paws over each other and his eyes staring into space at the swimming pool a few feet away from them. The water was sparkling with the sky’s reflection, casting a shimmering glow that Bean was mesmerised by. Meanwhile, Felicity had plucked a few flowers of every flower bush in her garden, set them next to her, and weaved a flower crown at a slow pace while she hummed a tune to herself.
The flower crown was littered with various coloured flowers, pink, purple, blue, red, orange, all closely knit together to form a halo shape, and Felicity smiled satisfactorily.
“Look, Bean.” She grinned, making sure that Bean was not allergic to any of the flowers she used. “I made you a flower crown just like mine.”
Bean lifted his head and shot her an unimpressed look, before placing his head back down and closing his eyes. Felicity brightly beamed at him, and ruffled his fur affectionately. “Don’t be so grumpy, come on.”
She placed the flower crown over his head and grinned, pulling out her phone from her pocket and snapped a photo of him. “You handsome little dog.”
Bean stretched his neck arrogantly, pleased with the compliment and the attention, relishing in being surrounded by an overload of affection, but when he peeked his eyes open, his body went rigid. On the other side of the swimming pool, Bean caught sight of a stray cat sneaking its way across the pool and towards Bean’s food bowl sat outside by the back door. Felicity followed his line of vision, and her eyes widened slowly. She could feel Bean’s tense body, and his posture gradually growing into a predatory stance.
“Bean, behave.” She commanded him warningly, but Bean simply couldn’t help himself. His natural instincts were overpowering his duty to do as he is told. Besides, this cat was a thief; it was about to eat his food and leave him with nothing.
“Bean.” Felicity’s tone was now a little worried, carrying a faint strain to it, her hesitation on her face blatantly visible.
Bean pounced, kicking his feet in his place and giving himself a boost to launch straight for the poor stray cat, ignoring Felicity’s cries for him to stop.
Splash!
Felicity resignedly sighed as she watched Bean throw himself into the swimming pool, the flower crown made for him flying across the pool and Bean swiftly swimming to reach the other side, where the stray cat was watching, petrified.
The flower crown was shoved by the breeze towards the cat, and its little eyes shifted over to its pretty colours. Bean got out of the pool and vigorously shook himself dry, before casting his gaze on the cat and letting out a sharp bark.
The cat jumped slightly, and before Bean knew it, she reached down and picked up the flower crown with its teeth, and took off running.
To say Bean was flabbergasted would be an understatement.
He barked again, this time angrily with the cat, and chased after her. Felicity laughed at him as she watched him feebly run after the cat, but the cat was long gone. It had jumped through a small gap in her garden’s fence, taking the flower crown with her, and the gap was too small for Bean to squeeze himself through.
Felicity smiled gently at Bean as he shamefully walked back over to her, and whined guiltily at her with his cutest eyes he could muster. Felicity laughed fondly at him and ruffled his fur affectionately.
“There, there. It’s okay, my little Bean. I’ll just make you another one.” She reached down, and softly kissed the top of his head. Bean jolted upwards and licked her cheek, causing her to laugh again and pull back.
Hopefully this time, no more dog food nor any flower crowns would be stolen by a cheeky little cat. Felicity didn’t mind anyway; she was happy she could give it another go at crafting the flower crown, and keeping her hands busy on this slow, lazy but well-deserved, relaxing summer day.
