Sofia’s Puppy Love
One Big Mess
After hanging up the video chat, Sofia goes to talk to her parents. If she asks, maybe they can tell her how she can prove how responsible she can be. She finds Mom coming out of the spare room, clutching her stomach with a pained look on her face. Dad tells her Mom isn’t feeling well. Mom hasn’t been feeling well lately at all. Dad mentions that Sofia can help out by putting the lid back on the paint can.
Sofia watches them leave, and then looks in the spare room. It’s empty except for some buckets of paint and brushes propped against the wall. Perhaps Sofia can do the painting for them! She’d be showing how helpful she can be, and she’d be showing them she can handle a big job by herself! Although Sofia had never painted a room before, Keiko had painted sets for a school play once. How hard could it be?
Sofia dips a brush into the can of light green paint and slathers it on the wall in broad strokes. She continues to paint, covering one wall. It’s not so hard. Feeling proud, she twirls across the room in a little victory dance. But, then she stumbles, and kicks the pail over with a loud clatter. Thick green liquid pours across the hardwood floor.
Sofia rights the bucket and begins scooping up paint, trying to put it back in the can. But it continues to ooze across the floor. Sofia runs to the bathroom to grab some paper towels, heart pounding, hoping to fix everything before anyone notices. On her way back, she sees something that stops her short. She forgot to put the paintbrush down when she left the spare room. Now, it’s dripped green paint all along the hallway, trailed by light green footprints.
Rolling her eyes, berating herself, Sofia hurries back to the spare room. She tries to wipe up the paint, but instead, it just smears and spreads around even more. Even worse, bits of paper towel have ripped off and are getting stuck in the paint.
Suddenly, a voice booms from behind her. Sofia whirls around to find Dad standing in the doorway, his mouth hanging open, eyes wide with shock. There’s paint everywhere except the walls. Sofia’s stomach sinks. She can tell he wants to yell, but he seems too exhausted to do either. Instead, he suggests Sofia takes off her sneakers and gets herself cleaned up, while he tries to fix the spilled paint.
Sofia does as she’s told, and removes her sneakers to make her way to the bathroom, feeling defeated. She tries to be responsible, but all she’s done is make things worse. After she finishes putting her clothes to soak, she texts her friends the bad news.