It was raining. It had been raining all day, and here it was now, late afternoon. It was time for the rain to move along somewhere else.
Leah rested her elbows on the sill of the big picture window and cupped her face in her hands. Shifting about on the big red cushion, she stared out through the misty pane. Sheets of water billowed along the street, one following close behind the other like a parade.
Leah heard her mother humming in the kitchen preparing the evening meal. The evening meal was special. Daddy left home for work early each day, before anyone else was awake. The evening meal was when they all came together for the first time each day as a family.
Mother hummed or sang often as she went about the house. Leah loved to listen, and, staring out the window, she sang the words. Their voices blended and finished the song together.
The sounds of pots and pans and mixers also meant that Daddy would be arriving soon. When Daddy showed up, David would wake from his afternoon nap, and then Daddy, David, and she would play, roll about on the rug, and talk until it was time for her to help Mother set the table.
Meanwhile, Leah was restless. She felt her left foot falling asleep so she left the window and jumped up and down to get rid of the tingling pins and needles. The tingling gone, she ran to the patio screen door in the dining room and peered into the back yard. She knew it would be raining there too, but at least the scenery was different.
There was another reason.
Twisting so that she could see into the far right corner of the yard, Leah imagined the little house under the oak tree where Sarah had her stall. Sarah was her personal flying unicorn. Leah waved and, in her mind, Sarah answered by tossing her mane and scraping at the ground with a front hoof. It was time for another pretend adventure.
Sarah poked her white horn through the doorway of her little house and shook her head from side to side. When Sarah-a flying unicorn- waggled her long white horn like that, it carried only one message: Sarah wanted to fly. Leah sat on the floor, next to the doorway, and missed being with Sarah.
Leah glanced up at the sky again. The rain had changed to a fine misty drizzle and the clouds to light gray with patches of blue peeping through. A shaft of sunlight cut through the clouds and the patches of blue widened.