A Beastly Hot Picnic (What?)

Today is the kind of day that calls for an indoor picnic. 

We could go swimming, but the trek to the pool would see us melting into bubbly puddles and nobody likes it when that happens.  We could run errands, but each time I turn off the car, I cry little tears of desperation that we have to exit to a black-topped parking lot.  We could play in the sprinkler, but the needly grass is so sharp that to slip and fall would surely amount to severe trauma. 

So, we stay in.  Again.  Watching the thermometer rise.  Again.  (Yesterday, a friend informed me that her poor, beleaguered air conditioning unit actually caught on fire.  It just couldn't keep up.  Threw in the towel.  Assumed it would be cool on the other side of the A/C-unit veil, and bid adieu to this cruel, overheated world.)

(And this is why August is not my friend.)

But today, all of my reasoning leads me to believe an indoor picnic is just the thing.  Blanket spread on a cool floor, ceiling fan working like mad to keep the air moving, lights down and movie on.  Yes, indoor picnics around here require movies.  Today, it's Beauty and the Beast.  Mia gave her best brave, big-sister speech to Lauren before we began.

"Lauren, you know that if you get too scared, you can just close your eyes until the scary part goes away, okay?"

Lauren gave this some consideration as she crunched on a carrot stick.  "But I'm not really going to be scared, Mia."

Mia persisted, telling her all the different parts in which she might be tempted to cover her delicate eyes; the wolves in the forest; the Beast in the dungeon; the Beast catching Belle in the forbidden west wing...

Again: "That's okay, Mia -- I WON'T be scared."

This was met with sighs of disbelief, but what could a big, brave sister do, after all, but sit back and wait for the fear to assault her darling sister?  They watched and munched.  Asked for extra cheese and another peanut-butter sandwich.  Tipped their plates accidentally onto the picnic blanket. 

Scary parts number one and two passed with little ado; neither sister was openly afraid.  Then came scary part number three: The Beast roaring at Belle as she sneaks around the forbidden room.

Quick as a flash, brave, big sister darted behind the couch, covering her eyes redundantly to keep the fear at bay.  Little sister Lauren peeked over her shoulder as Mia abandoned ship.  She took a relaxed bite of sandwich.  She shook a wisp of hair from her brow, with totally calm nonchalance.

So the picnic was an excellent idea; it made me laugh.

A hard thing to do when I'm busy nursing a grudge against this insanely hot summer.