Blue Kangaroo hopped in the door with Logan. They headed straight for the oatmeal cookies cooling on the kitchen counter.

“Logan, not before dinner please.”

“Blue Kangaroo wants one. She’s hungry.”

Mom rolled her eyes. “Just one.”

Not long after, Mom heard Thump! Thump! Thump!

“What’s going on, Logan?”

“Blue Kangaroo is hopping up the stairs.”

“Maybe you should carry her?”

“She doesn’t want to. She likes hopping.”

“Tell Blue Kangaroo she’ll wake your baby brother.”

Logan picked Blue up. “C’mon, let’s play in my room.”

Thump! Thump! Thump! overhead. Loud giggling.  Mom walked upstairs and opened Logan’s door.  Logan and Blue Kangaroo jumped up and down on the bed. Blue Kangaroo’s head hit the ceiling and she fell on the floor.

“Logan, you know you aren’t supposed to jump on your bed.”

Logan picked Blue Kangaroo up and rubbed her head to make sure she was OK. “Blue Kangaroo wanted to. She likes jumping.”

“It’s sunny. Maybe she’d like to jump around outside.”

Logan carried Blue Kangaroo into the back yard. They hopped back and forth for a while. Logan tried to teach Blue Kangaroo how to skip. Blue Kangaroo thought skipping was stupid.

Logan showed Blue Kangaroo how to run. Blue Kangaroo thought running was stupid, too. Hopping was all she needed to get around.

They sat on the deck in the warm sun, bored. Logan had an idea. “You have a pouch. Let’s fill it up!”

Logan walked around the yard with Blue. Logan didn’t find anything she liked for Blue’s pouch.

The pine cone was too prickly.

A speckled rock was hard and cold.

A few dried leaves from last fall were brown and yucky.

Flowers! Logan picked all the daffodils and every tulip in her mother’s garden and stuffed them into Blue Kangaroo’s pouch. The red and yellow flowers looked beautiful next to her bright blue fur.

“Dinner!” Mom called.

Logan and Blue hopped inside.

“Blue and I picked flowers.”

Mom stared at Blue. “Are there any left?”

“Nope. Blue liked all of them.”

Mom put macaroni and cheese in front of Logan, with a small cup of tomato soup.

“Blue would like some peach yogurt, please.”

“When you finish your dinner.”

“We want to eat together.”

“Blue’s not as hungry as you are because she had a cookie before dinner. When you finish eating, she can have yogurt.”

“I’ll help her eat it.”

“I’m sure she’d like that.”

After dinner, it was bedtime. “Blue Kangaroo isn’t tired.”

“She’s never tired,” Mom said. “But when you go to sleep, she always falls asleep too.”

“But I’m not tired either. And I want to see Daddy when he comes home.”

“He’ll be home late. You’ll see him in the morning.”

“Blue Kangaroo forgot to brush her teeth.”

“Little girls need to brush before going to bed. Kangaroos only brush if they eat an artichoke.”

“Oh,” Logan sighed, growing sleepy. “Blue didn’t know that. Whatever they are, I don’t think she’d eat them. I know I wouldn’t.”