"Old King" -- Neil Young

Dog for a Day

One morning this week Jamie woke me where I was snuggled up with Arabella.

"Are you gonna sleep all day?" he said when I looked up at him. I nodded my head thinking, yes, yes I am.


"C'mon please get up I've got something special for you to see."

After rubbing my eyes and yawning, I stumbled sleepily out onto the patio to see a beautiful blue-eyed husky being petted by the girls.

"It looks like someone lost a beautiful dog," I said.

"I've told the girls that it's not our dog, that someone's probably looking for her."

We spent the day with the dog, the girls chasing her all over the cul-de-sac, and her chasing them all around the yard. Addison used her own brush to comb away the winter coat it is shedding. Arabella, who hadn't been feeling well at all, was so happy to see the dog.

At first I was a little apprehensive about the dog, but as the day went on she followed me everywhere I went. I don't know if she knew I was sick with my kidney stones or what, maybe she just liked me, but I finally warmed up to the idea of letting her in the house. For most of the hot afternoon she lay in the kitchen floor while I cooked and cleaned.

Anna-Lee bounded inside to tell me that someone had just put up a Lost Dog sign on the corner. I gave her the phone and told her to go get the number. When the owners arrived to retrieve their beloved pet, she had been rolling around in the flooded patio (thanks, Addy) and was filthy. I felt terrible. Here I had let the dog get all dirty and fed her hot dogs because I thought she was starving (turns out they make for really stinky doggy farts!).

I told the owner how we had just fallen in love with their dog, I accepted the idea to dogsit for them anytime, and today they came around with Isoka for us to dogsit. We were overjoyed to have her for even a little while. The owners, who happened to be our neighbors, said we could come by and take her to play with us anytime. I never thought I wanted a pet until I met this dog. I'm happy that, even though she's not our dog, we have such a wonderful dog and its family in our lives!

Oh, by the way, rumor round the cul-de-sac today was that we stole their dog! Yeah, because I just go around stealing people's animals. What will people think when I keep her for a couple of days at a time? That I'm holding her hostage? Are they going to call the pet police? All I can say is that I love that dog enough to pick up its poop!

"Pushit" -- Tool

It was odd that she chose that time of day to leave. Outside the close cool walls of the apartment the afternoon air was thick and hot. Blaise glanced down and wished she had worn her sandals. She hated to go to the movies with sandals, the floor is always so sticky there, she thought, as she rolled down the windows.

It was almost a shame to break the quiet of the neighborhood, but she was ready to get to the mall, do some window shopping, then catch a movie with her friends. She turned up the volume on her stereo before she backed out of the parking space. Blaise flipped a hand through an unruly section of auburn hair and checked her mirrors. She waited for a dingy blue pick-up truck to pass by and then drove toward the Seventh Street entrance to the apartments, passing by a couple of thirsty-looking kids dragging their bikes toward home. Smiling  as she drove, she sung along with the music, trying to remember the name of that new movie. Crazy Schoolmarm, or something, she thought as she eased into traffic.

"Oh my god! I thought you'd never get here! I've been waiting for like ten minutes!" Sandy tapped the toe of one pump and slipped her cell phone back into her pocket.

"I had to wait until Mom got home. She just pulled a double," Blaise replied, lifting and dropping one shoulder in an elegant motion that accentuated the curtain of hair spilling down her back.

"Well, I already got your ticket, we're seeing Alley Fisticuffs 5: Bob's Revenge," Sandy dropped the slip of paperboard into her hand and walked into the mall, the doors shushing behind them in puff of warm air.

"It's not really Alley Fisticuffs, is it?" she queried, taking a deep breath of the cool air inside.

They headed toward the cinema, "No, it's some teeny bopper romance bullshit that Marnie insists that we watch 'cause she's into that ugly dude, Jeff Kayes, or whatever," Sandy's voice was a tiny bit bitchy under her outwardly happy tone.





[catch more of this story later...]