Squeak!
“YES! Look at all this fluffy, cool, clean SNOW!! And it’s mine, all mine, all mine! Rrrruuuuffff!” I couldn’t believe my luck as I rolled around in the fresh snow, and managed to wrap Daddy’s legs with my leash in the process.
“Watch out, Lucy! I don’t want you to trip. The fur-ball is going crazy over here.” Daddy sighed. I didn’t mind that he and Momma had not taken me on one of our long walks recently, because this morning completely made up for it. I poked my wet, snow covered nose, on Momma’s leg,
“Play? Play? PLAY!”
“Okay, okay. Go fetch!” Momma threw the tennis ball close by.. but it DISAPPEARED! Where did it go!? I sniffed around in circles, through Daddy’s legs, and finally, investigated a perfectly round hole about the size of a tennis ball by Momma’s feet - there it was!
“Alright, I gotta sit down. Play time over, sweet girl. Let’s go,” Momma panted. Why was Momma so tired all the time now? I hadn’t even gotten the chance to mark my favorite tree, the one on top of the hill. Maybe there would be another snow adventure.. tomorrow.
~~~
She definitely smells different, that’s for sure, I thought to myself. Momma and I had spent several weeks cuddling on the couch, but hadn’t done much else. There hadn’t been any more snow adventures, and sometimes I had to wait for Daddy to come home before I could sniff outside and tinkle. Those days were hard. Momma could be speedy, sometimes! Like when she jumped up from the couch to run to the bathroom - she did that a lot. I’m not sleeping by her feet at night anymore, I decided, Momma can’t seem to hold it overnight either, and this puppy needs her beauty rest.
BEEP-BEEP! That must be Daddy! I stretched, shook off the lazies, and hopped off the couch to wait by the door - it was Daddy! He gives the best ear scratches. After he gave me some lovin’, he kissed Momma on the head and started cooking dinner. What a night! Daddy was home, Momma wanted to cuddle some more, and dinner was on its way. Daddy made something that smelled of chicken and who cares what else because it drove me crazy! It must of driven Momma crazy too because she jumped up from the couch so fast that it scared me, and made me yelp, and I accidentally kicked Momma’s belly.
“NO!” Daddy Dave was angry! “GABY! BAD GIRL!!”
What had I done? How was I in trouble? Momma had scared me! I scampered to my hidey-hole under the office desk and trembled. Daddy looked very, very angry.
“Lucy!? Are you okay?” I heard Daddy ask, his voice sounded afraid now.
Why? Momma didn’t answer, but I heard sniffles. I wanted to cry too, even if I didn’t understand anything. Daddy called me a bad girl, and I know I’m not a bad girl. After a long time, Daddy stooped down to my hidey-hole.
“Gaby girl, no jumping on Momma. Okay? Here.” He had a juicy piece of chicken in his hand. I crept out from my hidey-hole, slowly, still trembling a little, and gobbled the chicken up. He scooped me up in his arms and carried me over to the couch where Momma sat, rubbing her belly.
“It’s okay, sweet girl. I know I scared you. No more belly cuddles, but I promise to scratch your head all you want.” I was so glad to see Momma smile, even though her eyes were wet, which I know for humans meant that she wasn’t one hundred percent okay, just yet.
~~~
“Is it breakfast time already?” No, Daddy isn’t wearing a tie. “Wait, are we going on a trip? Why are the special bags on the bed? WoOOF! Hey, someone tell me what’s going on! Do I get two breakfasts?” I gave up trying to figure out my humans, and instead, sat on the bed watching them gather things from all over the apartment. After a few minutes I realized they hadn’t started packing for me. I jumped off the bed, walked to my toy bin, rooted around a bit, and found what I was looking for, my lucky turtle. I munched on it a few times. SQUEAK! Then, tenderly carried it over to the bed and dropped it into one of the special bags. Okay, I am ready to go, wherever we’re going.
“Well, we won’t need this.” Daddy tossed my turtle out of the bag.
“Hey, I’m not going anywhere without my turtle, you know that!Ruuuufff!” I jumped up just in time to catch my turtle between my front paws and nibbled on it a few times. SQUEAK! Humans do the oddest things sometimes, like collecting my doo-doo and carrying it proudly during walks. So maybe this midnight packing is just the new peculiar thing.
“I’ll crate her in the kitchen. She’ll need pads laid out - who knows how long we’ll be. Oh, I should call my mom! She can drive up in the morning and .. Lucy! What are you doing?!” I didn’t understand why Daddy was suddenly upset, but I knew why I was upset, I had heard the evil word.. crate. Oh no, I instantly realized I wasn’t going on this middle of the night trip! Before Daddy got the chance to grab me, I scurried under the bed. But he wasn’t trying to reach me, he was standing by the bathroom door, looking shocked.
“I just need to shower, shave, and wash my hair. Calm down! I feel fine! Everything is fine!” Momma was using her nice voice, but Daddy didn’t sound convinced.
“LUCY! We need to go NOW!”, Daddy hollered, in his not nice voice.
Momma got her shower, and Daddy just kept throwing things in the special bag. I forgot I was supposed to be hiding - I got thirsty, and Daddy scooped me right up. In the crate I went.
“This is not fair!! Hmmmmppfff!”, I protested, but no one seemed to listen.
~~~
“Hey George! Guess what I did today! There was some ruckus outside, I’m pretty sure it was squirrels”, those evil ruffians. “But it’s okay because I got super loud, like this, ruuUUUFF! And then it was quiet again. But then I heard a vacuum upstairs..” I was giving George the daily update on the goings-on of our building. He only came for an hour everyday, so he had to depend on me for all the gossip. I know he liked it because he always smiled and laughed when we had our visits, and he snuck me extra treats.
“Ready for your walk, girl? It’s nice and sunny out!” George was the BEST! He always let me sniff and mark my favorite tree, the one all the way up on the hill! Then we’d cuddle on the couch while he ate his lunch, and sometimes he’d share, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone. Not that I’d have anyone to tell. I haven’t seem Momma in lots of days, and Daddy is only home long enough to sleep at night. It’s okay, my turtle is always with me, and whenever I get extra lonely, I just give it a couple of nibbles. SQUEAK!
~~~
“Where is my turtle?! Daddy, DADDY! WooOOFF! No, I can’t go in my crate yet, I don’t have my turtle! Daddy! NO! WOOOOOFFFF! Don’t leave!”
~~~
“George! Have you seen my turtle? Can you help me find it? No, I don’t want a walk. Do you think it’s outside? Okay, I’ll walk.. But can you help me find my turtle when we get back?”
~~~
“Daddy, Daddy! You are the best Daddy! You found my turtle! Oh, I missed it!”, wait, is this my turtle? It smells funny. “RuuUF!”, it smells like Momma! And.. something else.. Daddy? What is this new scent? Daddy had a big smile, and he was taking my picture, and then he was laughing! I wanted to laugh too, but I didn’t get the joke. I nibbled on my turtle, SQUEAK! Yup, this is my turtle. Maybe someone borrowed it. Well, I’m glad it’s back. SQUEAK!
~~~
“Here girl, another blanket for your crate. Let’s switch it out from yesterday's.” Daddy brings me a new blanket everyday, what a good Daddy. They all have that new scent that my turtle had, but stronger. I kinda like it now. It reminds me of Momma, but I know it’s not Momma. I miss Momma.
~~~
“Gaby girl! Oh sweet girl! I missed you too! Yes, I did! Okay, okay, calm down. Settle, settle.” Momma tried to pat my head but I had too many happy wiggles! She was home!
“RUUUFFF! RUUUFFF! I missed you, I missed you! Momma, I have a new friend, his name is George, and I kept the squirrels away from the windows, and I lost my turtle, but then I found it, and Daddy brings me a new cozy blanket every day, and they have a new smell, and… yeah, like the one you’re holding! Is that for me?” Is it moving!? “RuUF! What is that?!” I had so much to tell Momma, I hadn’t noticed that she had a blanket too, and it was moving!
“Gentle, now. Come take a look, girl” Momma sat on the couch, and suddenly, I felt a little nervous, because I realized that I knew that scent. That scent had been on my turtle, and on all those blankets.. And now it’s in Momma’s arms. Momma held the blanket low, and I peeked in. It’s a human pup! Pink, and wrinkly, and when I nudged it with my cold, wet nose, it felt so warm! Oh, it smelled soooo nice!
“Oh my goodness, Lucy, she likes him!” Daddy’s eyes looked wet, Momma’s did too. I knew just what would cheer them up. I hopped off the couch, walked to my toy bin, rooted around a bit, and found what I was looking for.
“This is my lucky turtle! He told me about you”, I told the pup. “I think you’re part Momma, and part Daddy. And that means you get all of my heart. I hope you like to cuddle. Maybe one day, I can show you my favorite tree. It’s all the way up on the hill.” SQUEAK!
