What Once Was

It was a typical day for me.  Master got me up at six o’clock.  He booted me in the butt that morning to go outside.  Who likes having to pee in the rain? Whatever. If he thinks i’m going down those steps to do my business, he’s wrong.  I’ll just sniff around here on the deck. Ah, perfect. I hurry up and scoot back into the house as the master is having a fit.  Then I think HA, you're getting ready for work, i’ll have the last laugh. I shake my fur and spray water all over him. Then I high tail it out of there and hide behind the couch.  I love these games in the morning.  

Master is off to work now.  No more fun. No more games.  Just me in this empty house. I lower my ears and give him the saddest look in hopes he will decide to stay home.  But he doesn’t. Instead, he pats me on the head and tells me to be a good boy. I watch as he leaves the driveway.  I sit and watch for a few minutes. Sometimes he comes back in a panic because he forgot something. But he doesn’t come back this time.  So, I just mope on the back of the couch for a while.

As I wake up from the nice warm sun beaming down on me, I decide to get some nibbles.  I stagger my way to my food bowl and have what the master calls dog food. Afterwards, I decide to check on the rest of the house. I scavenge the kitchen and dining room floors for any human food droppings.  But nothing this time. I look in all the bathrooms. Oh look, an empty toilet paper roll. I try to play with it. But I end up shredding it up. It’s okay, the master will clean that up. Next, I check out all the bedrooms.  Master has a king size bed. I jump up and rub all over it. I scooch my body on it. I bury my face into the blankets. Doesn’t seem as fun without the master though. After a few twists and turns, I fall asleep. 

     The sound of a  slamming door wakes me up.  I go tearing out of the room and start barking. MY HOUSE, MY HOUSE, MY HOUSE, I demand. He comes here everyday and sticks stuff in the box on the side of the house.  Master says his name is No, it's the mailman. He leaves as quickly as he came. But I look out the window and guard until he's gone. I get hungry again and go munch on some dog food.  Hmm. Now what to do. I tour the house again checking in rooms. Ooo, look at this shoe. I sniff and sniff. Maybe just a lick. Ten minutes have gone by and I've managed to ruin the shoe.  I hide it under the bed. Maybe the master won't notice. Well, off to find something else.

     A beam of light shines across the family room floor.  I lay down so it covers my body. Oh, that feels so nice.  Soon, I drift off and chase rabbits in my dream. After the sun has left, I look outside for the master.  I get excited when I see a car, but it's not him. I wonder if he will ever come back. I'm too sad now to do anything.  So I hop up on the couch and fall asleep again.  

     The door knob starts to make noise and I perk up into defence and start barking.  MY HOUSE, MY HOUSE, MY HOUSE. The door opens. It's master! I run to his side and greet him by jumping on him.  He gives my head a rub, and then gives me what I really like. Scratches behind the ears. More, More, More I howl!  My knees go weak and soon I'm a submissive mess begging for my belly to be rubbed. I sit back up and give him kisses.  I was afraid he wasn’t coming back. So I stick by his side the rest of the night.

Master is making something that smells much better than the dog food I eat.  I look up at him with begging eyes. I score a piece off…...A piece off…...I spit it out.  This isn’t what I'm smelling. I nudge the orange stick away in defiance and look up again with my begging eyes. Please, I whimper softly.  Master must not have heard me. So I whimper, please, just a little louder. Finally, another drop. After the last piece, I’m a little hesitant on what this is.  So I let it hit the ground first. Then I get a good sniff. Within two bites it’s gone. I’m not sure what that squishy red square was, but I lick my chops over and over in approval.  I want more. So I beg and beg. I try to get close. But as he moves about, he gets mad at me and yells at me to get out. I hang my ears in sadness and all I can do is watch from the carpet in the family room.  This human food smells and tastes so much better than my dog food. Soon, the master is done cooking and sits on the couch and turns on tv. He gives me little nibbles and they’re so good. Finally, the master is done and now it’s my turn.  He scoops a little in with my dog food and mixes it up. I eat it so fast, I give the loudest burp. Even the master seemed surprised. As we sit together on the couch. There is a lot going on with the news station, but I don’t understand it. Master seems a bit bothered. I doze on and off by the master's side before he finally announces its bedtime.  Hmm, it’s much later than usual. We get to the bedroom and I run and jump in the bed. Lights out for us.

I wake up and I really have to pee.  Master is still sleeping. But it’s day time out.  I give his hand a little lick. Master swats at me with his hand.  I nudge his arm. He tries to avoid me by rolling over. I lay my head on his neck and whimper to go outside.    Finally, he lets me know that he’s awake. I run for the front door. I can barely contain myself. I wag my tail to show how excited I am.  Finally, whew. I announce loudly that I'm done and wait for the master to let me in. I Stand on the deck and look around. It’s such a nice day.  Master hasn’t let me in yet. Usually he’s right at the door. I announce again that I’m done by giving a couple barks this time. He finally lets me in and I run right to the refrigerator waiting for my treat.  Sniff Sniff, but what’s this? What is this that I smell? Master returns to the stove. I cock my head wondering what he’s doing. He gets down two paper plates from the cupboard. I take a look around. Was someone here?  Master whistles at me, and I follow him into the dining room. He sets a plate on the floor and he starts eating. I sniff around. It’s dog food with human food in it. I eat it all up and lick my plate clean. Master had to walk to the other side of the dining room to get my plate to throw away.  I’m expecting any moment for the master to leave. He comes out of the bedroom dressed. But not his usual clothes. He grabs my leash off the wall. I quirk my head and move it side to side. What is this? Master points at the floor in front of him and demands that I come. The last time I was put on the leash, I was taken to a building.  When I woke up, I was never the same and had to wear a plastic tube around my neck. I walk hesitantly to him. He attaches it to my collar and we walk out the door. But this time, we don’t even get in the car. We just stroll down the sidewalk. The sun was warm. We got to greet people. I got to even sniff butts! After a while, I started getting a little tuckered out.  Master must have been too, we were home shortly after. After we rested for a while, the master started making some human food. It was just random stuff from the fridge. I beg anyways. But he doesn’t give in. With two plates in hand, he walks to the dining room again. He places a plate down for me. This time, it’s my dog food and some turkey meat remnants. I gobble them up.  After the noon time eating, we watch tv for a bit and even do a little napping. Before I know it, we are up and I’m watching the master dig in the closet. That’s funny….I thought only dogs dug like that. Soon, he pulled out some sort of disk. I have a vague memory of this. But I can’t recall it. Master calls me from the back of the house. But he has no leash. I follow him out and he shuts the door behind us.  I run with freedom in the backyard. It’s something we don’t visit often. After I did some gras tearing by running around, the master showed me the disk and asked if i'm ready. He let that disk go flying in the air. I watched it fall to the ground as he yelled out for me to get it. I’m not sure how many times we tried, but I think I finally got what he wanted and started catching it. I got so many head rubs and got called good boy a lot.  After a while, I let the master know that I was getting tuckered out by my constant panting. That was such a workout! Once we get inside, I take the longest drink of water then I chill out for a bit. I must have dozed off. My nose soon tells me it’s dinner time. I wander into the kitchen to see what is being cooked. Master is at the counter cutting something up very diligently and slides it into my bowl. This time he brings in my food bowl and a plate for him.  Master picks up his triangle piece and starts eating. I’m confused. This isn’t our typical pizza night. But I dig in anyways and get every bit I can. After some time on the couch watching TV, we head to bed. I spent my last waking time thinking about how great today was and all the time I got to spend with my master and doing new things.

I stretch out all four of my limbs and paws as the sun lights up the room.  I look over and see that my master is doing the same thing. It felt good to sleep in.  Hmm, we slept in again. Master gets dressed in the same clothes he had on yesterday. We have another hot breakfast.  It’s so good. After breakfast, he puts his shoes on and grabs my leash. I become thrilled and show him my excitement by running over to him.  We take another long walk. Oh how I love these walks. When we eat lunch, I don’t have to even beg for human food anymore. Master already picks up my bowl and shares it from the stove.  Then, we have a nice afternoon nap. I could have slept longer, but my master wakes me up. I stretch out my limbs and make my way to the family room. Master said my package came. I sit nearby and cock my head.  I don’t know what that means. He opens the box and starts pulling out all the stuff. Several little baggies of…..of…..TREATS! There are lots of treats. Master is still digging in the box. I hear a squeak. I raise my ears.  Master is looking at me with an odd grin asking me what that is. The anticipation is too much and I stick my face in the box. So many toys! I have soft toys, hard toys, even flying toys. Master stands by the door. I grab one and head straight outside with it.  I don’t even get yelled at for bringing it with me. Instead, master plays with it, with me!. We played for hours outside. Finally, we go in and have dinner. I picked out the green leafy stuff. Yuck. That wasn’t good. The meat and other crunches were yummy though.  As we end the night watching tv, the master isn’t happy with what’s being said. Some virus seems to be getting worse.

As I close my eyes, I think about how wonderful the past couple days have been.  I love how much time the master and I have spent together, and all the human food I get now.  I wish to myself that this could continue. Our early bedtime makes me feel like tomorrow, the master will be off to work and we will be back to our old routine.  I slip into my dream state. Master and I have so much fun. We play and go places together more, like car rides and walks in other areas. We both seem much happier.  Master isn’t as mean anymore. He treats me like I’m his best friend.

An aroma tickles my nose and wakes me up.  I’m familiar with the smell. But it’s been a very long time.  I hear the master say bacon. I know that word! I do a little dance, I’m so thrilled.  I eat my dog food with what the master calls bacon and eggs. As the master cleans up breakfast, I notice he is dressed differently.  He is dressed to leave. He finally pats me on the head and tells me to be a good boy. I look at him with sad eyes. I know the routine.  I see him off at the window. Then I curl up on the couch and wonder when he will come back. I spend most of my time laying on the couch. I don’t want to even find things to get into trouble with.  Finally, hours later, the master comes home. He has so many boxes. I think they’re toys and start sticking my nose in the boxes and check them out. Master calls them No, not yours. Next, he brings in a big table.  I try to help. But the master sounds angry and starts using words that I don’t hear often and not sure what they mean. I get booted in the butt, so I high tail it to the couch and watch. Master sets up a new area in the house.  I’m not sure what to think of it at this point. But I get excited when the master puts on his other clothes and joins me on the couch. Ah, I’ve missed this all day. I give my master my belly to make sure he doesn’t miss any spots when petting me.  We are both worn out and call it bedtime.

It’s been a few months since the master left me all day like he used to.  Instead, he often is sitting at his new area and table doing stuff. But I can’t complain. We have yummy meals together.  I still get human food. We also go on walks and play with toys. It’s everything it once was when I was a pup.