Dog Tails

“I almost got it,” I bark in my sleep, I narrowly miss the rabbit. Dang. I wanted that rabbit.  

Then I hear, “Daisy” I hear. “Breakfast is ready!” I hear Ellie call. I open one eye. Eh, let me sleep I almost got a rabbit. I sniff. Breakfast equals human food and human food equals bacon. There’s dog math for ya. I jump out of bed and trot over to Ellie. She smiles “You actually woke up! Good girl.” She scratches me on the head. I hear, “Ellie, you know better, now wash your hands.” Ellie rolls her eyes. “Okay mom. Come on Daisy.” I follow her to the bathroom. I look over at the toilet, then I look over at Ellie, then to the toilet. I stealthy walk over to the toilet. I start drinking the toilet water. I should have known what was coming next. 

Ellie grabs my collar and yells “No!” I am so surprised I dash out of the bathroom, and out through my doggie door. I am safe here, I think. She cannot come outside. Then I see her coming out. She can walk right through the door! I hide near the tree. She sees me there and runs toward me I dash to my doggie door. Now it is a fun game of Chase-me! Yay! “Ellie come in here now!” Yells her Mom. Uh oh. She is in big trouble. She stops smiling. If she had a tail it would be underneath her. That is how scared she was. I followed Ellie. I looked up at her mom. She looks very stern. I get locked out of the house. I hear what is going on outside. 

“What’s all the yelling Tabitha?” Ellie looks at her Dad. “Dad good morning.” Then she hugs him. “Ellie was dawdling.” Her Mom scolded  

 I always thought that Tabitha was a cat name. Come to think of it I did not check on the neighbor’s cat Chloe. Cats are not too bad. You are probably thinking why you are talking about “Cats.” This is the reason I do not mind cats. 

Once I went on a walk by myself. (I am particularly good at unlocking the gate.) Then I saw my first cat. My first reaction was like a human expectation of a cat and a dog meeting. Then I thought. “Hey, they are house animals too.” I walked right over to it and try to introduce myself. The cat seemed to be terrified of me. I try to calm it. It did not seem to work. I plopped myself down to say I am not hurting it. Then it said to me. “Why are you doing this?” I thought for a moment. “Because I want to be your friend.” It blinked. “A cat and a dog being friends? No. Not Likely.”  

“C’mon. I want a cat friend.” I flipped on my back with my paws in the air looking down at it. “Oh, fine.” It said.  

I flipped back over. “Yay! My name is Daisy! What is yours?” It stood up and replied. “My name is Chloe.” 

“Cool I like that name.” I told her that I would check on her every other day. Then her owner came to look for Chloe. He saw me and shooed me away.  

Now I still check on her to see her. For a short amount time though. But for the past three weeks I forget and just do my own thing. Now I am determined to say hi to her. I unlock the gate and show myself out. I walk over to her house. It had a sign in their front lawn, and it had the words S-O-L-D. Sold. Sold to who? And when did that get there? I ask myself. I hear a slight rustle of leaves. I look over at the place that I heard it. I trot over to the bush. I stick my snout in it. “Daisy! You scared me!” I grab the mystery animal out of the bush. It is Chloe. I cock my head. What are you doing in a bush?” I ask. She replies, “It is a good scratcher.” I never thought of a bush being a scratcher. I hear a truck, a big truck pulling into the think they call it the driveway. I see boxes and boxes, and yes more boxes. I hear. “Chloe? Where are you?” And “Daisy? You have better not let yourself out again.” I ignore the call, “Hey Chloe, what is this sign doing here?” She looks at it and shakes her head, “My owners say that we are going to live someplace else, far away. And where were you the past three weeks?”  

“I forgot.”  

“Well see you, hopefully.” She strides over to her owner. She does a little wave with her paw. Her owner picks her up and goes right in the moving box. Or what they call a truck.  

I sulk over to Ellie and she hugs me. “Everything will be all right.” She pats my furry head. “I will miss them too.” We walk inside and I go in my bed. Too sad to look if there are human food scraps on the floor. I silently morn and whine. Then a brilliant idea sprung in my head, like that rabbit I was dreaming about in the morning. I will escape and follow that truck. I carefully make a note saying I will be back in the next 2 weeks. With my very own paw print to sign it off. Then my adventure begins.  

*** 

I sprint down Main Street with my collar jangling to see the car moving down the street turning left. I run to make sure that I will not lose sight of the car. I see it make a right then a left and then another right. After a while I pass the “Now leaving the city of Questurally!”  I do not know what I think. I have never been outside of the city. I look back. No stopping now. I chase the car for miles and miles. One time I had to go on a highway. Cars were beeping at me. “Have they never seen a dog?” I wonder. After a while they pull over to a resting area. “Wow, Chloe was right! It is far!” I look for a puddle of water. I spot one I trot over to it. I lap it up. Dirty water never tasted better. I had another idea. I walk over to the truck that was hauling a little bit of stuff and jumped right in the back. There was a mat I walk in three circles. And lay down. Wait I just realized something. I need to check that this is the correct truck. I peek through the window. I see Chloe sleeping. Yep I am in the right truck. I lay back down. The truck jolted and we were off. I stick my head over the railing. I never felt so free. I wish Ellie could see this.  

After many miles of driving I see a forest coming into view. They stop for a bit and eat lunch. I walk over to the edge and jump off. I do my business and get back in the truck. I notice that the truck is crawling across the parking lot that we were just in. I stick my head over the side again. Man, that is fun! 

We exit the forest and there was another town. Smaller than my hometown. They enter the small town and turn a corner and turn left and then another left and then a right. We get to a house that looks nice. I hear doors slam shut and I hop out of the truck. Chloe and her owner come out of the car. I walk to them and then bark. The owner turns around, startled by my bark, walks over to me, and looks at my collar. “Daisy,” He reads, “And she lives on our old street! How did you get here?” I walk over to the truck. I put my paws on the edge. Chloe jumps out of her owner’s grasp, and strides to me. “Why did you follow us? And how did you get in our moving box? Or truck whatever makes sense.” I replied, “I chased the car down main street and then I chased you on the highway. And when you went to the resting area, and I hoped in.” I did not want to leave you. I wanted to stay with you. I was going to add. But I decided no hold that for another time. Her owner shows up with a flat box that glows. I do not know the actual word for that object.  

“Yes, she is here... Huh, okay... See you later, bye.” He pushes the red button on the screen. “You are going to say with us for a few hours." I sigh, I wanted to stay for a week or two. They cannot read my note, apparently. My owners miss me like I will to when we leave Chloe.  

*** 

We played together, caught up with each other's lives, and we explored. Then my owners came. Picked me up and drove home. They rolled down my window and I barked “Bye.” After a while we go through the forest and played there. I played in the river. I don’t care if I got a little wet. My owners might. The trees were very green, or what I think they might be green, since I am color blind. Then we get in the car and drive off to our hometown. After a while he pass the highway where a bunch of cars beeped at me. I will miss my cat friend, but we will see her again sometime. We pull into our driveway and walk right inside. I go to my food bowl and eat the disgusting dry dog food. And sleep a long time. Today was a fun day.