Rebirth

Scott had barely opened his eyes. It was a perennial squint. He was curled up like a ball on a bloody sheet. “Where am I?” he thought. “Why am I here?”

And he was thinking, not talking. He was used to speaking. But his speech was mute. In fact, he could talk, at least not yet.

Scott noticed something weird next to him. It was a puppy. Its eyes were barely open. The puppy was lying there, its little body curled. When it moved, he saw it was a male puppy. Lying next to him still didn’t make any sense. Why was he lying next to a barely-born puppy?

He turned over. “Wait, a minute,” he said. “Why am I turning over like this?” He was rolling over, but not like a human. Scott rolling over like… a dog. Not just any dog; he was a puppy. He had four stumpy legs and a tiny wagging tail. Laying to his left was a sister puppy on her back (he could tell she was a female, of course), and started to squeal.

“Hi, there!” she said.

“Are you talking to me?” he said.

“I am!”

He saw another puppy. They all had nearly the same coloring: black faces, button black noses, beady brown eyes, and white legs with paws. They were all on the sheet and still in a state of shock.

“How did we get here?” Scott asked.

“You really had to answer that question?” she giggled.

Scott did. Twenty-four hours ago, he was a young, athletic young man by his standards. He had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and a sturdy six-foot-frame. He had a job at a gym, great friends, and Jennifer.

So, what happened? He thought. He was on his Harley Davidson route to meet Jennifer. She was his girl. He met her at a house party by the beach. She wore a crochet summer dress over an orange one-piece. She has a great figure, he said to himself. Why cover it up?

Jennifer was shocked when he walked over to her. She thought it was a joke. Him talking to her. He was too good-looking for her, she thought. This was George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Hugh Jackman rolled into one. But he’s talking to me!

It was a relationship that took both of them by surprise. They liked silly jokes, weird food, and lame action films. He loved to hear her talk about her kindergarten classes. She loved his way of impersonating some of his clients at the gym and their intimate times together were passionate and tender at the same time.

Running late, he didn’t see the teen behind the wheel of her mother’s Buick texting and driving at the same time. The impact of the SUV and a Harley Davidson shook the busy street. The teenager’s mother’s car was totaled, and the Harley Davidson was a broken pretzel. The police, fire trucks, and EMTs all came simultaneously, but it was too late.

Scott’s body was like a rag doll. The impact threw him 50 feet in the air and when he fell, his head was shattered. At the hospital, the doctor gave his parents, siblings, and Jennifer the bad news. No brain activity. He was gone. He was cremated and his ashes were spread over the beach. And yet, he wasn’t dead, but he also wasn’t himself either. What was he? A dog? All the things to reincarnate to a small puppy?

Then, he heard a voice. A deep husky female voice called him over with the four other puppies. Scott and his “siblings” walked toward a hairy, larger dog on her side as she called them over.

“You all must be hungry,” she said. She rolled over once more, exposing six nipples. “I have enough for everyone.” On one hand, Scott was used to suckling on a woman’s nipples. His mother, of course, and yes, Jennifer. But this was different.

“You can call me Mother,” she said. “In a way, I just gave birth to you. Again, please eat!” Scott snorted as he helped himself to a nipple. The milk was delicious, and his brothers and sisters drank along. When he finished, he asked Mother about his status. “Why am I here?” he said.

“I know you were expecting pearly gates and St. Peter, right?”

“That’s heaven, right?” He asked.

“Actually, all five of you have been reborn into Lhasa apso puppies.”

“I heard about this,” Scott said. “They were reincarnated Buddhist monks, right?

“That’s correct,” Mother said. “And all five of you were reincarnated to look over those you sadly left behind.”

“Really?” said the girl puppy, who fell off a ladder in her house in another life.

“Yes,” said Mother.

“But why short hairy dogs?” said Scott’s lighter-haired brother, who was hit by a line drive pitching in a minor league game.

“Because you will be good watchdogs and devoted pets,” Mother said. “You will be true lion dogs!”

"We're sentinels!" said a third brother, with black and white hair and drowned in his previous life working as a lifeguard.

Scott still didn’t take his new status seriously, even as he went from a newborn to a month-old one. He asked Mother about her own status. “I was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said. “And your father died in a skydiving accident, but we love our master very much.” But he watched Lifeguard, Pitcher, and Ladder Girl get adopted. He was now alone. But not for long, when he saw a familiar figure. The long blond hair and quirky glasses. “Jennifer?” he thought. Once he saw her, he had to go to her. He ran, then stood on two legs. Jennifer was so surprised by the puppy’s gesture that she couldn’t help but pick him up into her arms. She had found her companion.

“I’m going to call you Phoenix,” she said. “Because it means ‘rebirth’.” She whispered to him.

As Jennifer and Phoenix left, Mother sighed and went to curl up in the corner. “Rebirth,” she said and went to sleep.