A Small Dilemma

All Karen had to do was finish this page. Just one more page. But sweet, playful Fluffy was demanding attention. Fluffy knew just what to do to distract Karen, and so far, it was working.

"Fluffy, I'm busy. You can't sit in my lap while I work. You're too big, silly puppy!" Fluffy sadly jumped to the floor. She sat on the rug and stared sweetly up at Karen.

"Oh, fine, I'll pet you. But only for a few minutes. I'm almost done." Karen typed a few more words, then closed her laptop. She reached down to pet Fluffy.

"You're such a good dog, being so patient! Let's go get a treat!" On the word "treat," Fluffy was up and running toward the pantry. Karen pulled the beef-flavored treats down from the top shelf and pulled two out.

"Fluffy, sit! Good girl!" she patted Fluffy's head, "Now, spin! Good girl, Fluffy!" Karen gave Fluffy one of the treats. "Lay down Fluffy!" Fluffy got half a treat.

"Good girl! Such a good girl Fluffy!"

"Fluffy, sit!" Karen gave Fluffy the other half of the treat. "Such a good girl! Good girl Fluffy! I have to get back to work now... I'll play with you later," Karen reluctantly walked back to her desk to continue her work. She hadn't typed more than two words when she heard Fluffy's nails clicking on the floor in the kitchen. Fluffy started pawing her food bowl.

"Fluffy, I just gave you treats. Why are you hungry again?" Karen stood up, glad to have another break but guilty for wasting time. She filled Fluffy's food bowl and water bowl.

"I really should get back to work Fluffy." Karen sat down at her desk once again. She only had a paragraph left when Fluffy walked up to her again. Fluffy had a rope toy in her mouth, and she kept putting it in Karen's hand. Karen petted her on the head, and started typing again. Fluffy whined for Karen to play with her. Karen decided she could play with Fluffy, but only for a minute. She got up and quickly grabbed the rope toy to play tug-of-war with Fluffy.

Ten minutes later, Karen finally decided she should get back to work. She quickly tossed the rope, which Fluffy immediately started chasing. Karen got most of the boring paper done, and only had one sentence left. Karen quickly finished up and ran over to Fluffy.

"Do you wanna go outside? Yeah? Who wants to go outside?" Karen grabbed Fluffy's purple leash and collar. Fluffy was so excited she could barely sit still.

"Whoa, calm down puppy! I can't take you outside unless you have your collar and leash on," Karen said as she struggled to put the blue collar on Fluffy. Karen put on her jacket to let Fluffy calm down a little, and eventually Fluffy stood still long enough for Karen to slip her collar on. Karen clipped Fluffy's leash onto her collar and opened the front door. A warm breeze wafted into the house, and Karen immediately regretted putting on a jacket. She took her jacket off and hung it on the hook. It was very warm outside for a January morning. She and Fluffy walked along the sidewalk, enjoying the brief break from being stuck inside. They turned around at the end of the block when someone on the other side of the road said hello.

"Hello!" Karen yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. "How are you today?"

"I'm well, thank you! How are you?" Her neighbor and friend, Janice, replied.

"I'm good too! It's nice to see you!"

"You too! Have a nice day!" They each continued to walk their separate ways, with Fluffy occasionally pausing to sniff some plants or relieve herself. After a while they decided to go back inside and take a break. Karen was glad to have the rest of the afternoon off, when she heard a ding. And another. And yet another. Karen grudgingly opened her laptop and saw she had six missed emails from her boss. She had to type another ten pages by the end of the week. Karen only had two more days to complete her work Her enthusiastic puppy jumped up into her lap.

"I'm sorry Fluffy... I have a lot more work to do, I can't play right now." Fluffy looked at her wistfully, but Karen had a lot of work to do. She started the grueling work that would occupy her time for the next few days. Karen strenuously fixed every tiny error, read and re-read, and typed for hours on end. Finally, she decided she had done enough for the day and she happily closed her laptop.

She wearily walked to her kitchen to make dinner. Karen put a pot on the stove to boil pasta and quickly tossed together a salad. After the pasta was done, she added some leftover chicken from the night before and dinner was done. She hastily ate her food, hoping there was still enough daylight outside for her plan. Karen walked to the back porch and opened the door.

"Fluffy! Come here, girl!" she called. Fluffy ran outside and Karen followed along behind. On her way out, Karen grabbed a chew toy, ball, and rope for her and Fluffy to play with. She called Fluffy over and threw the ball across their back yard. Fluffy ran after it, with Karen just behind her. They played tug-o-war with the rope and played fetch. After an hour, it was starting to get dark outside so Karen and Fluffy went inside. Fluffy was really tired, so she curled up on the couch and went to sleep. Karen decided she had earned some free time so she drew in her sketchbook for a few hours. It was very late and Karen was very tired, so she went to sleep.

Early the next morning, Karen was about to work when she got a FaceTime call from a friend. She unfortunately had to work, so she declined the call.

"Oh, Fluffy. I can't work for this company anymore. I hate the work and they give me a lot. They barely pay me anything. I'm going to quit. I need to write the email to my boss right now, Fluffy, and then I can play with you all day. I'll have to call Janice back too... Oh, well, I have all the time I need now. I can write that email later. Come on Fluffy! Let's go play outside!"