Bushington’s Secret Power

     We caught Bushington at the metal detector.  He had his airplane ticket around his collar and was about to go through, but we stopped him and forced Burlington into the car and drove home.   We then had a one time family discussion and told Bushington if he ever did that again, he’d go back to the non-kill shelter and we didn’t give him any treats for a month. No more treats for Bushington.  Bad Bushington.  

      Then, though, other then his ability to use the telephone and mail out postcards, we discovered, over time, Bushington’s other secret power.   There’s an old adage:   If you put a frog in a boiling pot, he’ll jump out, but if you put a frog in a cold pot and heat it slowly, it’ll cook in thirty minutes. This was Bushington’s secret weapon.  

*

     Bushington started with Roberta, who was the easiest for him.  See, along with Bob and Sean, Roberta came home from school and Bushington went to her right ankle and rubbed his body against Roberta’s leg, so Roberta pet him and that’s when Bushington’s new superpower first emerged.   As the day went on, we had dinner and Bushington whined, but no one gave him scraps, since this was part of Bushington’s punishment.   Then, the phone rang and it was Roberta’s boyfriend She had a phone in her room, so she took the call in there, Bushington followed her, and she closed the door.

      Everything seemed back to normal.   But let you and I (me, the father, and you, the reader) see what happened.  Roberta and her boyfriend, Frank, were arguing about sports, money, parents, and other things and her boyfriend decided to break up with her.  

      So, instead of telling me, her father, who would have understood, maybe let her cry on my shoulder a bit or taken her out to eat to cheer her up, she decided to complain to Bushington, since Bushington is a dog and who would he tell?   So, she said:

     “Why?   Why would he do this?” And she cried.   “Things were going well and I thought we’d date, get married, the whole nine bits. And we might’ve even gone to the same college.”  And Roberta went on and Bushington listened, but listened in a way Roberta knew he was listening.   He wasn’t distracted by deadlines (the only place Bushington was going now was outside to go to potty) and he didn’t distract himself with other activities.   He just listened and then the inevitable happened.   Roberta said to Bushinton: “And Mom And Dad don’t know this, but I have a secret stash of money I’ve saved from odd jobs like babysitting in my lock diary in case I need to buy something Mom and Dad don’t approve of and I bought one thing Mom and Dad don’t approve of.  And she showed it to Bushington; It was a toy from a tv show Mom and Dad didn’t like since they thought it was a bad influence on her.   Once she got a detention at school for a practical joke (unscrewing the screws in a teacher’s chair) she saw on the tv show.  

     But who would Bushington tell?  

*

     Then, Bushington started spending time with our seven-year-old son, Bob.  Now, the reader doesn’t know about Bob and that’s my (his dad’s) fault.  

      Bob’s thin.  He eats, he’s not anorexic, but he’s thin and sometimes looks like he has kyphosis (a hunchback), but he doesn’t.   He just hunches sometimes.   Well, Bushington hung out with Bob and slept in Bob’s bed.   Bushington also hung out at Bob’s feet at the table.  He still spent time with Roberta, but not as much time

     The inside of Bob’s room had the smell opposite of soap:   It stunk.  Bob knew this, but was numb to it.  But, when Bushington came into Bob’s room, Bob put Bushington in the bed and hugged Bushington like Bob’s 5-year-old teddy-beat.  Bushington hates this.   Bushington preferred to curl up in a ball to conserve Bushington’s heat, but Bushington is a smart dog, and let himself be used like a teddy bear

      Then, Bushington heard the woes of Bob.   Bob was a great student, got A’s and B’s, but didn’t have any friends.   Bob told Bushington that Bob wasn’t good at sports, told Bushington Bob cried at night and told him Bob got scared.  Bushington got more than Bushington could hope for, but Bob continued.   Bob told Bushington he was scared of heights, scared talking to girls, and wished Bob could talk to a girl named, Sue, at school, but didn’t know how and thought Bob would probably screw it up.  Bob told Bushington Bob wished Bob had more friends.  

     Bob also said this morning, he saw two girls by the locker hugging and wished he could have gotten one too.   Bob hugged Bushington in the bed hard and Bushington had no choice but to squirm out since Bushington couldn’t breathe.   But, Bob grabbed Bushington again and cuddled with Bob until Bob fell asleep.  Then, Bushington squirmed out of the full-Nelson hug, and slept at the foot of the bed.  

*

      The next day, Bushington went to the bed of Sean, the good kid.   Sean let Bushington sleep with him and for a few nights, Bushington didn’t hear anything bad.   But, on the fifth night, Sean said it wasn’t fair Mom and Dad expected Sean to be the example for Bob and Roberta.   Sean was tired of playing sports all the time, getting straight A’s, and being the good example.  

*

      That night at dinner, Bushington fetched his PDA and turned up the volume.   Bushington wrote words on the PDA with his nose.  So, that’s how he applied to the colleges.   But, Bushington said he’d listened to everything Roberta, Sean, and Bob said and said if Bushington wasn’t given treats and meat immediately that Bushington was going to tell me and Mom all of our kids’ secrets.   Well, Bushington didn’t get a treat, but got a time out, his PDA was taken away, and that was the start of our family meetings (every week) to find out what was going on in each other’ lives.   We stole Bushington’s power of active listening but after one month, everyone felt better and Bushington was given treats again, but no PDA,or so we thought.