Billy stretches his paws out and wriggles his head around to find a comfy spot. One ear is flipped inside out and his pale pink tongue hangs lopsidedly from his mouth, keeping him cool. He keeps shaking his head but the ear won’t budge.
“zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz” he pretends to sleep.
“Zingggggggggggggg” and the front door bell vibrates around the house.
“Yey, people!” and Billy jumps up, stretches his smooth golden body and catapults forwards. He gets the old smelly slipper with fur hanging off in bits and worrys it backwards and forwards in his mouth. His tail thumps like a set of drums on the wooden floor. He leaps up to Freddy, tail going nineteen to the dozen and dares him to remove the slipper. They play the inevitable tug of war. Next he whirls around and around on the spot, drops the slipper and gets the big floppy cushion that lives on the sofa. He heads for the dining room table, slides around the legs, faster and faster, cutting the corners half dragging and half carrying the red tartan cushion.
“Phew. Now tickle me”” he demands and rolls on his back at Freddy’s feet.
A few dog hours later he hears voices next door. If he stretches really tall he can just reach the top of the fence. Paws balanced precariously, he watches his new mate Millicent.
Milly, as he affectionately calls her stays back behind the flower pots. She’s like a big ball of ginger and black hair, even her eyes are hidden behind curtains of fluff. Now and again she peeps out and then stands back in disdain, arches her back and thrusts her tail into the air. She stalks to the next flower pot and then makes for the rose bush.
“Sssssssssssssss” she actually spits at the invasion into her garden.
Billy gives up. He’s not used to standing on only two back legs. He’d only been back on the deck for a few minutes when
“Zingggggggggggggg” it’s the front door again.
“where’s the slipper?” he panics and heads for the old red cushion. Never mind how tired he is, he can always do the mandatory race around the dining room table.
People, lots of them muddle their way down the stairs. Billy races back to the table, sees the slipper and tries to hold both of them in his mouth. As he screams around his little race track, the cushion flies off behind the door and Billy loses his grip on the wooden floor. He slides to a halt on his tummy.
He self consciously peers through the sea of legs until he can find a couple of short stubby legs wearing ankle white socks and sandals.
“There’s Freddy”. He exclaims. Then he notices something really strange. Behind Freddy’s skinny brown legs he sees this fluffy ball and it’s sort of nuzzling Freddy’s legs and wrapping itself around like a little fur sock. Freddy bends down and strokes her. He fondles her tiny ears which are just visible above the fluff and makes those silly human cooing noises. And the little devil is actually purring.
“So she does like people after all” Billy storms off in a huff and tries to spit.
Billy meets Milly
It's a dog's life
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2 comments:
Heather says:
Billy is a wonderful character, Sue. He absolutely comes to life and I smiled all the way through the story. His wagging tail, the tug of war, the tickling, the skidding -- all made him so real and all dog.
I'd love to see him in some more stories!
Jenny says:
I really enjoyed the dog's perspective in this story - and the detail made it very engaging.
The realisation about the cat seemed a bit academic and intellectual, compared with the rest of the doggy experience - I would have liked that to happen more in keeping with the tone of the doggy bits.
I particularly liked the way your visuals were described in terms of feet, pot plants, and other items at dog height - it made it easy to identify with Billy.
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