| The Dog |
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| �Get, dog,� mommy said to me as she grabbed my collar and roughly pulled me out the back door. I have no idea why she was so angry sounding. I was just lying in my usual spot on the kitchen rug and enjoying the warm sunshine coming through the window. It isn�t my fault she couldn�t remember I was laying there. After looking mournfully at the back door for a few minutes, it appeared I was out for a while at least. Sniffing the fresh air, I looked around for a new napping place. Mom had interrupted my midmorning snooze. At this rate, I was going to have to sleep through lunchtime to catch up. Glancing around, I put my nose to the ground. �Oh, that is an interesting smell,� I snuffed. Following it slowly, no need to hurry, I wove back and forth between the chicken coop and the large tree. Another animal had marked the tree recently. After declaring my authority to the tree, I wandered out into the middle of the sunniest spot in the yard and plopped down in the dirt. �Now for some long overdue sleep,� I sighed. How can I describe the luxury of lying in the sun? I prefer my favorite spot on the kitchen rug, but the middle of the yard is a good second choice. The warm air, the cool dirt, the smell of heated dust specks, the liquid feeling you get in your muscles�ah, life is good. My eyelids grew heavy and I was just beginning to fade into the land of rawhides and tennis balls, when I smelled something off. Something was not right, but I couldn�t place the smell. Sighing deeply, I breathed the smell in and then huffed it out. Fox, I realized groggily. �Nothing to worry about,� I told myself as the fog of sleep lulled me off to dreamland, �nothing to worry�.� I had finished my first bowl of roast beef leftovers and was about to start on a tasty rawhide as big as my doghouse, when I was rudely awakened. Something heavy jumped onto my back bringing me abruptly back to the reality of waiting for sundown for my dinner. As I blinked my eyes into focus, I glimpsed a bit of bushy brown tail disappearing beneath a bush on the far side of the yard. �That fox I smelled before,� I realized groggily. The thought of chasing him did glimmer in my thoughts for a moment, a very brief moment, but it never had a chance. The warm sunshine and the desire to get back to my rawhide were too enticing. Who would want to chase a fox anyway? They are too much work to catch. |
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