Chapter 187 - Monster
*I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source. – Doris Day*
Early on Saturday, February fourteenth, Monster was curled up behind Dean. Since JD had left, the dog had not slept in his room. Then his girl and the rest of the family had been gone for a week and a half and Monster had to stay with Gina.
Monster loved going to Gina’s. His mom and two of his sisters lived with Gina. And there were always treats. His favorite were the homemade treats from the dog bakery café that also served dog friendly ice cream.
But what he loved more than all the treats in the world, more than all seven flavors of ice cream and more than all the ear scratches and belly rubs that his Helen could give him with her nails, was his girl.
From the moment that she walked through the door after swim practice until she left for school the next morning, he didn’t let her out of his sight.
He didn’t understand weekends and school days. What he did know was that the day that the phone didn’t beep in the mornings, his girl stayed home.
The phone started beeping and he whimpered as he moved closer to her back. She moved to turn it off before rolling over and wrapping herself around him.
“Good morning, my Monster.”
He made one of his happy sounds as he playfully thrashed in her arms.
“You’re in a good mood.” She smiled as she rubbed her chin on his head between his ears. “You’re going to be in an even better mood soon enough.”
“Dean?” Cheryl called down the hall as she approached the bedroom door.
“I’m up!” Dean called back as she let go of her dog.
“Like Snow White up or Anna up?”
Dean laughed as the door opened. “Let’s go with somewhere in between.”
“I’m good with that. I don’t think we need any wildlife dancing in the house.” Cheryl sat on the edge of the bed and scratched Monster on the rump.
“But they clean!” Dean replied with a grin.
Both women busted out laughing as they remembered Dean’s argument for a pet rabbit. Two days into having a rabbit, she discovered that not only did he not sweep or wash dishes, but he also left a trail of pellets everywhere he went.
“What happened to the rabbit?” Cheryl asked.
“Apparently my mom was smarter than eight-year-old Dean had thought. She borrowed him from a coworker for the weekend.” Dean thought for a moment. “Or maybe we were pet sitting.”
“Either way, she was not planning on keeping the rabbit.” Cheryl surmised.
“Right. Damn it, who knew that moms were smarter than kids?”
“Right?” Cheryl grinned back. “I’ll go put this one in the dog run while you get ready.”
Reluctantly, Monster went with Cheryl to his dog run. His toys were there, and his water was full. But his girl was nowhere to be seen. Typically, after a while of being outside, Helen or Reese would come to get Monster and they would go to the little house.
He would spend the day with the babies and sleeping in one of his beds in the little house.
This morning, Helen had left with Dean and Cheryl. He now sat at the gate waiting for Reese, but the door to the little house never opened.
His ears perked up as the car pulled into the driveway. Yipping and barking with excitement, he heard his girl’s car before it came around the corner. He was doing excited zoomies around his run as she parked and walked over to him.
“Oh my goodness!!!” she laughed as she opened the gate and he bolted out. "You sure are excited!"
He did a lap around the cars and the other women holding big bags before rushing back to Dean. Seeing how excited he was, she sat on the ground, and he pounced, knocking her to her back.
Laying across her, he yipped and barked as his rump wiggled in the air, making up for the tail that he no longer had.
Dean laughed and pulled him closer. “Just you wait until I show you what I got you!” sitting up, she hugged him and kissed the top of his head. “Come on! Let’s go in!”
Monster bolted for the door that Cheryl had just opened and dashed inside. Sliding on the floor, he turned too fast and slid into the island giving only a small yelp. The women laughed at him as they came inside with their big bags.
“Come on, Monster!” Dean called as she headed down the hall to the big room at the end of the hall. The one that had not been open much for nearly two years. Mom was gone, and he didn’t know when she would be back.
But now, when his girl went in here, she cried. He didn’t like it when she cried. He didn’t like his girl to be sad.
Entering the room cautiously with his head low and ears back, he sensed her strong emotions. She was sad, but she was also happy. The other women entered the room, and they were also happy. From the big bags came some of the dresses like what were in the big closet that Dean stood in the center of with Bunny and Helen.
The last time she had been in here, it had been with JD and his girl had cried. Cried so hard that JD had sat on the floor of the big closet with her in his lap. Monster wasn't allowed in the big closet, but he didn't care. He belly crawled to his girl and placed his his big square head in her lap.
Today was different. She was still sad, but not as sad as she had been the last time she had been inside the big closet with all the big white bags.
Laughing and teasing each other, all of the women changed into big dresses. His girl pulled on one that was sparkly at the top and shimmered towards the bottom. He thought that she was beautiful. But he always thought that.
“I didn’t forget you.” Dean crooned as she opened a smaller bag and pulled out a dog tuxedo. “Oh, baby boy, you’re going to be so handsome!”
He sat patiently while the tuxedo was placed on him. Once he was dressed, she sat him in front of the mirror, and they all crooned about how good he looked. He gave happy little tippy tappy’s on the hardwood look tiled floor before spinning in a few tight circles.
Hours later, as the sun was setting, Monster still wore his tuxedo as he was curled up on the couch between Helen and Dean. His head rested on his girl’s lap, still in the soft poofy dress. Helen’s nails absently scratched his rump through the tuxedo. The women spoke softly, intermittent with laughter, creating a beautiful song that lulled him to sleep.
His girl was happy. His Helen was happy. With a contented sigh, his dark eyes closed.
*Author’s Note – Just before Christmas, we had to put our 15-year-old Shepherd, Cheyanne, down because she took a sudden turn for the worse.
Our other dogs keep looking for her. Going to my son’s room, which was the last place they saw her. Sniffing around her ‘spot’ and her bed.
I found myself wondering what they were thinking, we have no way of explaining Cheyanne's death to them. All they knew was that she was gone.
This chapter is nothing of how I originally planned it. But I began to wonder what Monster would think of all the changes that had happened to his world.
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