The Evil Place

What a morning! I have had a flurry of activity since getting up!

It's a cool clear morning, now. At six it was that strange kind of overcast/fog/mist combination that makes many a fall morning here in Colorado such a pleasure! The morning was cool and opalescent as Saga and I explored her park. The sun, trying to make its scheduled appearance, made admirable attempts to peel away the layer of fog covering the valley. What was left were the irregular patches, like the pith that remains after a half-hearted attempt at peeling an orange.

It was from this idyll that Saga and I set forth to do our morning run around eight. The first stop was to get Daddy some breakfast (the cupboard was bare). Knowing how much she loves to "sneak" food, I decided to go to a Drive-In and "accidentally" drop a morsel here and there so that it would fall into the her domain, behind the front seats. She was loving it.

Later, it was a stop at the supermarket, the car parked in the shade and the windows open so that Saga could bark at the locals walking by. I returned to the car, my weekly shop in the cart, and saw that Saga was entertaining a nice little girl who had walked over to stare (no touching!) at Saga. She was so cute, Emily that is... Saga's always cute.

Saga sat inside the back seat getting cuter by the minute and waggling her entire back end (to emphasize that she was wagging her tail) and trying to draw her new admirer to the car window as if my sheer will (and cuteness) alone! Emily stood there staring wantonly. You could tell she really wanted to pet her.

Occasionally, Emily would stare over her shoulder and whine something that I didn't quite catch. Emily's Mommy,  at the next car in the parking lot, had just strapped a baby into the car seat and was loading bags into the boot of the minivan when I got to the car and started loading my groceries into my trunk.

Emily looked guiltily at me for just a second as I opened the trunk. (It was almost as if I had caught her stealing penny candies or picking-up a second cookie from the "Free Cookies for Kids" bin at the bakery.)
She then called her mommy.

"Just a minute!" her mommy said loading a couple bags into the car. She looked over when she was done saw me and said "Don't bother that man's dog, Emily!"

"It's no bother." I said. "Saga loves being the center of attention!" I returned to stacking the bags in the trunk.

A moment later, I heard the back hatch of the minivan followed by a plaintive wail of "Please!" drawn out to six syllables in that way only a young child can do it. As I was putting the last of the bags in the car, I heard the woman speak again. "I'm sorry. My daughter is fascinated by dogs and loves your dog. Can she pat your dog through the window?"

"I'll do you one better!" I moved to the side of the car, opened the back door and brought Sage, the universal object of affection and desire, to her adoring fan. Emily sated her desire with a couple tentative pats on the head. The kind of love/fear relationship most young children seem to have with animals. They love that cuddly sheep across the field behind the fence, but when up close and that puffball of wool is right up next to you, you realize it is bigger than you are!

So, breakfast and shopping done, we had one last morning stop before we could go home and that was at the local Dog Wash. It is almost as if Saga can read the sign. The moment we got to the parking lot, she started to whinge. She knew the place. It was (as it always is) an interesting thing to watch. An anticipation: "This is where the cookies come from! Everyone gives me cookies!" Mixed With Trepidation: "This is the evil place. This is where daddy takes me and makes me stand in water for minutes on end!"

She was mostly a champ about it. She was, with only minor argument, compliant as I led her to the tubs and she jumped up and in. (She then tried to immediately jump out, but that was the minor argument and her daddy stopped her.) Twenty minutes later, washed and squeaky-clean, we walked out to get her a few cookies and headed home. As we rode home, everything that went before, the breakfast with daddy, the admirer at the supermarket, the ride in the car, all of that were washed away in the evil place. This morning became in her mind, the day that daddy gave her a bath.

She is sulking downstairs as I write this. But that is her business. I have to start getting ready for company. She'll get over the trauma (or play up on it) tonight when there are people and food around. People and food: Two of Saga's favorite things!

Wherever you are, I hope you bear up to whatever life splashes you with today!

Don Bergquist - September 06, 2008 - Lakewood, Colorado, USA