Chapter 32 - A Life Time After Time

Throughout A Life Time After Time, I have included the story of our pups because they have been such an important part of our lives, especially since we didn’t have children. I have written their stories as told from their point of view. All of the things they “talk” about are incidents that really happened, some of which I would not have believed, like the time Bailey stuck her nose up my sleeve and looked at me with these huge eyes, I think trying to tell me she was the cutest thing on the planet right at that moment, which of course she was! Below is part 1 of Buck’s story. I hope you will enjoy it and the pics of our girls. I’m sorry the picture of Sandy is obviously not a very good one. She didn’t like having her picture taken, so we have very few of them. But at least you get a good sense of why she was named Sandy.

  Sandy  Barley

Buck   Sophie

Bailey  Remy

                   
 

~~ CHAPTER 32 ~~

Excuse me? Hello? I’m sorry to interrupt, but I thought this might be a good time to introduce myself. My name is Buck. I know Barley already told you about me, but I thought it would  be okay if I told my story my own way. I have a feeling Barley left a lot out. I don’t mind, though. She was always top boss, and I was okay with that.  I was just so happy to have found Mother and Father when I was a young pup.

When I was very little, I found myself snuggling down into some bushes. I don’t remember how I got there, but this nice lady found me and took me home. I knew she wasn’t  my forever mother, but I was grateful she took me in anyway. The next day, she took me to where she worked and showed me off to all these other ladies. They all seemed so nice, but when I saw my mother, I knew she was the one and practically jumped right into her arms. She cuddled me, kissed my head, gave me lots of pets. It was such a wonderful feeling. Later that day I was at her house where I met Barley and my forever father. Somehow I knew it would be up to him to decide if I could stay, so I crawled up his chest and gave him lots of puppy kisses.  That seemed to do the trick, although I’m pretty sure Mother would have the final say.

I should tell you that when I was very little, I was totally black. Mother and Father went away on vacation not long after they got me, and when they got back home, I had lost all my black color. I turned a kind of silver color, except my tail was blond. My hair was straight, but Mother and Father said my tail looked like it has been crimped. I’m not sure what that means, but I guess they thought it was pretty neat to have that kind of tail. As I grew up, I was about the same size as Barley, although I was faster than her, even though she would have never admitted that.

Barley wasn’t  too sure about me in the beginning.  When Mother would pick me up, she would get kind of mad at me and take my head off when I was put back down on the floor. But I made her understand that Mother had room for both of us, and over time she decided she liked playing with me, as long as I knew she was head of the household, or so she thought. Barley liked to get into mischief, and she did it so often that sometimes I would do something, but Barley would get the blame. Eventually, I would get found out, though. One time I ate these little red hearts that were on the Christmas tree, and Barley got hollered at for it. But the next morning, Mother and Father saw that my chin and paws were red, which I didn’t think about at the time I was playing with them. Barley wagged her tail pretty hard when I got a scolding that morning.

I was shy around Mother and Father, but especially Father. When he would come home from work, try as hard as I could, but when he walked into the room, I would pee. I simply couldn’t help it! I would always go down to the basement when it happened because I knew I wasn’t  supposed to do that. One day, I figured out if I just shivered instead of pee, I didn’t have to go to the basement, so that’s what I did. I never got yelled at for the peeing, but I knew it wasn’t  what they wanted, so I was happy to have figured that out.

Barley would probably never admit it, but we did become pretty good friends. We would sleep next to each other and use each other as pillows sometimes. I always knew when Barley was going to have a seizure and would lay by her side when it would happen and we were home alone. I think it also helped Mother and Father once they figured out what I was doing. It didn’t happen too often, which was a relief to Barley because she didn’t like them at all.  Who would?

Barley could run really fast, so we had a good time playing chase or tugging with a rag. When I finally got a little bigger than her, I discovered I was also a little faster than her. I know she told you about the time I teased her with the bone. That was one of my finer teasing moments. I did feel pretty bad that night that Barley got that horrible pain in her back. Father stayed with her and gave her medicine that took the pain away. Mother and I went to bed to stay out of the way. I laid on Father’s pillow and put my head on Mother’s shoulder to try to comfort her, because I knew she was scared. She wanted to go back downstairs when things got quiet, but I pushed real hard on her shoulder to let her know she needed to stay there with me. I know I wasn’t  strong enough to hold her down, but I was hoping she would get the message, and she did.

Mother and Father didn’t raise their voices with each other very often. It happened, but not a lot. They mostly laughed, and I liked that. One time they were sitting on the bed arguing about something silly. Aren’t arguments always silly? Anyway, I didn’t like it one bit, so I jumped up between them, licked Mother’s cheek, and then did the same to Father. That was letting them know the fighting had to stop at that instant! I heard Mother say something about that type of thing only happening in a Disney cartoon. I didn’t know what that meant, but it sure seemed to do the trick. They gave me lots of pets and started laughing. I happen to believe if everyone had a dog or two in their house, no one would ever argue.

Life was so good in our home, but it got even better when Mother didn’t go out anymore to work. She worked at home. We had to stay out of her way while she looked at a big screen all day and played with something on her desk and had things stuck in her ears. It didn’t look like much fun, but she did it almost every day, so I guess it made her happy. As Barley mentioned, we did have to go to Camp Sucksalot sometimes, but Mother and Father always came back for us. At least we were together, and the people at the camp always took good care of us, but it wasn’t  the same as being home. That was always the best. Sometimes Father would go away, but Mother would stay home, and that was when I was the happiest. Oh, I did love Father very much, but I knew he was the real boss, not Barley, so I was extra shy around him and felt a little more relaxed when it was just me and Mother and Barley. Sometimes it was Mother who went away, and I worried about that, but during those times, Father didn’t tease me like he did when Mother was around. But even when he would tease me, he always made me feel safe.

It sure seemed like the perfect life, in fact, it couldn’t have been any better. Then one day, Father put a lot of his clothes in a box, and he put a lot of other things in his car. It was different from the other times he went away. Mother’s eyes were leaking a lot, too. Barley and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Father spent a lot of time playing with us, giving us pets, and telling us to be extra good.  I don’t know the difference between good and extra good. Isn’t good just good?

As Barley explained, Father didn’t come back. We were still happy, because Mother was taking very good care of us, but we still did miss Father, even me! After Father had been gone for a while, one time Mother took Barley in the car, but she didn’t take me along. I’m not sure why, but it was very strange when she didn’t come home with Barley. I’m not sure what happened to her, but I think she was too sick to come back home. Mother was crying that day and was giving me hugs and kisses. I didn’t mind, because I knew she was very sad. Every once in a while after that day, I looked out the back door, thinking I would see Barley in the yard, but she was never there.  I missed her as much as Mother did. Mother would spend time with me playing, but nobody played like Barley.

It was just me and Mother for a time, but then a day came when I heard a car outside. I knew it wasn’t  Mother’s car because she was home. We went outside in the back, and this man got out of the car and was walking towards us. At first I hooted at him. Mother and Father always said I hooted instead of barked. I never quite learned how to bark regular-like.  All of a sudden, I realized—it was Father! I crawled on my belly to him, not believing what I was seeing. I stayed by his side all the rest of that day because I had so much to tell him. I was usually so shy around Father, but that day I had to be right by him so he wouldn’t leave again. I had to make sure of that. 

Everything seemed back to normal for a while except for missing Barley. Then it happened again with things being put in the car, but this time people came to the house and were putting everything in a big truck. I stayed right by Mother and Father all that day because I was afraid they would put me in that truck, too. It turned out to be a really neat adventure, but I’ll tell you all about that next time. I’m sure you want to get back to hearing about Mother and Father. Thanks for listening to my story. See you later!