As had not yet encountered Blogville when the bloggy began, have been taking liberties with re-posting a few articles. Don't worry, won't make a habit of it... This one is on the getting of Jade dog. For those interested in the life story of the J's, do click the label!
NB - For those who rely on their blogroll sidebar for checking posts, you may have missed the Sunday one. This is a note to say that MenoSunday post is there, but lots of you may have seen a post in your readers that was 'empty' - I hit the wrong button and the schedule went and published anyway. Have sorted that; don't worry, it'll show up again!
There
were Jet G-pig MacSqueak and Jasper Cat MacLean, getting on like cat and rodent never should, when along came
our landlady - (my Punjabi 'mummy' - who was so happy having a tenant who did
more work round the place than she did, she never put the rent up in 7 years!) -
who was mystified.
"Why
would you have a cat and 'rat' when you could have a dog?"
Mummy J
had three dogs you see. BIG dogs. Tara the mountain-sized Rhodesian Ridgeback,
who sulked almost continuously. The break in her clouds came each day with the
arrival of the postman. Then she became
the Sydney Switchback. He knew she'd be
there, but she got him every time. MJ
and I came to the conclusion he was a good actor, secretly in love with her and
liked to make her think she was the very devil herself.
He was a
VERY good actor.
Then
there was Sita the Rottweiler. I always
thought of her as Sofa - a two-sita sofa at that. As canny and sooky a dog as you would be likely to find.
Thirdly
came Meena the Dobermann. She had been
abandoned by the previous tenant in the house where I had taken residence. She was shackled by a chain and surviving on
eating her own droppings and stretching into the outside dunny for water. MJ was naturally horrified at the
discovery. It was this incident that
made her become a direct and hands-on landlady rather than use agents. Clearly no checks had been made. Meena was skeletal and as unhealthy as all
get-go, but MJ put her grand TLC to work and that sorrowful girl became quite
the beauty.
Given
this experience, you'd think MJ would have been a tad cautious about a tenant
having any pets, let alone a dog.
But she
had quickly surmised she was onto a good thing with YAM and loved the little
J's very much. Not the same as a dog,
though, she felt. I said my life was too
erratic for a puppy. I was still
studying Homoeopathic Medicine and
working part-time. How would I manage?
Once these seeds are planted in the ground round
YAM, though, there's a tendency for spring to get sprung. Within two weeks of that conversation, I was
up at the mall for groceries and avoiding looking in the pet store window. Am really not a fan of these places. The
window had other ideas though.
Every
other week for years I had managed to walk past without its accosting me. That day though... That day it had to shout out to me "Look
what I've got for YOU!" I continued
walking with only the slightest side glance.
Fortune
held the cards such that I had to pass that verbal window at a later point in
the morning, but I again managed only the merest flicker of observance.
At the
corner of the avenue an internal voice yelled "LOOK AT ME!".
I turned
and looked back across and there was a little pudding-like thing sitting to the
side of all the frenzy, staring straight at me.
Naaahhhh. That only happens in
novels, right? I continued to walk. Two days later I had to visit the bank. It was three shops down from the talking
window.
"LOOK
AT ME", it said as I emerged from the business at hand. There it was again. No doubt about it. I was the focus as there was no one else in
the avenue. Once my attention had been
firmly caught, the pudding produced a tail.
Long and thin and wagging so fast it was a blur. Then there were the eyes. Those, large, liquid, kohl-rimmed eyes.
What's happening? Feet, stop that this instant!
What's happening? Feet, stop that this instant!
Too late,
they'd taken me inside. Somehow,
magically, the pudding was sitting in my arms looking up at me all agog with
"ooh yeah, I got you babe!" written all over its face.
How was I
going to break this to the little J's?...
NB - For those who rely on their blogroll sidebar for checking posts, you may have missed the Sunday one. This is a note to say that MenoSunday post is there, but lots of you may have seen a post in your readers that was 'empty' - I hit the wrong button and the schedule went and published anyway. Have sorted that; don't worry, it'll show up again!
OMD...What a wonderful, two sided, gotcha day story!!
ReplyDeleteSmileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
In the Netherlands and here in Norway you can't get dogs or cats from pet stores. Which I think is a very good thing. The only animals you could get were budgies and fish and mice/hamsters/rats/rabbits. And I have never been tempted by any of those fortunately!
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how people willingly let an animal starve. That just goes beyond me in a big way! Although Miss Oswin will probably say she is starving, but she gets plenty.
Hari OM
DeleteYes I wish that law was all over the globe - but we have the new problem of puppy-mills and feeding the frenzy of designer dogs via the internet. It is just horrific. In OZ, puppies can still be bought in store and it is just heart-breaking. Despite having found Jade this way, I would never do that again... adoption from one of the many great agencies for abandoned and ill-treated dogs is how I would get my next - (if ever I settle long enough!) I saw the results of taking such a creature into one's heart and home through Meena Dobermann, who blossomed through Love. Yxx
a mountain -sized RR sounds promising LOL... I love the story of Jade Dog ... a pudding like thingy must win our heart, right? I looked like a bonsai elephant with the trunk at the wrong side LOL
ReplyDeleteWe have people drive to the country and dump cats and dogs. We have a local shelter, operated (badly) on donations. Someone has to pay for this. My client has 3 cats people have dumped and they've gone feral.
ReplyDeletePuppy mills, don't get me going!