Cindee & Friends

(mused by Mylo)

“Oooooh!”

The noise was enough to get me to open my eyes and peek over at Daddy.  It wasn’t his groan that ultimately woke me up though.  No, that happened when he stretched out to full length, removing the warm snuggly covers from me in the process.

“Ungrateful human,” I mumbled under my breath.

Ziggy on the other hand had been anxiously waiting for this moment for the past thirty-five minutes.  Daddy’s first stirring of the day had the black pitbull and chow chow mix on his feet and slurping away at the old man’s face.

“C’mon Mylo, it’s extra delicious this morning,” Ziggy said with a smile. 

Most dogs enjoyed belly rubs or the way things smelled, but not Ziggy.  The black mutt was all about taste.  While I am a ball-chasing kind of dog, sometimes Ziggy makes things sound so inviting, besides he is kind of right.  There is nothing like the taste of morning kisses on Daddy’s face. 

This morning my brother from another mother was nice enough to slide over so I could have a whole cheek to myself.  Not the nose though.  Never the nose.  Ziggy considered that a delicacy, one he was not willing to share.

“Boys!  Who needs to go outside?”

Mommy’s sing-song voice crept up the stairs and tapped me on the shoulder.  Even Ziggy’s head snapped in the direction it had come from.  We both knew what this meant.  A quick relieving of the bladder then our favorite thing in the world.  Breakfast!

Ziggy leaped from the bed and dashed down the stairs.  I raced behind him but stopped at the mirror so I could take in my image.  I couldn’t start the day looking like this.

Staring back at me from the glass was a white Siberian Husky and Great Pyrenees mix with one ear turned inside out and a tuft of hair sticking up on the tippy top of his head.

“Humpf”

There was no way I was going to go out into the new day looking like this.  The ear thing, well, that was an easy fix all it took was a shake of my head and it popped right into place.

Now for that hair.  With a little spit on the paw, I reached up and tapped it down.

“Perfect!”

I turned to rush down the stairs when at the last second …

“Poof!”

The hair popped up again.

After applying a little more saliva and a whole bunch of growling, the cowlick surrendered, and I was off to the backyard and a delicious chicken and dog chow delight to start my day.

“Tonight is New Year’s Eve boys,” Daddy said in that goofy voice that he talks to us in.

“It’s Ziggy’s first New Year too,” Mommy cooed.

At the mention of his name, the black puppy spun to look at her.

“Big mistake, Ziggy,” I whispered.

“Huh?” he replied.

Before I could answer, Mammy had already taken his face in both hands and begun to smooch his cheeks all over.  Well, I tried to do my part, he needed to fend for himself now.

“It’s gonna be great buddy.  There are parties with lots of yummy food and then at midnight everyone gets together to watch the ball drop.”

My head twisted so hard to face Daddy that I thought I pulled a muscle. 

“Ziggy, did Daddy just say … ball?”

“Um, I think so Mylo.  But honestly, I stopped paying attention when he said food.”

I trotted across the room and leaped up onto the sofa so I could gaze out the window.  The trees and squirrels even the fence just seemed to melt away leaving me with only one thought.

“Ball,” I mumbled under my breath.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what this special ball looked like.  Was it smooth or fuzzy and more importantly, did it have a sqeaker inside?  I needed answers.  There was only one soul in my life who would know.

“Yehudi,” I barked out the cat’s name with enthusiasm.

“Huh?”

“Yehudi, have you seen Yehudi anywhere?”

The puppy stared at me like I was speaking a foreign language.  Normally, this would be a bad expression, but Ziggy was no normal dog.  The way his eyes pierced through me like I didn’t even exist meant only one thing.  He was thinking. 

He was taking a long time to come up with the answer, and I was getting too antsy.  I would have slapped him across the face, but he would have kicked my butt and I didn’t want to risk injury.  Not today.  The mission to find this New Year’s Eve ball was too important.

“Upstairs, on the cat tree,” the zombie-like voice spilled out of the puppy’s mouth. 

Then, just like that, his trance was broken, and he was on top of me chewing on my ear. 

“Get off me,” I groaned to no avail.

It took some effort, but with a whole lot of kicking and screaming, I managed to escape.  Okay, fine, Daddy came along and broke it up, but maybe I could have done it without his help. 

Anyhow, not that I was free, I sprang to my feet and sprinted for the stairs.  Much to my dismay Mommy happened to be there with my vest and leash in her hands.

“Time to go to visit Boone,” she sang while bundling me into my outfit.

Normally, this would be the best thing in the world, but not now.  Not today. I needed to talk to that cat.  Urgently!

Mommy was having none of it.  The only option I was left with was to look longingly over my shoulder while being dragged to the door.  Much to my chagrin, perched on the bottom step sat a tiny black and white tuxedo cat who had simply come down to see what all the fuss was about.

“Yehudi,” I cried to the cat.

The feline straightened up and waved to me as the door shut behind Ziggy and me with a convincing thud.

I plopped down to the ground exhausted and content to just watch Ziggy and Boone wrestle.  Ziggy was a beast for a puppy and he always put up a valiant effort against the larger Samoyed.  I knew one day soon though, Ziggy was going to take Boone down, however, today was not going to be that day.  I knew this because I watched Ziggy crash to the ground, standing over him was the fluffy white dog who smiled smugly down at his conquest.

“Best five out of seven, Zig?”

“Not today, I am exhausted big guy,” the black dog answered.

With playtime officially over, the three of us stretched out on the dull greenish-brown grass and enjoyed each other’s company in silence.

“What are your plans to ring in the New Year,” Boone’s mammy asked

“Not a lot, Just watching the ball drop and going to bed,” Mommy answered.

My ears perked up and I shifted around so I could take in this conversation.

“Are you going to see the ball drop downtown or just staying in to watch the Times Square ball?”

“What?  Two balls?” I mumbled. 

Now my head was swimming because of the revelation that Boone’s mommy had just dropped on me.

“Maybe we should go downtown Anjo?  I mean we haven’t seen the ball drop live seen we saw the one in Miami.”

“Three balls.  Oh my gosh, how many balls are there? Why didn’t Mommy say something about this before?”

Ziggy’s face descended upside down in front of my view.

“Are you okay,” the puppy asked.

“Sure, why,” I asked, rolling over so that I was facing Ziggy and Boone.

“Cause you were talking to yourself,” Boone answered.

“Yeah, yeah, I was just listening to Mommy and …”

A thought struck me.  Boone was a little older than us and naturally, he knew more about the world.

“and um, Boone, do you know anything about this ball drop that they are talking about?”

“Sure,” the Samoyed said, tilting his head to the side.

“What’s up with this ball?  I mean what makes it special?  Does it taste different or have a special squeak or something like that?”

Boone looked at me and giggled.  I wasn’t sure what was so funny about my question, and I didn’t appreciate feeling like he was making fun of me, but I needed the answer, so I put aside my emotions and waited patiently.

“Okay, I will tell you all about the ball.  It’s a super cool thing. My mommy takes me to see it every year.  What makes it so special Mylo, is that …”

“Okay, boys, time to go.  Say goodbye to Boone!”

“Just a minute Ma,” I barked, then turned my attention to Boone.

The Samoyed didn’t say anything, instead, he rose to his feet.  Ziggy followed suit. 

“The ball, Boone, what about the ball,” I could hear the desperation in my voice.

Click!

That noise.  I looked over my shoulder and sure enough, Mommy had hooked me up to the leash and Daddy had done the same to Ziggy.

“No.  Don’t do this,” I pleaded.

“See you later Boone,” Daddy said then ruffled up the Samoyed’s hair.

We were being led to the gate.  i tossed one last glance over my shoulder.

“Boone!”

Clank!  The gate had closed behind us.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur.  Daddy had stopped by the house and run in to get our doggie coats.  After that, it was off to get a bath.  Yuck!

I was still angry about being dragged away from Boone, and I certainly wasn’t happy about taking a bath.  Talking to my humans was not at the top of my to-do list right now. 

Pulling away from the Village Pet Shoppe, I decided I was just going to curl up and quietly sulked in the back seat of the car.  Mommy tried her best to cheer me up, but I was having none of that.  If she wanted to sweet talk me, she could sweet talk my back, because that’s what I did, I turned my back on her.

It was a holiday.  It was supposed to be one of those magical moments that only come around once in a great while in our lifetimes and mine had been ruined because nobody would explain these special New Year’s Eve balls to me.

I blew out a deep sigh.

“What’s wrong Mylo,” Ziggy asked from his side of the back seat.

I glared at him.  He responded by furrowing up his forehead and then tilting his head to the side.

“Nothing you can help me with.  You are useless,” I snapped at him.

His face dropped and his eyes glazed over.

A sickening feeling formed in my tummy and began to grow like a lump of bread seasoned with an evil yeast.  I opened my mouth to apologize but before the words could come out he reached out his paw and pushed me away, and then stood and circled around and plopped down facing away from me.

I spent the rest of that evening being silent.  Ziggy ignored me, but Mommy and Daddy wouldn’t give up on cheering my spirits.  They even took us out to dinner at La Maison du Chien.  It was the first time I was ever offered a gourmet meal, but I couldn’t eat it, 

The only thing I wanted to do was to go home and go to bed and never hear the word “balls” again.

You know how life goes.  When you want to hide, life won’t let you.  Instead of being at home sulking in my warm bed, I found myself standing with a crowd of strangers staring up at a tall brick building.

“Can we just go home,” I yelped.

Mommy heard me and looked down at me.  She wore the strangest smile and didn’t answer right away, instead, she looked around at the crowd which had begun to murmur. 

“That was odd,”

For the first time tonight, Ziggy and I looked at each other.  The rising crowd noise was strange leading us to tilt our heads in unison.

“Ziggy, I am so sorry.  You are not useless.  You are the best brother a dog could ever have!”

“You know we are not really brothers,” the black puppy responded.

“Oh Ziggy, you are the realest brother and one I love so much.”

My eyes were starting to grow moist and the lump of bread, well it was shrinking away to nothing.

The moment had begun to consume us, and I was about to be kissed but was saved from the embarrassment because that dull rumble had grown to a full roar.

“Look Mylo!, Look Ziggy!” Mommy yelled and stabbed her finger in the air at the top of the building.

That’s when a burst of light lit up the night sky.  Staring down at me was a huge glowing …

“Ball!”

The word slid off my tongue with such joy and fascination. 

“Ten … nine … eight…” the people around me began to chant.

I closed my eyes and felt the hum of electricity in the air.  Not the kind that a lightbulb gives off, but the special kind that love gives off.

When I opened my eyes again the ball had begun to move.  It was drawing closer and closer to me.

“five … four … three …”

My insides had begun to vibrate.  I glanced over at Ziggy.  His eyes were wide and shining, his tongue hung from the side of his mouth.  He looked at me and smiled broadly.

“two … one … “

The ball had reached the ground and burst into every color in creation.  I stood transfixed, unable to breathe.

“Happy New Year!”

The shout was a roar like none I had ever heard before.  People began to hug and kiss.  I turned to Ziggy and smiled.

“Now that … that was a ball!”

We giggled together for a moment then watched Mommy and Daddy hug for the longest time.  They had tears in their eyes and I understood.  We had all lost so many friends and family members this year.  They were tears of sadness and tears of joy and also tears of hope.

This one magical night I had learned that each New Year brings with it new hopes and a new beginning and that my friends is how life is in Mylo’s World.

“Happy New Year!”