FICTION — SHORT STORY
Why Did My Master Think That I needed a Nanny?
A puzzled French poodle
My name is Bobo, I am a six months old French poodle. Recently, one thing is puzzling me. My master didn’t feed me as usual with the food from a paper bag on which there is a dog like me. She cooked for me. This has never happened before.
Another thing is new to me too. This week, every day in the evening she brought me to a family and put me there, then she left. When it was dark and I got really sleepy, she showed up and took me in a big machine. Whenever we get in, it started to run and won’t stop until we arrived home.
I am wondering why she is treating me now differently. I miss my old food. Well, I am not complaining about the cooked food by my master, but it is not as delicious as the one from the paper bag.
However, I am happy, there is another dog in the new family. He has a weird name Oliver that sounds like a tree. But he is not like a tree, he is much shorter and smaller than I am. He has always tried to attack me when we played in the backyard together. I know he was joking with me. A big dog like me should be tolerant of the smaller ones.
Oliver wasn’t there the next day. I ran to the backyard, nobody was there. I wanted to go out to search for him, but I was stopped.
There were two human beings in the new family. They were nice to me. They seemed to be friends of my master. So, I felt safe.
My master has many friends, but just one of them is living in my home. Whenever she eats, she asks me to have a seat, and if I did it, she would give me the food that she was eating. It could be a piece of meat or potato chips. Sometimes I got a pretty dark and hard one (chocolate) which was so sweet, but really yummy. I love it.
In the new family, they cooked and ate too. Whenever they asked me to have a seat, I did it. They smiled at me, said something to me, but they’ve never given me something to eat. Many times, I sat without being asked and looked at them with a sweet face, but still, I didn’t get any extra food.
These two friends of my master are not as nice as the other one in my home. Human beings seem to differ from each other.
At home, I could walk free anywhere between the rooms. In the new family, after dinner, the two humans vanished respectively behind different doors. When I followed them, they closed the door in front of my nose.
At home, I have my bed, but I like to be close to my master. It feels so comfortable to put my head on her tummy. She likes it a lot when I lick her hands and face. But in the new family, whenever I tried to lick their hands, one of them let me do, while the other one jumped up with a scream. I don’t get it. Why did she react to me in this way?
I stayed alone in the kitchen and watched outside. It was dark and quiet outside. I drank water from the bowl. There was some cooked food left, I ate it out. Then I played with my toy. Finally, I got exhausted and fell asleep.
“Sweetheart, how are you doing?”
Someone was talking to me. I was wondering who it was. When I opened my eyes, a big dog just like me stood beside me and licked my face. It was my mum.
“Mum, how did you get here?”
“I miss you and my other children, so I traveled around to visit all of you.”
Just a few days after I was born, I was taken away from my mum by a huge bird who put me in its tummy. After a long flight, it landed in a strange place. Since then, I haven’t seen my mum again.
“How are you, sweetie?” Mum’s voice sounds tender and lovely.
“I miss you too, mum. My master is kind, but now she doesn’t give me the regular food and puts me in a strange place for the whole evening. I don’t know why.”
“Sweetie, you are sick. Do you feel uncomfortable?”
“Well, sometimes I had a pain in my stomach.”
“You have gastroenteritis. The roommate of your master has given you too much food that hurts your digestive system. Your master had to isolate you from her roommate when she was working. Here you are safe, the two humans in the new family were told not to give any food to you.”
“Really? I thought the friend of my master was nice to me. Why did she do this to me? Is she a bad human being?
“She is not a bad person. She loves you, but her love was trouble for you.”
“Why?”
“She feels happy to please you by sharing her food with you. But the food hurts you. Sweetheart, you got to be able to distinguish the food , some are for human, some are for us.”
“Mum, could you stay with me?”
“I am sorry, sweetheart, I will visit your brothers and sisters. They are living everywhere in the world. I got to go now. Sweetie, take care! I love you. Remember! Don’t eat everything that people pass to you, even if they do it out of love. Too much love might hurt too. Stay safe, my boy!”
“Mum, I love you too.”
All of the sudden, I heard my master’s voice.
“Bobo, let’s go home!”
I woke up now. Where is my mum?
My master patted my head softly. I realized that it was a dream with my mum. But I remembered every word that she told me. Human beings love me, but if their love was blind which spoiled me excessively, it might be harmful.
Do you have a pet? Would you like to share your experience with me?
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