A Doggy Afternoon

Narrator: I take you now inside the mind of a ten year old miniature Eskimo dog who lives happily inside a Rambler house with a fenced back yard that serves as his special area to periodically run freely when his “favorite person”(Love) puts him out, always shouting “go pee!” to him. Strangely, Ollyver does not really seem to understand that command. Perhaps to him it means “go play” since often he is later caught inside the house in compromising positions, causing his owner to rush him again to the door to the back yard! Furthermore, new computer technology has enabled Ollyver’s owner (his “Love”) to come up with a crude translation for Ollyver’s stream of thoughts. She knows his behavior the best, but still she must guess at a few things inside his brain due to his limited range of vocabulary and his typical doggy unconcern with that ! So now she has just let Ollyver out the back porch to go pee. . . Ollyver: I go out! I go out! Run run run . . . Run here. . . Run there. . . Strange man by fence. . . I can’t get to strange man. What you doing by my yard? Leave here leave here leave here. . . yip yip yip yip yip yip yip. . . . . Owner’s voice from the porch: Go pee, Ollyver!!! Ollyver: always “go pee” she say. . . Look look at me. . . I go pee . . . run here . . . run there. . . (Ollyver continues running back and forth yelping at the stranger who has since gotten past the fence as he walks along the canal road) I go pee I go pee. . . Narrator: Ollyver runs back to the house, never having actually gone pee. He runs to sit by his owner, whom he perceives as his favorite human. She is eating a bowl of ice cream on the bed. Ollyver: I go in. . . see yum-yum milk. . . I want I want I want Narrator: Ollyver goes toward the bowl and gets pushed away, so he stares with big anxious eyes going back and forth to Love and the bowl of yum-yum. Ollyver: I want I want I want. . . Give me give me give me. . . Ohhhhh. . . Yum-yum getting smaller and smaller. . . Ohhhhhhhhh Narrator: Ollyver’s Love pats his head and lets him lick what remains at the bottom of the bowl. After he finishes, he snuggles by Love and beings to lick her hand and arm. Ollyver: kiss kiss kiss kiss. . . Love Love Love Narrator: Suddenly the door bell rings, and he dashes off the bed to the front door with his Love following behind him, yelling: “No Ollyver!” He peers through the window and sees a stranger. Ollyver: yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip go away strange lady go away strange lady go away strange lady yip yip yip yip yip yip yip. . .. Narrator: The door bell rings again and Ollyver runs to his favorite corner of the family room, where he begins to do the very thing his owner had wanted him to do previously when she let him out into the back yard. Her voice yells shrilly “No, Ollyver” and she shoves him to the back door saying: “OUT here, Ollyver. Go pee out HERE.” Ollyver then runs across the yard going back and forth, back and forth. Ollyver: see see see, Love. . . I go pee I go pee **For the contest of Just That Archaic Poet:This is my personification of Ollyver, the pet that gave me the greatest unconditional love of any pet I ever owned. Because we could never train him (I even hired a trainer to help us) and because of other complications, I had to give him up when he was around ten years old. I missed him so much. and even my cat, Razzmatazz cannot replace him for pure affection. I gave him to a place that promised a no-kill policy and to this day, I am hoping he had a great life until the end!