Zippy Comes Home
By
RD Larson
© 2002 RD Larson
Two weeks later. We are jogging into a big store. Any store with more than five cars in the lot is a big store to me but this super store had maybe 200 cars. In front of the store was a beautiful longhaired woman in cut-offs and a halter-top. She desperately tried to hold onto three small black dogs as they ran in six directions. I walked into the store; hubby stayed behind.
Curses, the women are always flirting with him,I thought.At least he doesn't know when they are..
Skating through the book section, I checked out what had just come out. Lost in the stacks of books, time stood as they say still. Finally, after I took stock of on-sale clothes, I heard the hubby's secret call. Cough, cough. I turned and grinned.He laughed.
"Want a book?"
"Maybe. Maybe, maybe I'll get another tank top." I waved them in front of him by their tiny straps.
"Wow, oh sure. Great. I like the red one." He knows I love red so he always picks the red one for me. Smart man.
"Maybe I should get black. Or pink. How about pink?" Testing him, I said. He knows I hate pink.
Confused, he says, "Sure, pink is good."
"Okay, what is it?" We know one another pretty well and I knew he wanted to say something else to me.
"I want you to see this dog." He smiles his best little boy smile.
"No. I can't stand to be told AGAIN I'm not good enough to adopt a dog. Not by some girl in hot pants and a handkerchief bra," I say as slowly as ever I can.
"Oh, honey, come on, this is an unusual dog."
"What kind is he?" I really thought this would stump him.
"He's a Chew-wiener," he said, chuckling so hard that suddenly laughter jumped out.
I went to look at the dog. Half Chihuahua and half Dachshund make for an arresting combination. The dog and his two brothers had all played the cello -- they were major bowlegged. Black and tan faces and bodies too long by half with short pointed ears that tipped over at the tips. Plus a whippet's tale. They were very busy, all three of them.
I'm sure you heard the saying 'so ugly it's cute?" Of the three, Zippy was NOT cute, just ugly and innocent. One of his brothers bit him on the nose during a struggle for a rib so he has got that prizefighter look. Zippy has a missing lower tooth and one sticks out at an odd angle giving him a gentle, perplexed smile. The woman's grandpa raised the pups with a bottle when a car had killed their mother, a streetwalker. Now, the grandpa couldn't keep them as he was going to a smaller place to live. He sort of missed his brothers at first but he said to me in dog talk that it's better to have the one full plate than a third of another.
Like I said he's a honey. But he's more -- he's an adventure dog.
