SANDY

Sandy was born June 19, 1998.  When I first met her, she was a little bundle of golden fur, sitting on my mother-in-law’s lap when they stopped on their way home from picking her up at the breeder’s.

She loved ‘big sister’, but of course, Goldie wanted nothing to do with the intruder.

Sandy and Kayla soon became good friends and spent their time together chasing each other and swimming.

When my father-in-law died, and my mother-in-law became too sick to take care of her, we brought her to live with us.

Chloe and Leah had to get used to her, but soon they became friends, too.

Since coming to live with us, she has made it plain which one of us is her human.  She will not let Bill out of her sight for more than a few seconds without going looking for him.  If he has the nerve to leave her and go somewhere, she cops an attitude and lets him know in no uncertain terms that she is not pleased with him when he returns home.

Sandy will be 14 next month, and she is showing signs of her age.  A couple months ago, we noticed she was getting wobbly, and that her head was tipping to the right.  The vet said she had a lesion on her brain.

Last week we had to take her back to the vet because she could not stand on her back left leg.  We were given anti-inflammatory pills and steroids to take the swelling down.  She seems to be standing and moving a little better.

She is a much loved part of the family, and we are so glad we brought her to live with us.

© Drusilla Mott and https://drusillamott.wordpress.com, 2012

THE LITTLEST PUPPY – A Short Children’s Story

This short story is entirely different from my others.  I wrote it a couple years ago, before Kayla died.  It is my fictional version of how she may have viewed the “adoption” process.  I wrote it wishing I had the talent to use her as the model for some drawings to go with the story, but no such talent was handed in my direction.  I had in mind a series of children’s books using Kayla, Chloe, Leah and Sandy as the models for the animals in them; but have not gotten very far in the process.

If you would like to read my view of that meeting and my years with Kayla, you can find it here. 

*  *  * *  *

One cold winter day, eight puppies were born.  Each one was black with a long white stripe that went from their chin down their neck.

The bigger ones played together, running and jumping and rolling; but the littlest one always got left out of the fun.

“I want to play, too,” she said one day.

“No”, said Big Brother, “You are too small.”

She went back to the blanket and lay down, watching sadly as her brothers and sisters played together.  It looked like so much fun, why couldn’t she play, too?

“Hey!” said Big Sister, skipping over from a game of tag.  “Don’t be mean to her.  God doesn’t like us to be mean to each other.  We are supposed to love each other and be kind to each other.”

The little puppy looked at Big Sister and asked, “Who’s God?”

“Well, God is the one that made us.  He made everything around us.  And He loves you, even if you are the littlest.  Come on.  You can play with me.”

The littlest puppy followed Big  Sister and was soon laughing and playing with the others.  It was so much fun!

One day, the little puppy woke up from her nap and saw strange people playing with her brothers and sisters.

“Who are they?” she asked Big Sister.

“They are people who want to take us home,” said Big Sister.

Alarmed, the little puppy backed away.

“But I don’t want to go anywhere!” she cried.

Big Sister smiled gently.  “But it’s a good thing,” she said.  “They will love us and play with us, and take care of us.”

“Are you sure?” asked the littlest puppy.

“Yes, I‘m sure,” said Big Sister.

The little puppy looked at the people who were holding Big Brother, seeing how gently they were petting him.  Happily she ran over to them and whined to be taken too.

“No,” laughed the lady, “we can only take one of you.”  She gently set the little puppy aside and said “We’ll take this big boy right here.”

The littlest puppy went back and settled on the blanket once again.   Maybe being the littlest was a bad thing, she thought, just like Big Brother said.

Day after day the little puppy watched as people came to take her brothers and sisters away to other homes.

Day after day she tried to show she wanted to be taken too, but they always said she was too little.

“God doesn’t love me,” she told Big Sister one day.  “If He loved me, he would let me be taken too.”

“But He does love you,” said big sister.   “Maybe he has to find just the right people to take you.  People that want the littlest puppy instead of the biggest.  People that will love you, and take care of you better than anyone else.”

“Do you think so?” sighed the little puppy.

“Yes,” said Big Sister.  “I think so.”

So, the little puppy waited.  Each day she woke up hoping that people would come and take her home with them.

Then finally one day, some people came while she was taking her nap.  When she woke up, she was being picked up and carried to them.

“This is the littlest one of the bunch,” said the girl who took care of them

Gentle hands reached out and cradled her, rubbing her head softly.

“This is it,” she thought happily.  “These are my people.”

But the gentle hands set her on the floor and reached to pick up one of her sisters that had not been taken yet.

She watched sadly as her sister squirmed in the gentle hands, trying to get down to play.  When the hands put her sister on the floor, the little puppy climbed up on the lady’s knees.

The gentle hands lifted her once again, and cradled her carefully, rubbing her head and back.  The little puppy was sure these were her people.

But then the hands put her down on the floor again.

Determined to be taken by the lady with the gentle hands, the little puppy again climbed up on the lady’s knees and cried softly.

Laughing, the lady  picked her up and hugged her carefully.  “Well,” said the lady, “I wanted the littlest one, but only if you wanted me.  I guess God picked you for me.”

Soon the lady was cradling the littlest puppy inside her warm coat, to carry her outside.

“I’m going to name you Kayla,”  she said.

And Kayla crawled deeper into the warmth of the coat and sighed happily.