Chapter 1
Prologue
I know lots of the humans are upset they’re stuck inside – I hear the talk on the news when Mommy watches it on the big box in the morning. The big guy with the hair is always talking about making America great again and how he’s going to fix things, but Mommy laughs at him.
“He has no idea what he’s talking about,” she explained to me.
She’s not sad though, because she has me. And I’m happy, because I have her all day!
The rest of this story is my mental journal. I’ll try to walk you through the days of everyone being stuck inside. I want to make sure my and Mommy’s story gets told to whoever wants to read it.
Day 3
I don’t really know why everyone is home all the time anymore, but I love it. Mommy doesn’t have to wake up early and leave me anymore for a long time. She still wakes up early, but she gets to sit with me and drink her coffee and write and play games and play the big wooden thing that makes songs.
This is the third day Mommy’s been home almost all the time. It’s like that thing everyone is always saying they want…a vacation? I guess that’s what is going on this month – a big vacation for everyone in the world! I keep hearing the guy on the TV say, “virus.” So, I’m going to call this the Virus Vacation.
I know that other people are scared of the virus that caused this vacation, but I hope this never ends. Mommy takes me for walks outside when the weather is nice, and when it rains, she doesn’t force me to go outside until the weather gets less bad. And, she sometimes brings me to Granny’s house – Granny is Mommy’s mom - where I get to see my best pal, Hedwig. Unfortunately, I also have to see that evil monster, Paco. He’s my cousin I guess because it’s Mommy’s sister’s dog. Paco and I always fight. He actually bit me a couple of times – took off a chunk of my ear – but I like to go back at him. He makes me feel strong when I stand up to him. Wait – I think I’m talking about too many different things.
I was saying how nice it is to be on the Virus Vacation that everyone’s talking about. I don’t know how this all started or when it will end, but I can’t wait to spend as much time with my Mommy as possible.
Sometimes we have dance parties in the new apartment. I think Mommy likes the dancing more than I do, but I love listening to all the fun songs and watch Mommy jump around and spin and sing. It makes me so happy to see her happy, because I know that she used to be really sad. Sometimes she’s still sad – she lays in bed and cries. But most days she’s not, and even when she is, it seems like it’s not as bad because her arms aren’t cut up anymore and she doesn’t have to go away.
A few weeks ago, Mommy was crying all the time and she kept yelling at the food in the fridge.
“It’s going to make me get sick or die!” Mommy sobs into the phone. I think she’s talking to Granny because Granny always knows how to fix stuff like this.
I walked up to Mommy, pushing my empty bowl to her, showing her that food was ok, because I had no problem eating it, but it doesn’t seem to help.
Nothing helps until she starts going somewhere else instead of work every day.
“I’m going to Mather,” Mommy says, her hands shaking as she took a big gulp. “Wish me luck, Roman.” She tells me.
I don’t know how to wish her luck, but I bark really nicely at her so she knows I care and I want her to get better.
Mommy isn’t good at eating food. She throws food out in the garbage and she looks at all the numbers on the back of the packages before she eats anything. Sometimes she only eats vegetables. Sometimes she goes all day without eating anything. I don’t know why she does it, but it scares me sometimes because I don’t want Mommy to get sick from not having enough food. I know that if I’m really hungry, I get angry and bark a lot, but it seems like the less Mommy eats, the quieter she gets.
Mommy calls it her ‘eating disorder.’ I don’t like Mommy’s eating disorder because it makes her spend less time with me and she feeds me instead of herself.
All week Mommy doesn’t go to work and instead she goes to the magical Mather to learn how to eat again. They must teach her a lot, because after a few days of going there, I found her eating actual meals in our apartment again! I could tell she was still really scared though. She opens the bottle by her bed with the little pills and takes one before she eats. Then it seems like she calms down a little. I don’t know what the pills are, but they help Mommy, so I try to remind her to take them when she gets scared of the food. I’ll follow her and bark and hit her with my paw and lead her to the nightstand with the pill bottle.
“I need my Xanax,” Mommy cries
I guess the Xanax is part of what made Mommy get better at eating.
So much has happened to our family this year. My Daddy and Mommy broke up so now I’m just Mommy’s dog forever. I’m kind of happy though because Daddy never really loved me like Mommy does. He would complain about my poop and my talking and growling – I don’t understand why. It’s like he didn’t know that I’m so amazing like Mommy always says. Mommy rescued me from the shelter and Daddy didn’t want her to keep me, but when she stopped going to the place with all the science experiments and rats and homework, Daddy told her she could adopt me.
I never really understood that.
Why couldn’t Mommy just adopt me when she wanted to? Why did she have to wait for ex-Daddy to give her permission? Mommy is so strong and reliable and she’s a great dog Mom. I couldn’t have asked for a better furever home.
When Mommy and Daddy were together, they used to go on trips. Sometimes they would take me, but sometimes I had to stay home with Granny or at the shelter. I didn’t like that. I used to get sick when I was away from Mommy too long because I was so scared she wouldn’t come back. But now I know she will always come back for me, so if she drops me off at Granny’s for the day to see her new boyfriend, I can go to sleep in Granny’s bed and have good dreams about when Mommy will come back and I know there’s nothing to worry about.
Today, Mommy is writing in a notebook while she read this big book with symbols on the front.
“I’m doing calculus, Roman,” she tells me as she scribbles in her notebook and uses the little machine with all the numbers. I have no idea what calculus is, but it makes her so happy to read the number book and write in her notebook. I’m just happy to lay on our bed and watch her. I’m going back to sleep for a while today because I know Mommy is happy with her calculus and she doesn’t need me to protect her from anything.
When I wake up, the calculus book is away on Mommy’s desk. Now, I wait patiently for her to make me my breakfast. As soon as I hear the metal bowl hit the kitchen floor, I scurry over and take a big mouthful of food. Then I bring it into the living room like I always do. Mommy says I “travel” with my food. I just want to make sure that the whole apartment smells good. So I move my food from the kitchen to the living room and spread the smell of my food all over. When I travel it makes Mommy laugh – I’m not exactly sure why – and I love it when Mommy laughs, so I decide I’ll just keep eating that way forever.
I can see out the window this morning and there’s no water falling from the sky, so I think that means Mommy will take me for a walk. I know that she’s really not supposed to walk too much because she’s been sick – the lady on the phone during the week yells so loud that I can hear her.
“Meagan, you need to rest! No excessive walking.”
“But Daria, I’m just getting some fresh air with Roman,” Mommy whines.
My ears perk up when I hear my name. I’ll admit I still love to drag Mommy further down the street so I can smell all the smells and pee on all the trees and yellow water things. I don’t like when Daria tells Mommy not to walk.
.
I can’t wait for Mommy to be done with that typing thingy on her lap so we can do more fun stuff. But, I’m also kind of tired now, so maybe I’ll just take another nap. I love naps.
Naps make me feel good, but I especially like naps when Mommy is home because then I know I’m not alone. I don’t like to be alone. I like to sit on people and snuggle and play. Some people are surprised by that because they say I’m an old man. Mommy says I turn 11 soon and I guess that’s old for a dog, but I still feel like a puppy. Maybe it’s because I didn’t find my furever home until I met Mommy two years ago, but I feel like my life is just starting.
This Virus Vacation is the perfect time for me to snuggle with Mommy and steal all her attention. I hope the it never ends.
