Holiday from Hell

Holiday from Hell
a short story by Diana Weeks

I knew the dog was sick when he first walked in, because he was so thin.

I told them there's something wrong with this dog”.

I was already pissed that my tender hearted daughter, a teacher, had agreed to dog sit for neighbors over the holidays…’cause the guy had just been laid off. Boo hooo.

I lost my whole retirement nest egg when the stock market crashed… I had to move in with my youngest, her husband, two boys, a girl and two big black boxer dogs.

The giddy couple and their only son, the dog owner... Dropped Mr. Andy off… for us to care for… while they drove 1,800 miles to visit his out of state family.

Mr. Andy, a frog footed golden retriever puppy is three feet high and liked my room best. Thus adding more animal responsibility. My oldest grandson is raising two pigs to show at the San Antonio fat stock show. The pigs must be fed morning and evening and the pigs require special diets…separate food mixtures… when is enough?

It's true; I do slip the dogs a taste of people food once in a while... So when Mr. Andy started vomiting, I was blamed. “The other dogs are okay” I defended and fixed Mr. Andy some chicken soup. “Yes, I took out the bones”. And he threw that up all over the house. Poor thing couldn't hold down water.

My daughter called the couple that the dog wasn't well. “He'll be okay “they sang, clearly intoxicated.

Mr. Andy got sicker and sicker and the puke was getting tracked all over the place. Vomiting faster than we could find and mop up. At three am New Years Eve Andy had to be taken to the emergency pet clinic. We didn't want to spend that much money, but could not let the dog die on our watch.

Seven hundred and fifty dollars later…“kidney failure” the vet diagnosed...Prognosis “terribly sad”, a slim chance Mr. Andy could be saved by a costly surgery. “These dogs sometimes have a birth defect blockage that grows as they do”

Can Mr. Andy stay alive until his real family returns January 3rd? “Probably not”. The neighbors had to be called. They agreed to return as soon as they could pack.

The clinic doesn't board so Mr. Andy had to come back home with us. I warmed my cosy microwave heated pillow and put it beside listless Mr. Andy on a pile of blankets and I'll pet Andy's head tell he goes to sleep. I pray he lives til his young master gets here to say goodbye. “And please dear god, find me a job so I can move and live alone again”.

The end
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Chevo Rapes Rabbitta

Chevo Rapes Rabbitta
A Short Story by Diana Weeks

When I answered the phone Carmen was talking in spanish through sobbing gulps of panic.

“What's happening in English, please”. She had been giving me lessons, but I wasn’t a good student. We’d been friends since living in UT student housing and our children started playing together, three years ago.

“Come quick, on…da…lay, chevo is raping Ruben's pet rabbit”! Chevo was their family’s tiny mexican chi..wawa… “hurry!” Carmen yelled, “run… the animals are under the house”.

I grabbed my youngest, Ellen and trotted with her getting a piggy back ride… across the four Austin shaded blocks. Carmen's kids Ruben and Gloria and Mime, Shane and Rene’ were squatted on the ground screaming and crying and watching.

I put Ellen down and crawled under the house. Chevo dropped the limp rabbit and ran past me… to lick Ellen's face. The rabbit was very very still…clearly not caught in an affectionate mood. “We’ll have a nice funeral for peterette. You children can sing ‘i want to be a sunbeam’…and we’ll pick some flowers…Carmen get something to wrap her in… and a box. Have you got a shovel?

I tucked the limp bloody body under the faded blue baby blanket so just her pale gray fur head was visible…and turned her ears to show the pink inside.

Immediately following the burial of peterette… the boys, who were both eight wanted to know what chevo did to the rabbit to kill it.. And did he do it on purpose?

Carmen took Ellen and our daughters …deeming five too young for bees or birds. She seated us at her kitchen table and armed me with paper and pen…and took the girls… back outside. “Chevo got confused” I explained. “It’s normal for animals to mate” how do they mate? Both boys wanted to know. So I drew them pictures. “I don’t know why chevo thought the rabbit was a dog” I admitted.

“He thinks my leg is a dog” Ruben said. He wanted to keep the drawings and after I left he wanted his mother to explain everything I had told them…again in English and Spanish!


The End
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