The Pied Piper

I hadn’t gone very far before the littlest, Natalie’s younger brother, a toddler barely walking, fell and started wailing. I picked him up, carried him to the backyard and placed him into his mother Kate’s arms. I made sure to let her know that he fell, he was not wounded by Blondie. Then I said good bye and left with my dog, my family.

I was furious! Here were my friends with their husbands and kids. I had celebrated them all. Gone to their wedding showers, weddings, baby showers, hospitals when babies were born and more. All I had for my family was this little mutt, Blondie. She was it. 

Since Kate had been my friend since elementary school, it was impossible for me to stay mad at her for long. After a few days I knew I simply had to work this out. So I called Kate.

 “I am so sorry, Sue,” were the first words out of Kate mouth. I was relieved. She of all people would understand. And she did. She knew my love of dogs started with my childhood mutt Siesta. Kate understood how much that dog meant to me. She, more than anyone else in the world, knew my problem of choosing the wrong man time and time again.

Kate was with me since the beginning, when I began my cycle of making the wrong choices when it came to men (or boys, even). It all started way back in the first grade. Lots of boys liked me. Especially Donald. He was a good boy, a nice kid. I distinctly remember him following me around, tying my shoes and sharing his lunch, even giving me his home made chocolate chip cookies. In the first grade, he got in trouble for proposing marriage to me in class, actually getting down on one knee during reading time. I was so embarrassed that I tried to stay away from him for the rest of the school year, much to the dismay of my mother who was hopeful that one day I would actually walk down the isle with Donald. But Donald just wasn't the one for me. Over all the boys, it was Charlie who stole my heart.

I knew the feelings were mutual but sometimes Charlie had a funny way of showing it. Like the time he ran up from behind me and hit me on the shoulder; a little too hard. He knocked me down and I almost broke my arm from the fall. Or the day he challenged me on the playground in a game of dodge ball. He threw the ball at me with such force; it hit me right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I fell over in pain and had to go to the nurses’ office to recover. Needless to say, our love was a little confusing at times. Who better to discuss boy trouble with than Siesta?