I Among Dogs

Chapter 25: Dreaming for a Brother

Trigger Warning: Prepare to cry. Probably.

***

An hour or so had past after we had taken the trash out for the night, it was nearing the Heeler family's usual bedtime routine and despite her obvious fatigue, Bluey made her protests against bedtime very clear as a child her age more often than not would. Heck, even I was a bit stubborn at times at her age when it was time for me to go to bed.

Whilst waiting for Bandit to retrieve Bluey and drag her to bed, I was in her and Bingo's bedroom, drying off the little red Heeler in question with Chilli's hair dryer, a towel wrapped around her after having just taken a pre-bedtime bath.

"Nathan?" Bingo asked glancing up at me.

"Yeah, Bingo?"

"How come humans only have hair on the top of their head?"

That question took me a moment to think, given what me and Bingo were currently doing, it did seem to make sense that she'd ask this now of all times.

"Well, that's a good question actually. I think it's because hair keeps a human's head warm. And believe it or not, humans don't just grow hair on their head, some guy humans like me sometimes get hair on our faces, like a beard or a moustache. In fact, when humans grow up, they actually get hair on a few different parts of their body, like the chest and arms." I explained, remembering what I had learned about puberty in school, leaving out the one detail about how humans grow hair on... "somewhere else" for obvious reasons.

"Like the hairs around dad's mouth?"

"Yep, just like Bandit!" I confirmed, making Bingo giggle.

More giggling was heard, but this time from Bingo's sister who Bandit had managed to catch, playfully dragging her across the bedroom floor and to her bed where he lifted her up by the leg and let her flop onto her mattress.

"Bed. Sleep. Now." Bandit demanded in a playfully blunt tone.

"Awwww, but I'm not tired..." Bluey complained, only to drone out the last word whilst rubbing one of her eyes before falling limp with a little "Bleh" and snoring less than a second later as Bandit draped her blanket over her.

"Night, kids." Bandit whispered to us as he left the room, getting a response of "Night, dad!" from Bingo and a wave from me just as I had finished drying her off.

"Alright little missy, time for you to sleep as well." I said as I picked Bingo up off the floor and carried her to her own bed, tucking her in.

"Can you tell me a story?" Bingo requested, I was about to ask what she meant until she continued. "The one about the fireflies you told Muffin once?"

I suppose Muffin had told her about that story at some point, good thing I was still able to remember the fable in detail even if it had been years since I was last told about it. I nodded and sat down on the floor next to Bingo's bed and began.

A long time ago, long before humans would fly into space, where valiant knights roamed the lands for maidens to romance and dragons to slay, there was a young English boy who lived in an old cabin with his father.

Very recently, the boy had been struck with great misfortune, for his father had fallen ill to the point of being bedridden, the poor man had been put through many sleepless nights, been made delirious and his image cursed with the sight of swollen parts of his body.