There's a hot glow in the room. It's fire. I can smell it. It's stronger than what I'm used to and the smoke smells natural. I lie on the floor beside it. My fur burns and I relax. The fire is contained. As long as I stay very still it won't hurt me. The woman sits on a chair that rocks. She's fiddling with something. Something soft and also something sharp. The older man is looking at the flat paper. There's a new one every day at the door. I keep my eye on him.
**********
I sniff the balls. They smell like animals. They make me sneeze. They scratch my cheeks when I sniff them. The woman has one on her lap. She has sticks in her hands. There's a whole pile of balls by her feet. There's so many that surely she won't miss just one. I snatch one in my mouth and limp away. It tastes awful. I drop it to the floor. I bat at it. It rolls. It's a toy! It must be a toy ball!
She pulled these out for me! They're mine! I'll play with them! I use my nose to push the ball around. A long string sticks out of the ball. The more I push the ball, the longer the string gets. What fun! I wonder how long I can make the string? I must push this ball! I'll push it everywhere! This is so much fun!!
The woman doesn't notice me. She's missing out! We could be playing together! We could make this string the longest in the world! I push the ball all around the house and the string gets longer and longer! The ball also gets smaller and smaller. The ball disappears. I look around and all I see is string. String! Lots of string! A whole new toy I can play with! I grab some in my mouth and run around! I shake it! I growl! I roll around on it! I sit up and I'm covered in my brand new toy.
I want to do it again!
I grab another ball and push it around the floor. More string! The ball gets smaller again and now there's more string than ever before! I'm swimming in string! This is great fun! My tail wags! It's wagging so fast it smacks my legs! My whole rump shakes! I must yip and yelp!
"Oh no, Charlie!"
I stop yipping. I turn around and see the woman standing there. Her hands are by her mouth. She hurries over to me. I shrink in size. My ears flatten. My tail droops. I upset her. She's upset with me. I'm a bad dog.
I limp away from her and watch her pick up the mess of string. She's taking my toy away! But I let her. Maybe it isn't a toy for me after all.
"All this wasted wool!"
She removes the string from my body which hangs around my face and tail. I scamper away, afraid she'll raise her voice at me. I tuck my tail between my legs and hide under the table. I watch her clean away all the string. She sighs a lot.
I hang my head.
**********
I keep my eye on the woman while I eat. She still won't speak to me. She won't use her calm and soothing voice while she pets me. She won't pet me.
Bad dogs don't get pets.
I finish eating and limp to the window. I want my owner. These humans are upset. I want my owner's smile. I want my owner's voice. I want my owner's pets.
I stand there and whine.
**********
There are leaves everywhere. They're hard and dry. They crunch under my feet, breaking into more leaves. What fun! I look behind me to see the woman staring at me, holding my rope. I'm afraid to upset her. I sniff the leaves. They smell like birds. I run as far as my rope will let me. The leaves crunch and break. This is so much fun!
The woman doesn't yell at me. This must be okay! I'm doing the right thing! I'm a good dog! I'll be the best dog ever! I roll around on the leaves and now they smell like me! I'll yip and whine and scratch and sneeze and break these leaves!
I make a mess on some of them. But it's okay! They're my leaves! They're falling from the sky! One hits my nose! The woman watches me, missing out!
**********
She pets me while I eat. She speaks softly. I slowly wag my tail.
"Good boy, Charlie..."
I'm a good dog.
