Emma

Toby and Emma

I bet you've had a favorite pet before, and I bet you got into all kinds of trouble with them.  Emma's ten year old mind thinks that Buddy is still up to being an adventure buddy even though he's getting old, and she thinks in the same respect that Toby wants to have adventures to.  So Join Emma, Toby, and Buddy in this next chapter.

Today was an unfortunate day for Buddy, since he was getting somewhere close to being 8 years old he moved around less.  He was in the middle of his life, and adventures were tired on his paws, and made him more of a lounge dog.  He'd stay indoors with the family and lay down on the living room floor all day long if he could, undisturbed and stationed under the fan to keep cool.  

Emma came dashing out of her room and landed on the floor next to buddy.  No matter how old he got, Emma was still his best friend.  He'd jump up to his feet and bark loudly, as if yelling, "Good morning Emma!"

Buddy laid back down on the floor, and Emma sat beside him, dressing him up as usual.  She'd dress him according to the adventure they were going to have, and today Buddy was wearing a cowboy hat, and a bandanna tucked into his spiked collar.  She even stuck a clip on badge to his chest.  Buddy was now the Sheriff of the living room floor.

"C'mon buddy!  We're going to the park today!"  Emma yelled.

Buddy wanted to, but at the same time Buddy was running low on energy.  He just laid back down next to the fan.  It would be pretty hot out today, and he wanted to stay inside where it was cool.  

Emma ran off in panic.  She quickly found her dad and hugged him tightly, screaming, "Daddy, Buddy wont get up!  He stood up and then he just sat back down is Buddy okay!"  Emma started crying a puddle through her dad's good shirt.  He picked her up and walked back to the living room with her, to find that Buddy was still laying down on the floor, with his eyes closed and his face close to the fan.

He was still breathing, and his tail was wagging for a bit.  Buddy may have been sitting down an awful lot, but that was just because Buddy had a good four years left to stay around and be Emma's buddy.  Buddy wasn't going to be Buddy forever, and that was a scary thought for Emma.

"Is he okay daddy?"  Emma asked 

He set her down and knelt down in front of the dog.  He seemed perfectly content being in that spot.  It wasn't that he was dying, it seemed more like he was tired and just wanted to sit and chill for a little bit.   Emma tried pushing him at the sides.  When she did he rolled over with his eyes now open and started moving.  He didn't get up from his backside, he waited patiently for a belly scratch.  

Emma gave him a scratch or two and then he went right back to being asleep.  Buddy was normally awake by this time. 

"Emma, he's just fine.  It's just that Buddy's getting old and he needs more time to sleep and lay down."  Carter explained.

Emma looked confused and worried.  "But Buddy's only 8 dad!  How can he be old!  He's not old!"

Emma started crying again, and Carter had to improvise.  Somehow he had to get Emma to stop crying.  "Don't worry, Emma, he's gonna be just fine okay?"

"But why would you say he's old!"

He picked up Emma and put her in her 'thinking spot' on the couch.  It was the normal place Carter would set her down if they needed to have a disciplinary talk, or just a general talk about things she needed to know in life.  The last time they were in the thinking spot, it was because Emma was trying to learn how to use the microwave and she'd accidentally left a metal spoon in there.  Something had to be done about that of course, and now something had to be said about this.  

"Emma, he's a dog.  Dog's live 13, maybe 14 years sometimes 18 years depending on the breed and how well they're taken care of."  Carter continued.  "Dogs live 7 years for every human year.  The first two years he lives, he's actually lived 28 human years.  So buddy his a lot older than you think, he's somewhere around 60 or 70 years old right now."

Emma stopped crying, and got off the couch.  She want over and gave Buddy a big hug around the neck.  "He's my best buddy, and he's old.  I'll let him sleep okay Daddy?  Just tell me when he wakes up."  Emma said and then wandered outside.

Once she was outside, she found Toby sitting in his usual place on the deck, his tail swiftly moving back and forth, and his eyes focused on the world around him.  He didn't notice Emma at first.  She sat down beside him and he got up for a little bit.  He walked over and stood across her lap, then, he just sat down and carried on as usual.

Emma scratched his ears and watched cars go by with him.  "Are you old too Toby?"

He didn't answer her, he just purred and laid down.  He slept all day, and when he was awake he would constantly run from one end of the house to the other.  Toby was a very playful spirit when it came to rope, tennis balls, shoes, and necklaces.  He was even particular about how he fell asleep, he'd fall asleep in Emma's stuffed animals, and his favorite was a little teddy bear that he'd throw his arms around.

Toby was a strange little cat, but Emma and him were alike in that respect.  Toby wasn't big into adventures like Buddy, Toby was more into chasing things constantly, and then napping for hours at a time.  She thought about it, well, he is mommy's cat.  Given pets resemble their owners, it made sense to Emma that Toby liked to run around constantly, and then take naps for a very long time.  Sometimes Emma thought of her mother as kinda strange too, which would make the fact that she had a strange cat even less surprising.

Toby didn't move around at all, he simply stayed in his spot and was quiet.  Emma wanted to run around and play, and Toby didn't move an inch.   He sat across her lap and closed his little eyes.  He was a funny little thing, that's for certain.

She picked up Toby and carried him to the backyard with her.  She set him down and simply tossed a tennis ball his way.  Toby didn't chase after it.  He sat there, with a blank grin on his face.  Toby was pretty old too, but he was still a spaz sometimes.  She just wanted somebody to play with.  She hadn't heard from Jeremy since school and she didn't want to bother him.  

"Do you do anything Toby?"  She asked.

He simply sat there.  Emma didn't have anybody to play with today.  She went inside and let Toby in with her.  She sat down at the kitchen table, and watched as her dad sat across from her with his newspaper.  

"What do you do if you have nobody to talk to?"  She asked.

"Well, normally I call them."

"Mommy says that doesn't work."  Emma replied.

"Why would you say that?"

"Well mom says she had friends in college, and she wanted to talk to them, but they don't pick up their phones."

"Well, that isn't the case sometimes."  Carter defended.  He was one of those friends, and while it was true he never called, he did spend a good amount of time making up for it.  He had to keep Emma believing that there were good people out in the world.  Emma's mother however taught her to stay away from naivety.

Emma was starting to lose faith in people.  She'd tried to be nice to a lot of different people, and her only friend had the flu today.  The rest of her friends were Buddy, her dog, and Toby, her mommy's cat.

"Daddy, do you wanna play?"

"Well I've gotta keep an eye on dinner.  Your mom is gonna be home in an hour, you can ask her to take you to the park if you want."

Emma leaped away from the table, "I'm going to my room."

She was upset for a long while.  She stationed herself in her room and created a pillow fort around her.  She wished she had someone to play with.  Someone who wasn't too busy, too sick, or too old.  She stayed in her room for a little while more.  

She didn't know who to believe.  Either people were awful and they wanted you to be all alone, or people were good and always there for you if you needed them.  She couldn't decide.  So she chose neither and just went to sleep.