Happy (BARA)

Dog meets girl

Happy's POV

Hi y'all, I'm Happy. I'm a dog.

I'm ARA GALANG's dog. I'm white and furry. I'm now four. Ara adopted me when I was still a cute fluffy pup.

She takes me to this nice park. Dogs don't know how to read, but whenever we arrive to the park, she would usually say, "Happy, we're here at Ayala Triangle. Now be a good boy, okay?" That's when my tail wags and I run around flying with my happy feet. I'm well-trained so Ara trusts me to be off-leash oftentimes.

This park has a nice crowd. Some taking their morning run, some chit-chatting, some simply having coffee. Ara loves to take her coffee and newspaper here.

Ara and I usually stroll the entire width of the park three times. She then sits down in her favorite resto to have her coffee. Well, how could this be not her fave resto? Well, her family owns it. How again would I know when I'm only a dog? well, because not only am I allowed to freely roam inside the dining and kitchen area, the resto's named after me, "A Happy Place." See, we dogs are pretty darn smart y'know.

I usually leave Ara's side when she begins to open her newspaper. That's when I go out to the park and sniff other dog's butt. After 20 to 30 minutes of playtime with other dogs, I go back to the resto and lie down beside Ara's side to let her know I've tired myself out from running and playing.

I once met a friend in the park. She's different 'cause she's two-legged. I saw her sitting in one of those park benches by herself sobbing. I wanted to comfort her. I went up the bench where she sat, lied down beside her and let her hand brush my soft fur. She stopped sobbing. Her eyes swelled from crying. Ha! Mission accomplished, she smiled at me. I showed her my collar for her to know my name. She said, "Hi Happy, I'm Bang, thank you ha? You're such a sweet dog, such a nice girl." I let out a soft bark at her, 'cause I aint a girl, I'm a handsome boy! I think she got what I said 'cause she said "Oh! Sorry, who's a good boy? Yes you are!" while she rubs my chin and chest.

For several mornings, I would escape to the park whenever Ara starts reading her newspaper and go to where Bang usually sits. She's always there. She gives me warm hugs and would even play fetch with me. I'm poor in this fetch-the-ball game so whenever she throws it far, I would just roll over and give her this look that I ain't getting it unless she runs with me. After about 15 minutes, I get sad 'cause she needs to bid goodbye. She told me she has to go and find work. I tilt my head whenever she tells she needs to find work. I wanted to go with her and find this 'work.' 'Work' may be hiding between the bushes or rocks, or somewhere. I wanted to lend my good sniffing nose to help her. I keep asking the other dogs where I could find this 'work' that Bang keeps referring to, but the other dogs just don't know where to find this darn 'work'.

I went back to Ara and gave her a thug in the legs. I let out my cute puppy eyes and asked her for help in finding 'work'. Ara would respond, "Are you done playing? Who's a good boy?" I would wag my tail and bark "Happy's a good boy!" I love Ara; she feeds me yummy stuff and plays with me.

After breakfast, we go to this big place. We're greeted by people upon entering. Everybody here knows my name. We then go inside a box, together with other people, wait a few seconds, then the box re-opens and I could see tables and chairs, different from those in the restaurant. Here, people read lots of paper and focus their eyes on television screens where they ain't showing Animal Planet. Booooring.

Ara and I enter this big room, and then I immediately run into my cozy bed, next to where Ara sits to write things on paper and likewise stare at that dull television screen for hours. Booooring. Zzz

Ara's POV

I'm now here at work. I give Happy a good pat and tell him I need to do some stuff. My office, and the entire 37-storey building my family owns, is a dog-friendly workplace. My dad and I run our IT company. Mom manages the NGOs we put up to help the less fortunate. Our IT company supplies hardware and software resources to multi-national and local companies. We've recently added government offices to be among our clients.

Again, another workday. I sign papers, review reports, and attend meetings. In between I play with Happy. I once caught Happy shredding papers with his paws. When I looked at the papers, it's a proposal of one of our departments. Then it hit me, I suddenly realized that yeah, that project proposal is indeed such a crap, it's a waste of time and energy. Happy has since been an adviser!

Everyday at exactly four in the afternoon, Happy howls like a baby signaling me it's time to go home. Giving me his stare, I would drop everything I'm doing, go to our car and drive home. Happy often gives me a big smile knowing we're heading towards Quezon City.

My parents live in our ancestral house in Quezon City. My elder brother and his family manages our condominium business in Rockwell, while my fat younger sister handles our restaurant business. Even if my siblings and I live in our respective penthouse condominium units, we often go home to our house in Quezon City to be with our parents. Happy loves coming home in Quezon City because that's where our other dogs, Heaven and Hero, live. Heaven's a she; Hero, a he.

Upon entering our gate, Heaven and Hero went up to my car door and scratched it with their paws until I let them in. I opened the car and that's when Heaven and Hero rushed towards me and licked my entire face to their doggie hearts' desire.

After dinner with the family, I watched the dogs play chase. I then took them out for a stroll to deflect all the stress I got out of work. After walking the dogs for an hour, we went home. The dogs sleep with me. They spared one-fourth of the bed for me to sleep on.