Bits of Dreams: One Shots, Quotes, and Other Random Writings

To My Fellow Writers

Okay, so if you've written a book where animals can talk, and the first time they do so it scares the crap out of the people, I can confirm that that is a 100% realistic reaction, and anything else is total bull. How do I know this, you ask? NO, I'm not crazy. Why would you even say that? Just keep reading before you judge my sanity, please.

Before you go any further, you need to know a little bit about my dog. His name is Gunner, and he's a brindle boxer-pitbull mix. Gorgeous, super-protective, sweet to everybody in my family, but he hates everybody else. He usually sleeps on the floor next to my bed.

Now that you've got a little background info...

This story starts in the early hours of the morning before the sun had risen. My mom woke me up so I could go turn the car on and get it warming up while she was getting around for work. I do that real quick, then lay back down for a little bit because I don't have to be up quite yet. All is quiet, I'm starting to drift off...and then I hear it.

Somebody with a low-pitched voice is mumbling something right by me, so I roll over, expecting to see my dad, telling me to get up or something. You know who's there?

Gunner. He's standing up by the side of my bed, looking right at me.

I. Jumped. So. Hard.

Seriously, I gasped really loud and rolled back over, curling into a ball. It took me a second to realize what it was I had actually heard.

No, my dog did not talk. No, my dad didn't say something to me and then morph into my dog (that would be weird). No, I didn't totally lose my marbles (I hope).

The sound that I had heard, the low-pitched mumbling...was my dog groaning while he stretched.

I literally freaked out because I thought, just for a second, that my dog had talked to me. *facepalm*

So, long story short, if you ever write a book where an animal talks, and it's not normal for them to talk, you'd better make sure the human straight-up freaks. Because anything else would be a totally inaccurate reaction.