Once Upon a Time: True Stories of an Aspiring Writer

2: Dog Person

SATURDAY. Party day.

The ordinarily plain dining room was filled with merriment. Out sat multiple paper Dixie cups, each one holding water. I placed a goldfish in each one. I didn't know what exactly I was making, but it had to be special. Over time, the goldfish would appear to expand. They didn't taste any better, though.

Meanwhile, the smell of cupcakes began to waft into the room. Something exciting must be happening.

Today was a Bebe Day party.

Bebe, or Brittany, was our dog. And we loved her very much, especially me. She was a lovable mutt who never failed to make us laugh. We celebrated her by eating cake, wearing party hats, and dancing to "In the Mood" around the island. This was Bebe's official theme song, though we did change the lyrics.

I often declared these types of Bebe Day parties, though I don't recall much else of what went into them. I do remember the party hats. And the goldfish. And that it was a wonderful time.

***

Brittany was born on the same day as me: February 24, 1994. I guess I was destined to always like dogs. 

We become good friends. As a baby I would organize her food in the dog dish, stack my plastic Sesame Street letters on her back, and put my dance recital tutu on her. She was very patient.

 We also loved to take her for walks around the neighborhood. There was a lot to explore. We'd even go inside houses that were still being built, considering what each room might be and enjoying the smell of fresh wood. 

I loved the dogs in my life. From Brittany to the plastic dogs in my preschool classroom to Chance/Chase across the street, dogs were pretty great stuff.

I even had a dog ornament that I bonded with. My mom had made a Christmas ornament in the shape of a poodle's face back in elementary school. One year, it didn't quite make it back into the ornament box. Instead, I had possession of it.

I would take the poodle down to my plastic tent in the basement, one of those tents where you crawled in through the tunnel. I loved that space. I had taken to reading Junie B. Jones books there, with the poodle. It was like we became friends. Eventually, she did make her way back to the ornament box. She still hangs on our tree today, in good condition.

Then there were movies. The Pongo & Perdita sing-a-long by Disney was one of my absolute favorite tapes. It's about a woman who has a bunch of dalmatians and invites a bunch of kids and their dogs over to have a party. The songs were great, the aesthetic was just perfect (oh, to own that water fountain), and it was just a feel-good good time. There was also Good Boy, a movie I saw when it came to theaters, about dogs coming from space. It was my favorite for a time.

But I told my own stories, too. While some of these were play-acting, especially the "Barbie stories," some were written, too. Before I learned to write, Mom would dictate my words onto paper. Few of these stories survived. One of them, naturally, was about a dog who had a birthday party. After we returned from walking the dogs in our neighborhood, I would always be inspired to do more with dog storytelling, be it watching a dog movie or doing a different activity altogether.

Soon, dogs would also be my imaginary friends.

Oh sure, I had a human imaginary friend. Emily and I liked to play on the computer together. Her appearance depended on the day. Sometimes she looked like Nadine from Arthur, who was D.W.'s imaginary friend. Other times she looked like a girl from a computer game I liked. But computer games were basically the extent of our activities.