A Short Story from the Perspective of a Dog
by Olivia Franse
Inspired by Jett the Dog
2:53 am: What was that? I hear a noise. Not just the usual cars down the road. Not the human talking in her sleep. Something else. Sounds like an adventure.
Down the stairs I go. There it is again! Sounds like it’s coming from the porch. That can only mean one thing…
“Meow!”
CATS!
Oh! I love cats!!
I shout, “Charlie!! Charlie open the door! Let’s play! Come on Charlie!”
But of course, all the human can hear is me barking.
“Jett? Come here girl. It’s time for bed.”
Sigh. Back upstairs I go.
7:30 am: Beep. Beep. Beep.
There’s that weird thing again. It happens every morning just after the giant light outside comes up. I still have yet to figure out what makes that sound. It might be the human. I hope she isn’t going to explode.
Why isn’t she up yet? Doesn’t she know I need to check on the squirrels?
If she won’t get up I’ll have to do it myself. I’ll drag myself off my soft green doggy bed and, to wake her up, make my way over to the human’s giant bed. I wish I had a bed that large.
Wake…Up! I think as I poke her with my cold, wet nose. I start licking her delicious cheek as she giggles.
“Alright, alright. I’ll take you outside.”
Outside? Outside?! We’re going outside!!
I start jumping around uncontrollably. But can you blame me? It’s outside!
8:06 am: Soon I’m running down the stairs and bounding across the yard with Lily, my furry canine accomplice. I smell something familiar…
“SQUIRRELS!!” Lily and I both shout at the same time. Next, we’re running from tree to tree jumping in the air trying to reach those pesky rodents. One of these days we’ll get them.
The rest of the day goes as usual – eat, sleep, bathroom break, sleep, and eat again. A wonderful day if you ask me.
7:19 pm: Time to feed the animals! My human always takes me and Lily outside with her. The human isn’t looking while she’s feeding the goats, so Lily and I run up to the front porch. Right on time, the cats are waiting.
“Charlie! Onyx! Come, you guys! Don’t you want to play?” I ask as I jump in the air and wag my tail.
Casually licking his paw, Charlie, a very refined cat, replies, “Not with a d-o-g.”
Not knowing what “d-o-g” means, I walk right up to Charlie and lick his whole head.
Before Charlie can react, Lily suddenly yells, “Jett! Look!”
Looking up, I see our other cat, Onyx, in a tree. He’s getting mighty close to a squirrel. A squirrel. Did I mention how much I love cats and squirrels?
I run up to the tree and put my front paws on the trunk. Wagging my tail and leaping in the air, Lily and I both start to say, “Onyx! Come play with us! Come on down! And bring that squirrel with you!”
The human abruptly comes out of nowhere and says, “Lily, Jett, did you two chase that poor cat up the tree?”
“It wasn’t us!” I start to say, but it’s no use. Humans don’t understand dog.
Calling us over, she continues, “Instead of chasing cats, you should chase this!” Suddenly, a new baseball is thrown across the yard!
I immediately start chasing it, all the while yelling “BALL!! Ball! Mine! My ball! Ball!!”
With my wonderful new toy in my mouth I think to myself, “The perfect end to a perfect day.”
