MERCI'S FRIENDS

Merci sharing her dinner with Cameron and Percy

MERCI'S FRIENDS
Copyright 2005 Janice Price

Life at Jan's Funny Farm is great. I have friends here and we share. Before she adopted me from the shelter, I didn't have anything of my own. She gave me my first toys, taught me how to play with them, and introduced me to some strange critters called cats. Oh, do I like cats!

Cats can play almost as well as dogs, and they weigh less, so I can carry them to my den to put them away with my other toys when we're done playing. Jan got a bit goggle-eyed the first time she saw us going by. I was buzzing through the living room (in reverse), around the TV set, into her bedroom, and was almost to my den before she found her voice. "Merci!" she hollered. I dropped Cameron like a rag. She had more to say, something about not dusting the floor with the kittens when I carry them, I think it was.

Jan tells everyone I'm probably the only dog in the county, if not the state, that has my own kittens. Percy was my first. I found and rescued him, so he treats me with as much respect as he would his own mother - chewing on my paws, kneading my head, purring in my ear and eating my food.

I didn't have to rescue Cameron. He was born next door, but when his brothers and sisters began disappearing to new homes, he was lonely. Cameron started following us on our walks and hanging around our porch with me to watch the cars go by. One day he just walked inside with me and wouldn't go home. I don't mind. He makes a good duster.

I don't even mind the kittens eating with me. The food tastes a lot better when I have friends for dinner. I mean, when I have friends to dinner.

Percy is like Buddy - a wind tunnel, in reverse. They both inhale their food without chewing. If Jan doesn't close Buddy in a room by himself at mealtime, he sucks up my dinner too.

As I type this, Buddy is busy eating a cardboard box for dessert. What an appetite! I hope he sleeps on Jan's bed tonight instead of mine. I haven't eaten any cardboard lately, but if I remember correctly, it isn't digestible and produces gas. Hmmm. Maybe he should sleep in another room.

Note: He didn't sleep in another room last night and I was right about the cardboard.

Till my next column.
Merci