I didn’t realize what was to come until it was too late to stop. Things were in motion, and it’s awful hard to put the brakes on when it’s this late in the game. I tried anyway, putting on the brakes, but it only made things worse.
Skipper didn’t help things out at all. I could hear him cheering me on, even though he had to know that this was all wrong. It was all wrong and going even wronger. Wait, is that even a word. Well, if it’s not, it is now and it applies to this particular situation.
In the distance, you could hear Gracie yelling at me to stop. But it’s not like I could stop to explain to her that there was no stopping any of this. If I could have done that, I wouldn’t be in the situation I’m in right now. But she’ll soon see that, and if she doesn’t, just gonna have to ‘splain it later. If there is a later.
You see, none of this was my idea in the first place. It was all Skipper’s fault. He’d talked me into doing this and I’d fallen for it. Well, it was more like he called me a chicken because I didn’t want to at first. And I still didn’t want to when I did it, but the whole “chicken” name calling thing really ruffles my fur, and I caved. But it’s still his fault, that’s I’m even more sure of now.
Perhaps if the other dogs at the park hadn’t cheered me on, I wouldn’t have been persuaded. Now that I think of it, I’m gonna put some of the blame on them too. They should be here with me, ready to face the consequences, but they’d all scattered as soon as things started looking south. They ran off to chase their ball or play with their own friends, and I was stuck here, just me and the branch.
Oh yeah, I guess it would make sense to tell you, I am currently in the tree. Yes, I am in the tree. Up high like a cat, and I don’t even know how to set things back in order. I’ve never been in a tree, and it’s hard to believe that I made it all the way up here. But it was all so fast, I just kept running and now I’m here. And the ground is down there.
The problem is, I’m not in exactly a comfy spot. My paws are barely hanging on and I’m starting to slip. When the first paw was down, that’s when the cheers from Skipper grew louder. He wanted me to jump back down, but that was too much. It was enough that I’d ended up all the way up here, now he was calling me a chicken because I didn’t want to jump down.
I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure dogs are not supposed to be in trees. Maybe a few roll arounds in the piles of leaves in the fall, but those are on the ground where it’s safe. Skipper wasn’t up here to share the experience, so I invited him up.
“Just jump down already,” Skipper barked a little calmer now. Not so bold anymore.
“I need a push,” I invited again. Skipper was quiet now.
That’s when things began to happen super fast. Faster than the first. And I fell. It was all done in the wag of a tail, but lucky for me, I didn’t fall as far as the ground. Skipper, in all his wisdom had left himself right in my path, ready to give me a helping paw when I landed.
Everything turned out to be just fine in the end. I was fine, Skipper was fine, the rest of the dogs at the park were fine, and the tree seemed okay too. But Gracie didn’t like any of this. She was totally upset and in one of her lecture moods, so we had to cut the visit to the park short. It was a good lesson learned though: If you’re gonna fall, find a fluffy place to land.
Author:
Jason Duron is a short story writer and author of several fiction stories. Curious and lovable as dogs can be, the Adventures of Rocky, Nixi and Dante give you a chance to see daily life from a “dog’s eye view” and share in their thoughts. Please enjoy, and we hope that you’ll feel free to comment and give us insight into your dog’s very own adventures.
