The room was quiet. Too quiet. Brandon was gone off to work, leaving his friend to snooze on the fluffy sofa. The few squeaky toys strewn about were silent too. The television set on the wall was dark and absent of light, quietly waiting.
Nixi had stopped snoring too. Her naptime was over, but there wasn’t much to do without her friend around. Usually, Brandon would at least leave the picture box on or perhaps turn on the radio to keep the silence at bay, but not today. He had been in a hurry and accidentally left Nixi in a wake of silence.
The only sound Nixi could hear was her own snoring. Which was probably what woke her up in the first place. She’d been startled, and it wasn’t the first time. In fact, there’d been times when she’d scared Brandon awake too.
Nixi listened for anything to make a sound. Despite her relaxed appearance, she was ready to pounce. Ready to do something. Anything. Play. It would be fun to play as long as there was something or someone to play with.
The squeaky toys lay silently on the floor, sleeping or something. Nixi didn’t know what they were doing, but they were boring. The ball sat still in it’s own comfort zone, refusing to role out any amusement.
There were footsteps from above. Nixi looked up at the ceiling, perking her ears and aiming them at the noise, trying to sort out what was going on up there. Who was it? What were they doing? The sound was too muffled to be informative, but it was interesting. Nixi listened for a while, waiting until the sound was gone. And then it was silent again.
“This is boring,” is all Nixi could huff to herself. Not only was it boring, it was actually a little scary too. It was like being all alone, so distant from anyone or anything else. No one to play with. Nothing to keep you company. Just echoes from the distant rooms beyond the walls of the apartment.
Then there were footsteps in the hallway. Nixi perked her head up, jingling the tags on her collar. The footsteps drew nearer as Nixi’s heart began to race. Was Brandon home? Was it finally playtime? No. The footsteps passed away and faded down the hallway until it was all quiet again.
Nixi sneezed. And then she sneezed again. After cleaning her whiskers, all was back to the drone of silence. She suddenly had the urge to bark or howl or something, at least make some sort of noise. But she wasn’t quite ready to make a ruckus only to tire herself out before her friend got back home.
With a huff, the pup stretched herself into the sofa cushions, rolling deep into the comfy warmth of the fluffy sofa. She was still bored. Nothing had changed. It was still quiet and still, but at least she’d sort of made a mess of the cushions. Too much of a mess, and Brandon might spend more time organizing the sofa and cut the playtime short. So Nixi rested herself, waiting and listening.
Then the keys jingled. There were no footsteps outside the door. Just the familiar jingle of keys that meant her friend was home.
Nixi pounced out of the cushions and plopped onto the floor. Her mad dash to meet her friend could probably only be recorded in slow motion.
Brandon swung the door closed with a loud “slam,” and rustled his things as he bent over to give his friend a belly rub. He spoke all sorts of things to Nixi, asking her questions and making sure she’d been a good pup while he was away.
It was loud now. All sorts of noise. It was exciting. Nixi was woofed out all sorts of questions of her own, wondering what they were going to do now that they were together. Games? Neck scratches? Racing? Out for a walk? What? What? Who knows…but it’s good to be together again.
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.
