It was a long ride back, but we made it home after a few naps. And even after all that snoozing in the back seat, I was still tired. So I figured that the old man would be tired too, and we’d just take a snooze for the night when we got back home. This was not true.
In fact, the old man seemed more peppy than before. Well, maybe he was just more determined to get things done. You see, after a long play day out on the sandy beach, we managed to bring a lot of dirt home with us. It just tagged right along, sticking in my paws, clinging to my fur, some in my ears, and my tail felt like an anchor.
So when we’d arrived home, I was stuck to my comfy spot in the sofa. Sure I felt a little uncomfortable, but I was too tired to really care. Unfortunately for me, the old man did care. I was far too caked in sand to be permitted to sleep freely.
“Can’t we wait until tomorrow?” I asked the old man when he came to scoop me up for bath time.
I had tried to get away, but I was just too heavy and too tired to slip away to find a hiding place. My tail dragged behind, slowing me down. And that’s when the old man caught me. I’m actually surprised he could even pick me up, I felt so heavy.
The old man took me to the bathing room. I could hear the water rushing as it filled up the tub with soapy suds. I pleaded with the old man not to do this thing, that we could just go to sleep and forget about all the trouble of bathing time.
But the old man would have none of my reasoning. My collar clicked and jingled as the old man put it in the sink. That was actually a pretty substantial amount of weight lifted off my neck. I could actually look around now and see where we were going.
And plop. I splashed down in the tub, feeling the warm water tickle my paws and belly. Just to make sure we did this right, I immediately tried to get back out. Well, I wasn’t really trying, but I was just trying to keep the normal pace of things.
I didn’t make it, so the old man proceeded to scrub me down. It felt like mud was dragging across my fur. Lots of splashing. My ears had to be wrung of all the sand. But I could feel myself getting lighter by the scrub. I even sneezed out what was probably a ball of mud. Not trying to be gross, but it felt good to get it out.
After what seemed like forever, the scrubbing stopped and the power rinse began. The little sprayer showered my fur, tickling and tingling as it swept off all the suds and sand. I normally don’t like baths, but this one was feeling pretty good. In fact, I was getting my second wind. I felt lighter, sort of pepped back up. Maybe I’ll skip nap time and we can go right to breakfast or something.
Rinse done, I was plucked out of the muddy waters and dropped on the cold towel. The old man told me to dry off, but I did things a little differently. I began to race. I ran free and lite! I was ready to play again. All sorts of fun games ran through my mind as I raced around the sofa room. I had a few ideas for a delicious breakfast too.
Towels were tossed at me as the old man tried to get me to dry off. But the air was taking care of it just fine. Plus, I could always use the sofa cushions or the rug to get some of the excess out of my ears.
“Ready, let’s play!” I ruffed as I raced to dry myself.
But the old man was already snoozing. He didn’t even take a bath…just plopped right down on the sofa and went to sleep.
“Really?” I woofed. “You can’t go to sleep being dirty….take a bath so we can play!”
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.
