Friday, October 15, 2021

The Yorkie Leading the Yorkie

 


Pocket has been getting up early and going somewhere for the last couple of weeks.  When I ask her where she has been, she says just for a walk.  I didn't believe that for a second.  She was having fun without me, and I could not stand it.  I had to follow her.

I knew as soon as I got outside that I was not as prepared as Pocket. I had chosen to wear my eight-year-old body, which was comfortable but carries a few extra pounds. Pocket picked her puppy body and lengthened the distance between us, causing me to do the most dreadful activity:  Running.  

Pocket came to a mud puddle with a round log over it. Because of her diminutive size, she was able to scurry across. I had to move more carefully, and when I came to a slick spot in the middle, I slid off into the mud covering my body.

I stood and tried to clean myself off, although nothing would cleanse my humiliation. I followed Pocket's path for a minute and saw her smelling a tree trunk. Were these directions to whatever fun place she was going? When she scampered forward, I walked ahead to smell the tree. It said to follow the light.  I looked up, took a few steps towards the sun, and fell down a gopher hole.

Darn the dreaded luck; I began to claw my way to the top when I felt the teeth of an angry gopher sinking into my tail. He let go long enough to call me a hole invader. I used that opportunity to pull myself out. I looked back and saw a chunk of my tail was missing.

At that point, a wise angel would have gone home, But I have always been too curious for my good. I picked up Pocket's scent and saw her burrowing under some thick brambles.  I waited for her to clear the thorns then followed.   They dug into my skin and the burrs stuck to my skin.  I got one on the bottom of my paw, which made every step painful.   I considered giving up but heard Pocket barking happily.
Now I had her.

I burst through the woods into the clearing where I expected to find her.   Instead,  a surfeit of skunks confronted me. Before I could speak, they hit me with multiple blasts of skunk spray.

I gave up and began to walk home covered in mud, thorns, burrs, and skunk spray. I.was limping, missing part of my tail, and unrecognizable. Those who did notice me provided a wide berth. They were less able to tolerate my odor than I was.

I arrived home to find Pocket blithely sitting on the picnic table licking her paw. I asked where she had been. "You should know," she said sagely. "You have been following me."

I tried to feign ignorance. "The truth is written all over your face," she said," or at least your fur. You fell in the mud chasing me over a log, fell into a gopher hole trying to sniff my tree, got the cuts from the brambles I climbed under, and my skunk friends sprayed you."

"How did you know?" I asked anxiously.

"Because I led you there," she said.  "I wanted to teach you a lesson about sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.  How did it go?"

I was furious and vowed my revenge, but deep down, I was proud of her.

I had taught her well.

8 comments:

  1. Pocket got you there! Soooo, are you going to follow her again? (I know I would, but then I am a cat and we are curious).

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  2. We would have run back home after the badger got our tail. Do angel bodies heal? XOX Xena and Lucy

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  3. MOL MOL I love Marv's comment!!
    Crazy Angel Toto the mighty mini dachshund would have loved being with you on that trip. Dachshunds were originally all about going down badger holes. Their lean body slipped right in. And according to the stories of about a Dachshund tail
    they were pulled out of the hole by their very sturdy tail.
    Hugs cecilia

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  4. When the student knows more than the teacher.

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  5. Maybe next time you should put out an APB among your friends and neighbors and have them report on her whereabouts.

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  6. Wow, now *That* was quite the lesson learned...or not, BOL! We would be like Marv, stubborn and more curious than we are worth! BOL!

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