Saturday, October 24, 2009

Ghost Puppy


Have you ever had something happen that defies explanation? I certainly have! Halloween's not very far away, so I thought this was a good time to tell y'all about

Ghost Puppy

My mother and I moved into this house in the late spring of 1981 along with my black toy poodle, Jeremy. Jeremy chose me to be his best buddy when he was three months old. In the spring of 1981 he was ten, and we'd spent very little time apart. We'd had many adventures together, and we'd have many more. When I wasn't at work, Jeremy was right by my side. Wherever I was, he was, so those rare occasions when he was ticked off at me always hit me hard.

Yes, once in a blue moon that little fur ball would wake up totally infuriated with me. He didn't want to look at me. He didn't want to be anywhere near me, and he certainly didn't want to hear the sound of my voice. When you spend most of your waking hours (and all your sleeping hours) joined at the hip with your best buddy, it's really tough to take when all of a sudden you're persona non grata. Mom would joke around about it and say that those were the only times when Jeremy ever paid her any attention, but that little fellow doing that really hurt my feelings! I would obsessively think back over all my behavior, trying to pinpoint what made him mad at me.

We'd settled into our new space well. Once in a while Mom and I might've caught a glimpse of something out of the corners of our eyes, but we didn't talk about it. After all, it couldn't really be anything... could it?

Unfortunately Jere woke up one morning mad at me. Perhaps he had a bad dream in which I had a starring role. Whatever the reason, he wanted nothing to do with me.

When I came home from work, it was more of the same. I was getting the silent treatment while that little black hairball snuggled in Mom's lap. I went out and swam for a bit, then took a shower and went to bed. After reading for about an hour, I turned out the light and decided to go to sleep. Not having a three-pound canine by my left hip certainly brought home the fact that I was lonely-- and still couldn't figure out what horrible thing I'd done to warrant this treatment!

About an hour later, I heard the jingle of Jeremy's dog tags out in the hallway as he shook himself. I didn't say a word because if he was no longer mad at me, I didn't want to give him any reason to change his mind. I heard him come into the bedroom to the foot of the bed where he shook himself once again. I smiled. He wanted to make sure I was awake for his grand entrance, the little devil! I laid still and didn't make a sound.

He walked around to the side of the bed, snorted, and the next thing I felt was his front paws striking the side of the mattress-- almost as if he were asking for help up. The second time I felt that thump, I couldn't stand it any longer. I patted the bed right by my hip and said, "Whatsa matter, kid-- eat too much supper?" Thump! went his paws against the mattress.

"Got a catch in your get-along and need a hand up, huh?" I teased. Before I could move, he jumped up on the bed. Instead of coming to his usual spot by my hip, he moved to the foot of the bed closest to the door, circled around three times, laid down and sighed. Oh well. He might not be in his spot, but at least he was getting over his mad. That was the important thing. "'night, Jere," I said as I drifted to sleep almost immediately.

I woke up an hour later and got up to get a drink of cold water. When I got out of bed, I noticed that Jeremy wasn't there. When I walked down to the kitchen and got a glass out of the cupboard, there was Mom sitting in the family room, knitting, with Jeremy sitting on her lap. He was glaring at me.

"Boy, that didn't last long."

Mom looked over at me. "What didn't last long?" she asked.

"Well, I thought Jere was over his mad because he came down and got in bed with me for a while about an hour ago."

Mom looked at me as though I'd lost my last marble. "I don't know what you're talking about because Jeremy hasn't been out of my lap once in the past three hours! I think he's taken root and will have to be surgically removed," she said.

"Jere's been in here all evening? He hasn't left once?"

"No, he hasn't. I'm really ready for him to get over being mad at you!" she replied.

I walked back down to my bedroom. I got in bed and pulled the covers up to my nose.

If Jeremy was in the family room... what got in bed with me an hour ago?




6 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh! That is totally creepy!

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  2. Kathy-- What's even more creepy is that it happened a total of three times before it stopped!

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  3. I don't normally read scary stuff but this was very good, well-written. Knowing it really happened to you is even scarier.

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  4. Susan-- Thanks. Good to see you stop by!

    Margot JR-- Thanks. I'm beginning to think that several of my regulars don't do scary very well because the number of comments has really dropped! :)

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  5. This was right up my street lol. I belong to a group who do paranormal investigations so love this kind of thing.

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