Our Best Friend Moves In

It was the 13^thof August, right after my oldest daughter’s birthday.  I had a doctor’s appointment and my mother was staying with my two girls, Sharon and Sarah.  Finishing with the doctor’s appointment I called home to see if they needed anything and how things were going.  My mother sounded kind of hesitant when she was on the phone and assured me that everything was going ok.  I was a very warm summer’s day as I drove home.  My mother had asked me to call her when I got closer and I thought it odd but told her ok.  My thoughts of what they were up to at home ran rampant with ideas.  Broken window? 


 Flooded bathroom? 

Smoke filled house due to them cooking? What ever could it be? I made the call anyways.

As I pulled into the driveway I could see through the front bay window a scurry of movement in the living room.  As I parked the car in the garage my mother was heading down the short flight of steps from the hallway. She was carrying a small box that I had gotten from the pet store the previous week. 
 My daughter had asked for a puppy for her birthday but my husband had always said emphatically, NO!  He was not a dog lover, he tolerated cats but whenever the girl’s asked for a dog he was adamant that no dog would live in our home.  Anyways, I recognized the pet carrier as the one we had brought the guinea pig home in.  My heart beat faster thinking that something had happened to the guinea pig we called Vanilla, as I knew my daughters would both be brokenhearted.  They had made all kinds of promises to my husband on the care, feeding and cleaning of the guinea pig until he finally relented and allowed them to get it. 

Her words to me were, “I’m leaving and will call you later.”  She said this to me as she thrust the carrier in my hands and headed for the garage door with her keys jingling in her hand.  I knew she was trying to hide something she had done. My next word caught her off guard and she stopped dead in her tracks. “Stop it right there mother.”  She knows when I address her as mother instead of mom I as serious. “What is going on and what is in this box?”

As she stood in the doorway with her head kind of bowed I could see an inkling of a smile on her face.  As I peeked into the box all I could see was a black ball of fur.  Fully opening the box I lifted out a very tiny puppy that I instantly fell in love with.

My next though was what would my husband say?  I didn’t have long to wait because he was pulling into the driveway at that moment. 

As he got out of the car his gaze went to the box and then our two guilty faces.  It was at this moment that my mother looked up at him and repeated a saying she always uses with her grandchildren, “If daddy says no ask grandma, she will get it for you.”

Needless to say he was not immediately happy with what she had done, but I could see the delight in his eyes when he gazed into the box and held the puppy for the first time.  I can truly say that this was the day that our, the whole family, best friend moved in with us.

                                                        Midnight Our Best Friend