The day was July 24, 2021, it was a nice, hot summer day with a bright blue sky filled with a light breeze. I woke up to my puppy and dog playing with each other like they always do, it was their favorite pastime. Of course, they didn’t have the decency to take their playing to a separate room and blessed me with the rough wake up call of pouncing on my body that was under the covers.
“Hey ladies, what do you think you are doing?” I questioned. They turned and looked at me. They tilted their heads as if they were piecing together what I was saying. My oldest dog, Mavis, looked at me as if to say ‘Get this puppy away from me.’. I giggle as I walk downstairs, hearing the tiny footsteps of eight little legs behind me.
Mavis heads straight to her bowl and sits as Maggi follows. I watch as Mavis passes me, her short, stocky, black figure is surrounded by her thick, dense, wavy coat of fur; her big block head holds high as her light auburn eyes pierce her food dish. Maggi, unlike Mavis, is long and floppy. She prances to the dish, her head moving gelatinous like, bouncing from here to there with every unorthodox step her lanky legs take her.
“Nice try girls, I already fed you at six. Who wants their Greenie though?” I say in a high baby voice. Their tails wag and their eyes light up. After I give them their treats I start to pack for the day in order to go to my boyfriend’s house on the lake. Mavis follows me into my room and helps me pick out my clothes. I pick out two different outfits and place them on the floor, Mavis then comes and lays on the outfit she likes.
“Perfect, nice choice Mav.” I say, gathering the pile of clothes from under her. We both walk downstairs to Maggi who is destroying a brand new dog toy on the couch.
“Wow, Maggs you couldn’t last a day with it could you?” she just looks at me with her big brown eyes that carry no thoughts behind them. As I sit down Mavis sits next to me, she is always with me. The dogs start play fighting like normal, wrestling back and forth until I have had enough of them trampling me. I move to the floor and Mavis settles down, I use the front of the couch as a backrest and Mavis falls asleep on my shoulder. I don’t think anything of it because she has done that many times; just not with Maggi around. I turn on the TV and start watching a show, letting Mavis just relax on me. Maggi, on the other hand, is the exact opposite; she is throwing up toys and catching them with herself. She must have gotten bored because the next second there she was biting Mavis in the butt. Mavis, still half asleep, snapped. Faster than lightning she had partially bitten through my upper lip.
At first it didn’t really hurt, it was so sudden I was almost in shock. Everything went downhill when I looked into the mirror; my upper lip and under my eye were sprayed with blood, my mouth was quickly filling with the overpowering taste of pennies.
“ Mavis!” I exclaimed in panic. I was frantic and the worst part was my parents and sister were over two and a half hours away. I quickly Facetime my mom, but by this time I am in hysterics, when she answers I’m crying and screaming.
“Mom, look what Mavis did to me!” I sob loudly. My mom looks concerned but doesn’t want to worry me.
“Come closer to the phone, I can’t see it.” she fibs, to try and calm me down a little. “Oh, you might need stitches, call Memere and Pepere they will bring you to the hospital. Right now, I need you to grab an ice pack and a paper towel and hold it to your face. We are heading back home now and we will meet you at the hospital.” she explains. “What happened anyway?” she questions.
Everything went downhill when I looked into the mirror
“Maggi bit Mavis in the butt when she was taking a nap on my shoulder, she didn’t mean to do it.” I explain. “ She feels bad now, she won’t even look at me; she just keeps running away and avoiding eye contact.”
“Hon, she is just upset that she hurt you, it was just an accident.”
In the hospital, all I am thinking about is Mavis. She doesn’t understand that I am not upset with her. I keep replaying the scenario in my head but it couldn’t have been prevented, it was just a freak accident.
When I get home I run to Mavis, she runs away. I call her name and she sits on the couch next to me, unable to make eye contact while I’m petting her.
“Who’s a good girl?” I ask her in a high pitched voice. Her tail wags but she still isn’t looking at me. “Mavis, I am fine.” I say sternly. She looks back at me with her big, light auburn eyes. “ Thank you for your creation, I’ll have your artwork on me forever.” I say pointing to the four stitches on my face. “It is beautiful, Mav.” I state as she starts wagging her tail and sliding slowly more towards me.
I liked this piece of writing because I was able to share something scary that happened to me but I was also able to turn it into a positive perspective that many people might not see.