After our walk this morning, the dogs settled onto opposite sides of the couch while I started my lunch cooking. They left me a nice spot in the middle, which they don’t always bother to do, and I was heading for it cheerfully when my toes smashed into the coffee table.
“OW!” I yelled, plunking down between my dogs. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!”
Juliette, deeply concerned, struggled upright so that she could lean in to check on me (paw on the arm, nose in the face; it’s what she does). “Ow,” I complained at her grumpily, and she licked my chin.
And then I realized what was missing.
I swiveled my head all Exorcist-like to look at Jolie, who had raised her head and was watching me anxiously, but hadn’t bothered to actually get up.
“OW,” I insisted, glaring pointedly at her while Juliette tried to chew my hair. Jolie immediately figured out what I was getting at, and she obediently hauled her body up, thumped it back down on my lap and started licking me obsessively, as if I’d just narrowly escaped death.
And people say I spoil them….
(Why, yes, that is a new format you see. My old theme developed a glitch that I couldn’t seem to fix. It was minor, true, but after a few tries I found myself dangerously close to becoming one of those people who sends angry emails to total strangers informing them of just exactly what I think of them, and I’d like to put that off for as long as possible.)