PART THE THIRD

            So they put chicken wire across the holes downstairs on the street so I couldn’t put my head out the holes anymore and then everything was fine again.

            And soon I was in charge of everything.

            “Felipe,” said the one called Bill, “your job is to keep the mastodons away from the cave door!”

            “I will bite ‘em if they come around here, Bill!” I said.

            “You’re terrific, Felipe.”  Well, it’s what everyone says, of course.

            As I say I was in charge of the whole place.  It was all mine.  My stairs, my blanket, my bowl, my boxes, my chairs, my roof, my windows, my tables, my buckets, my ball, my stick, my papers, my bowl, my boxes, my rug, my wood, my boxes, my chairs, everything.  It was a lot of work, I tell you.  I had to check everything everyday.  I had to look out all the windows and behind all the curtains, and under all the chairs and around all the boxes, and up and down the stairs and in the bathroom and up on the roof and out the front window, everywhere at least a hundred times a day.

            “You’re terrific, Felipe,” they all said, but, boy, it was a lot of work, I tell you.

            They were happy days for me, well, for everybody, really.  And I was always happy to see all the kids come and I was in charge of everything, of course.

            And they wrote a little song for me and they would sing it all the time and I loved to hear it.  It was a nice song, the best, really, and I remember it still.

            “Don Felipe went to town,

            One ear up and one ear down.”

            And everyone loved to sing it and they were very good singers, really, all the kids, and I would howl and run around and everyone would say “They’re playing your song, Felipe!”  As I say, it became everybody’s favorite song, for years, really.

*  *  *

            Then, too, a lot of people were coming in and out all the time to visit us and I had to check them all out and smell them and they were all very nice.

            And one day the one called Mary said, “When are you going to bring Dottie, Bill?”

            Another one said, “Yeah, Bill, you should bring Dottie!”

            As I say there were a lot of people coming in and out those days and I thought, Oh, a one called Dottie is going to come to visit.

            And the one called Bill said, “Yeah, one of these days.”

            And then one day one of them yelled out the window, “Oh, look!  Here comes Dottie!”

            And the other ones all ran to the window and yelled, “Hey, it’s Dottie!  Hey, Dottie, come on up!” and they all went running to the stairs and looked down at the door.

“Here she comes!”

            So, I thought, well, I guess I better go check this one out and smell her if she’s coming to visit, just like I do with everybody else, and so I went over to the head of the stairs and looked down.

            That’s when my life changed.

            I couldn’t believe my eyes.  It was … it was … well, it wasn’t one of THEM at all, like the others, it was … it was… a ME!  Well, it wasn’t ME, of course, but it was … MY MOTHER!  Well, it wasn’t my mother, you see, I could tell right away, but another mother, another me!  I couldn’t believe it.

            And the short one started yelling, “Dottie, look who’s here!  Dottie, look!  It’s Felipe!  Felipe, say hello to Dottie!”

            And this big, black and white thing started coming up the stairs, and she was all hairy and you couldn’t even see her eyes.  It was all I could do to just sit back on my adorable, little haunches at stare up at her, I tell you.

            Then she was smelling me all over and I was smelling her all over and she smelled just like my mother, well, not exactly, but almost, and I couldn’t believe it.

            And everybody was yelling, “Dottie!  Dottie!  Say hello to Felipe, Dottie!” and she started running around and I started running around and I was the happiest little puppy in the whole world.

            I decided there was only one thing to do: I gathered up all my strength and jumped up real high and bit her on the ear.

            Boy, was that a mistake!

            She had me down and pinned to the floor and flat on my back in no time, I tell you.  Her big, heavy paws pressed into my belly and her big, sharp teeth clutched around my little, tender throat.  She slobbered into my ear:

            “Now listen to me, you little runt!  You are nothing, you hear?  Nothing!  I am the boss here and you are NOTHING!  Get it?  You do what I say!  Get it?  You no-good, little RUNT!  I’M the boss here and you are a NOTHING RUNT!”

            I could barely look up and see one, big, angry eye staring at me through all that horrible hair on her face.  She was choking me to death and I couldn’t breathe.  Then she lifted me up and spit me out across the room, smashing me into the hard concrete wall as she slowly turned and swaggered away. 

            My head was spinning out of control as I watched her walk down the hall.  There was only one thing to do:  I slowly got to my feet and began to run as hard as I could and jumped up and bit her on the ear again!

            “THAT’S IT!” she screamed and I was pinned on the floor again.  “That was the final straw, you … you … YOU …”

            “Runt?” I suggested.

            She howled!  “Runt!  Worse than a runt!  YOUR … NAME … IS … MUD!  You hear?  MUD!  EM – U – DEE!  MUD!”

            I could barely breathe.  “Er, … that’s funny, I thought it was Felipe,” I said.

            “AGGGGGHHHH!” and she threw me across the room.

            I decided there was only one thing to do:  I went running after her as hard as I could but this time she was turning the corner into another room and so I jumped up and bit her in the tail.

            Boy, was she mad!

Then a wonderful thing happened.  Just as she swung her slobbering, monstrous head back at me, my little feet hit the ground running as fast as I could and I took off like a bullet.  She was right behind me, of course, but I discovered what I had always suspected:  I was the fastest little dog in the whole world and she couldn’t catch me!  I ran and ran and ran and she ran after me and I ran all the way around the room and ran up and bit her in the tail again.  Oh, she was mad!

            I was off again.  And that’s how it was for quite awhile.

            “They’re playing so nicely,” everyone said.

            And I bit her again and she got all mad and then she forgot all about it and we were friends again and then I bit her again.

            We had a wonderful time all day long.

            And I remember so well, something I learned about Dottie that day, and something I always admired in her.  She was quick to forgive, she was.  Sometimes I would do just terrible things to her and she would get plenty steamed, I tell you, but pretty soon she was thinking about something else and forget about it and then she wasn’t mad anymore.

            It’s a good lesson to learn, all you little puppies, hearing my story, and a good example to remember from Dottie, all you little ones.  Nobody’s perfect in this life.  And it’s a good thing we can do, really, to forgive each other and help each other out a little bit, in this life.

            I always felt a little bad about biting her on the ear so many times, but as I say, she was quick to forgive and we were always good friends, the best, really, even to this day.

*  *  *

            So, we played all day up and down the stairs and had a wonderful time, really and then the one called Bill said, Well, come on, Dottie.  Time to go home.  Say goodbye to Felipe.

            “That yellow dog is going to come to no good, Bill,” she said.

            “Well, Dottie, we have to be patient.  He’s only a little puppy.”

            “Mark my words,” she muttered under her breath as she slowly trundled down the stairs.

            As I say, I was sorry to see her go and I looked for her every day then a few days later, she came again, always with the one called Bill, and I was always glad to see her.

*  *  *

THE END

of

PART THE THIRD

   ...PART THE LAST