Smackie the Frog

Ever since Kelly came around, there has been a disease that has slowly been affecting our family. I’m gonna call it “dog disease”. Before Kelly, our family was not made up of dog people. In fact, we were decidedly anti-dog. Even more in fact, for the longest time, we were anti-pet people, due to Phil’s allergies and laziness. Eventually we ended up with cats, but owning a dog was never something that we would consider.

And then Kelly came along. And she had a dog, Mr. Linus. And Mr. Linus is the sweetest, friendliest, best little dog in the whole world, and it made us reconsider our views on dogs. At least in as much as we could admit that we liked Mr. Linus.

Well eventually I decided that I wanted to have a Mr. Linus of my own. So one day Kelly and I drove way out to the middle of nowhere and got Snowy, a dog that couldn’t be any less like Mr. Linus. She is not sweet, or friendly, or the best at anything. But very slowly she has gotten to the point where she is an acceptable pet, and she is legitimately excited when Kelly or I come home, and she will finally let my parents hold her. And I guess that little change was all it took.

Because then Mom decided that she wanted a Mr. Linus of her own. And after much going back and forth in her head, she decided to get one. And so now my parents have a little dog named Chewie. And he is kinda sweet, but they’ve only had him for a day, so he is still scared and getting used to things.

Who knows where this disease will spread next. Maybe Phil and Helen will get a dog. Or maybe one day I’ll come home to find that the disease has turned full circle, and Kelly got another dog.