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I am not a dog person.
Never have been.
Never will be.
first thing. help get senior dog, Jasmine, out for her morning airing.
I have had cats all my life. The brief periods when I have been catless were quickly remedied.
after breakfast, take junior dog, Rose, out for her long walk of the day, follow her around while she poops, eats grass, sniffs, and, after about 10 minutes, heads back to the house, note to self, use time to practice Duolingo, so I can keep an eye on the dog.
My husband had a dog while he was in college. Not the usual move for a student. I came into the marriage with a cat & a horse. He arrived with dog-shaped hole in his life. As a surgical resident, he had no time to take care of a dog. One rotation was so onerous that I felt sorry for him. I told him that if he could find a dog we could afford, he could get one. Within a week, he found a free, one-year-old, German Shepherd who needed rehoming. This was before the Internet, so I don’t know how he heard of her. Maybe the bulletin board at the grocery store? Maybe telepathy? We named her Schatten which is German for Shadow, the name of the shepherd he had in college.
throughout day, change Jasmine’s towels as needed, refill her water dish making sure to serve small amounts otherwise the water gets dirty and she turns up her snoot.
Husband’s family has always had Basset Hounds, yes, hounds plural. Adding one to our menagerie was as inevitable as the second horse. Over the years, we’ve had six Bassets, two Shepherds, and one lab mix delivered up our driveway by the dog distribution system. At first, we agreed that one dog equals two cats. Then we got complicated cats who where equal to one dog in their own right and big dogs who were worth three cats. Eventually, we tossed out the math and simply said, Whatever.
2 pm. serve lunch at barn. put Jasmine out for a few minutes, give saline drops to moisten her right eye, let Rose out, she will walk down the ramp, do her business and return.
On one occasion, husband and I had words about the pet situation. Back when we had younger cats and bigger dogs, the cats ate on top of the refrigerator. They would jump on a corner of the counter on their way up and down. They were remarkably good about stay off the rest of the counter. However, if one left items in the landing zone, the items could get knocked to the floor. One evening, husband made a series of jokes that were not jokes about all the stuff that was getting knocked over. I was not amused. I explained about leaving the landing zone clear. The jokes-not-jokes continued the next morning. I had enough. I outlined all the ways his dogs made my life difficult, starting with storing my leather saddle in my office so that the shepherd didn’t treat it as a ridiculously expensive chew toy. I put up with his dogs, he could leave my cats the hell alone. The subject was dropped.
6:30 pm. serve dinner hay, offer Jasmine her pill which she will scarf up with out prompting, way easier than cat pills, Rose goes out.
Years ago, mother-in-law was concerned that she had her last dog. No. We told her we would take whatever dogs needed homes when the time came. At one point, she had three dogs and we had three dogs. We absolutely would have honored our promise, but that’s a lot of dog.
As it turned out, we were between dogs for the first time since Schatten. MIL had two elderly Basset Hounds and was thinking about a puppy when she passed.
evening, husband home, I go back to being assistant dog minion, help with Jasmine’s eye meds, ensure she is reclining where she can supervise dinner.
We debated the best way to get the dogs from Massachusetts to Alabama. Airplane? Pet shuttle? Were they too old? What was best for the dogs? Finally, we simply put them in back seat, got in the car, and drove until we got home. They were stars about the trip.
dark of night, visit smallest room, Rose out, refill Jasmine’s water.
Cats rule!
Dog drool!
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Afterword
Readings were done in a different room. Classroom was the one behind.
The assignment #4 for class #5 was a transition modeled after the Hero’s Journey or the Heroines’ Journey. Assignment #5 for class #6 was to rewrite one of the previous assignments to be read aloud.
The above text was my assignment #4 for class #5 that I read aloud for class #6. I skipped assignment #5. Neither of the two I submitted were calling to be rewritten. I plod thru my first draft to such an extent that by the time I’m finished, I’m done with it. There is a popular writing theory that you dump everything unto your first draft and then rewrite. My brain doesn’t seem to work that way. How can I gone on to step two when I dont know what step one is? Instead, I work over & over as I go. Perhaps holdover from too much journalism under a deadline. Bottom line, I don’t rewrite. Tweak yes; wholesale changes, no.
Enough about process.
As far as cleaving to the assignment, there is a transformation. Hero’s Journey, not so much. Regardless, I like this one. While it is still expository, it is not my usual conversational info dump. What I really like is that I don’t directly mention the transformation. You have to piece it out by the contrast between the two sections. For me this is the height of subtlety. With a dash of unreliable narrator, which is so not me.
In reading it aloud, I had to model the two section with different deliveries, boisterous for plain font, quieter for italics. Posted as read, with minor typos corrected on the fly.
Previous Class Posts
[What Is Personal Narrative, Thoughts Before A Class]
[Why I Write, Personal Narrative Class #1]
[What Is The Story Of Your Name? Personal Narrative Assignment #1, Class #2]
[Turning Yourself into a Character, Personal Narrative Assignment #2, Class #3]
[Life in Seven States, Or Seven State-Like Entities, Personal Narrative Assignment #3, Class #4]
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 