Petal Once Had Something She Loved

Petal once had something she loved, and it was taken from her.

Perhaps it was a place; a place of more laughter and play, or a place that contained a special person, dog, puppy, or litter of puppies. Some relatively good place that was Petal’s home for oh, such a brief time.

Or maybe there never was a good place, but there was a place where she found something or someone she loved.

Whatever this beloved place or thing was, it was also Petal's life; she considered it to be the reason for her existence, even if she never thought in terms of love or reasons or existence.

Then the beloved thing was taken from her (or she was taken from it).

And Petal lost her will to live.

And yet, all these years later, and for what seems like months now, two humans have been trying to resurrect her, to remind her that she is still here. To convince her that she is still alive, and still capable of living.

Petal understands very little of the human languages, but she has been in this same house for a long time now, and she’s beginning to listen a little more carefully to the two humans.

They don’t seem to be asking for much. Perhaps against her will, Petal is beginning to open up. Oh so slowly. No rush at all.

And she thinks she might be feeling their intended message, a message made not just with their strange word sounds, but also with movements and signs, actions, expressions, and tones. A message that is unique within her experience of humans.

A message she is not sure she wants to hear right now.

But she is learning what to expect in this house, and what not to expect, and so she is relaxing more, not just physically but mentally.

Her strength reserves are still little more than barely registering, but they are rising steadily.

The humans touch her too often, and yet, she is becoming familiar with their touch, which never seems to hurt much more than her pride. When they pick her up and carry her, they are careful to incorporate everything they have learned since adopting her. About how she best fits into their arms.

She has not been trembling much lately.

The humans are the bringers of meals and licky-sticks and chewy sticks…and DogTV.

The humans are her attendants; they attend to her every need.

But, they also pick her up when she doesn’t want to be picked up.

And they had her groomed. Groomed. That's bound to happen again.

And they have already taken her to more than one of those horrible places and handed her over to be poked and prodded in every possible way. What could she possibly be doing to deserve such torture?

But they have never taken Zuzu away from her. Well, maybe not never, but never for long. Zuzu is crazy, but she’s also funny, and Petal loves her. Zuzu is her playmate and her friend, but she barks a lot.

Petal has come to believe the humans will allow her to keep her recliner and her room and her TV for as long as she wants them, but that’s not a sure thing. And they keep insisting she experience other locations around the house and the back yard. Like she hasn’t seen it all before.

And one of the humans keeps looking at her and making soft-hard word sounds like, “You’re a good girl! You are! You are!” At times like that, Petal just stares back and wonders why life has to be so hard.

By the way, the humans are hypocrites. They have started asking Petal to hold her head up a little more often, and to use all of her muscles a little more often during the day. Plus, they have a really funny way of asking this, which it to literally lift her head, or pick her up and move her around!