My Best-Friend

This is something a wrote a few months ago. Some of you may have already read it. The reason I'm posting it now is that (at least at this very moment) I'm not really in the mood to do a blog entry. - enjoy.
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The door was wide open by the time I got there. Everything was gone, everything. The walls were bare, holding only silhouettes of shelves and paintings. They even took the throw carpets that my colleagues gave me for a house warming gift because I told them I didn't need anything. I heard a small noise coming from the bathroom. I opened the door and there she was, all 38 pounds of her. She was huddled against the wall guarding the last bottle of $4 shampoo. Her terror controlled body was telling her to be afraid, of me. The empty rooms behind me were no longer on my mind, she was my priority. I took a step forward and for the first time I heard a growl emerge from her. I had nothing really to be a afraid of but I didn't want to scare her anymore than she already was. I sat where I stood, right next to copper pipes that used to hold my pedestal sink. I talked to her in a soft voice, letting her know that it was over and she didn't have to be on guard anymore. Her muscles loosened a small amount and I lifted my hand to reach for her and she growled again, louder. I pulled back and reached into my pocket for my cell phone, finally deciding to call the police. I spent the next 15 minutes talking to my companion, hoping that at one point she would recognize my voice and snap out of her fear induced trance.

I heard a car pull into the drive-way. Amazing what you can hear when no material things are blocking your senses. My companion let out another drawn out growl. A knock came to the door immediately followed by an obnoxiously loud bark that made me jump back and probably hurt her vocal cords. I left my guard-dog, walked down the hallway and re-entered my living room, expecting to see a couch, bookshelf and a table. My eyes convinced me that the room was empty and I had no choice but to believe them. The emptiness of the room once again took over my thoughts and I couldn't do anything but take a deep breath. Another knock came to the door followed by another loud bark from the bathroom. The bark brought a smile to my face, she was letting me know that she was still on guard. I got to the wide open front door where the officer was patiently waiting. The very attractive officer might I add. I explained that the house was empty when I got home and that they took everything, well almost everything. I had a $4 bottle shampoo guarded by a very determined puppy.

I escorted the officer to the bathroom where my companion was. Still guarding the shampoo, still not giving an inch. The officer walked toward the canine giving their full officer title. I think that was for my amusement more than the guard-dog. Without any effort the officer was able to pat the puppy on her head and calm her down. The officer reached into a leather pouch connected to a belt the matched the rest of the uniform and pulled out a latex glove. Holding on the glove the officer reached for the bottle and was greeted with a growl. I laughed a bit, the officer looked back at me and I apologized for my outburst. The officer explained that the bottle of shampoo appeared to have a small amount a blood on it and could be a very important piece of information. My little guard-dog did a good job.

I imagined the thieves throwing my puppy into the bathroom while they took everything from the other rooms. She guarded what she could and when one of the thieves tried to take the last thing in the house, she bit them. Realizing the bottle wasn't worth the effort, they left. Not realizing that what they left behind was vital, in more ways than one.