Taking out the two
Shockapoos in the morning gets to be an ordeal.
No amount of coaxing and prodding and treats will hurry along the reason
for being outside. They take their good-natured time. But I take advantage of that time waiting for
each of them to complete their business and I imagine what it might be like if
they were human. SoNya and MeeAh are
getting older, 13 and 11 respectively, and I liken the morning experience to
taking aging aunties on a little adventure.
SoNya and MeeAh are
aunties who may be from the countryside but they are both very proper and
appreciate the finer things. Their
nephew and his wife dote on the two ladies who now live together. Nephew and wife have offered to take the
aunties on a day trip to the city to do shopping at the magical and wondrous
department store. At noon they would have a fancy lunch in the Terrace Room
with a panorama of the city.
Auntie SoNya and Auntie
MeeAh spent their first hour and a half perusing the various departments of the
story. They admired the pretty dishes in housewares. They sat on the sofas in the furniture department. They spritzed numerous
samples of cologne on each other at the fragrance counter. Then, they were most
delighted to see the latest styles and colors in women’s wear. SoNya and MeeAh may live at the end of a long
road, a bit far from town, but, it does not stop their desire for fashion and
class. Nephew and his wife stood back
smiling at the chatter going on between the sisters. Oh, there were a few snarls between the two
but, they are sisters after all. The
snarls are short-lived and turn into chuckles.
After the window shopping
portion of the city expedition, Nephew and his wife suggest they think about
lunch. Before lunch, why not make a
visit to the restroom? The aunties agreed it would be a wise choice. Nephew’s wife accompanied the sisters to a restroom
they called “opulent.” There in the
restroom we see the real parallel to their canine complements.
SoNya and MeeAh entered
the lounge and breathed in a pleasant scent.
They both sniffed the air and wondered what type of potpourri they had
in the bowls. They sought out the source
of the grassy aroma, took a deeper whiff and smiled with pleasure. SoNya said to her sister, “MeeAh, look at the
color on these two walls. What would that look like in our bathroom?”
“It’s too garish. But I do like the artwork on the wall. I love the look of trees in a bathroom,”
replied MeeAh. “It’s just so natural.”
Nephew’s wife could hardly
keep from laughing at the two. “MeeAh?
What do you think of those window treatments?”
“They are just stunning.
The pattern is just marvelous.”
“MeeAh, look over
there. There’s even a computer monitor. Just a second. I want to check my p-mail.” With that SoNya became engrossed with an
abundance of messages. MeeAh busied herself
primping in the mirror and checking her nails.
Age has had a way of
affecting the two sisters. They are
observant and very verbal but memory has a way of fading. To Nephew’s wife SoNya asked, “now what are
we doing in this department?”
Without judgment and sounding
like the department store hostess she said, “This is the ladies’ room, Aunties. Maybe you would like to go into the stall and
try to piddle.”
“Oh, that would be
delightful. Then, after lunch I saw some
pantsuits-or whatever they call them now.
I would like to try them on.”
So, I return from my musings
and try to shepherd our two doggies to their special corner of the yard. Instead of carrying a stylish shopping bag
with a chic logo, I walk behind SoNya, the dowager queen, and MeeAh, the
pretender to the throne, with a black plastic bag that says, dogpoopbags.com.
