“Molly and Milty – A Love Story”   installment 6

 

He didn’t even look up from his newspaper! I couldn’t really come back with another petty complaint, even though I wanted to tell him the absolutely, most disgusting thing I’d ever seen. More disgusting than dumpster diving, or drooling, or chewing up a sweet panda bear. I waited weeks until my emotions had settled. Then I struck. Fred had just poured his glass of wine, scooched into his Lazy Boy, and opened his newspaper to the sports section.  It was snowing lightly outside. I could see lights glowing in the windows of Gabriella’s house across the street.

 

“Fred, Fred?”

 

“Yes?” He lowered the newspaper so we could see eye to eye.

 

“It’s not easy for me to say this. But your loveable Milty is drinking from the toilet!” I blurted it out. In one ghastly howl I got it off my chest. I raced around the room in a circle, shouting, “Toilet! Toilet! Toilet!”

 

“He’s what?”

 

I was almost out of breath when I slid to a stop at his new burgundy slippers, repeating, “Drinking from the toilet!”

 

“Impossible, Molly. I always put the seat cover down. It’s habit. Betty insisted I do it.”

 

He was using the Miss Betty card again. but I wasn’t going for it this time. “Sweet Miss Betty passed away two years ago. You’ve been forgetting because she’s not here to remind you.”

 

He took a sip of wine and thought a minute. “You’re sure? You’ve seen Milty do it?”

 

“With my beautiful golden eyes. More than once.”

 

“Well, I’ll just have to be more mindful. Thank you for letting me know.”

 

Thank you! Fred took the blame! No punishment for Milty. No teaching moment or showing He-Can-Do-No-Wrong- Milty not to do such a disgusting thing. I jumped over the couch. He was spared the ax of justice once again.

 

I started to walk away. Just as I got to the hallway, I couldn’t hold back. “His barking scares the mailman,” I muttered.

 

Fred heard me from his leather chair. “Walter has delivered the mail to this house for almost a dozen years and he hasn’t complained once, either before we got Milty or since we took him in.”

 

“We?” I huffed. “Fred, I used to sit on the window sill and watch Walter come up the walk lugging that heavy leather bag. He always waved to me when he saw me in the window. Since you got Milty, Walter hurries up to the door, drops off the mail and marches back to his cart. No wave, no smile. The barking destroys his usually friendly nature.”

 

Fred seemed to understand what I was saying. He nodded. “I’ll leave a note on the door, explaining that Milty is a friendly giant. But listen to me,” he announced from across the living room. “You’ve got to be more friendly towards Milty. Make the first, first effort. That’s what building a friendship is about. Don’t forget. He’s a rescue dog. Sometime in his past he was totally ignored and treated very badly.”

 

I took his conciliatory tone as a gesture to bring me back into a conversation. “Right,” I said, as I waddled back across the carpet. “You’re saying I should be the adult in this situation. Take the lead. Show the pup how things are done in this house.” I felt for the first time Fred was giving me some responsibility and acknowledging that I was the senior member in the Duparlo household. 

 

I puffed my chest just slightly. “You know you can count on me, Fred.  We’ve got a history together. I was there when Miss Betty passed and I’m here again for you to see us through this crisis with Floppy Ear, I mean Drool Wagon, I mean Milty. That’s right. Milty.”

 

Fred stared at me and blinked. I didn’t wait for another word from his lips. I did one of my famous twirls, a kind of two-footed pirouette and streaked from the living room.

 

It was snowing when I called for an outside roof meeting with Chester and Gabriella the Princess. Milty doesn’t like the snow and was snoozing in the house. I explained the situation to my two feline friends. I had been selected to show Floppy Ears the ways of the house. He had been in all of the rooms. That was easy to see because his brown and white hair was everywhere, but Chester quickly pointed out, “He doesn’t know what any of the rooms mean.” Gabriella jingled her jeweled bells and agreed.  “Function,” she said. “He needs to know how the function of each room changes a hotel into a home.”

 

Hotel into a home….  I really liked that. Princess Gabriella always had a ways with meows.

 

Three days later it was still snowing and I was ready to start. I watched Fred reverse the car to the street and drive away. He had already taken Milty out for her morning walk. As usual when it snowed, Milty was snoozing in his bed. I playfully rubbed my nose against him, something I’d never done before. He blinked his eyes, rose on his front legs and opened his big yap with a yawn. I thought his tongue was going to hit the floor. I pushed a smile across my sweet lips, doing everything to show him I was being friendly. I kind of jerked my head to the side, turned and trotted to the kitchen door. When I looked back, Milty was sniffing at a pail of sand the workers had left. I jerked my head again. This time I heard his paws tapping against the linoleum behind me. Honestly, just about any mutt in the Animal Kingdom would have followed my cute sway.