OSCAR AND MILO
By Helen Hall
Copyright 2011 Helen Hall
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*****
I was just waking from my nap on the couch when Mum and Conor came home from school. This is the best part of my day.
“Oscar! We’re home!” Conor shouted.
I jumped off the couch and raced to the door. I am always excited to see my best friend Conor.
He knelt down and rubbed his hands all over my back and tummy. I love it when he does that; he flipped my ears around my head and tickled under my chin too.
“Hello Oscar, I’ve missed you. School’s so boring, I wish I could take you with me!”
I wish he could take me too; I love spending time with Conor and his friends.
Mum went to the pantry. “Here you go Oscar, a nice doggie biscuit for being such a clever boy.” I was walking on my back legs with my nose in the air.
“We’ll go for a walk soon Oscar.” That got me even more excited.
The door opened again and Dad came in from work. Now that everyone was home, we could go for my walk.
*****
Dad unclipped my lead when we got to the trail along the river.
Yippee! Let’s see how fast I can go.
Conor brought a tennis ball for me to chase, I am really quick and Conor can throw the ball nice and far. This is so much fun! Sometimes, when it has been raining, there are puddles to slide and splash in. I get really muddy!
But it is a warm day with no puddles. I paddle in the river to cool off instead.
I am so tired from all the running and jumping that my tongue is hanging out the side of my mouth, I flopped down on some shady grass for a rest.
“Oscar you lazy bones, come on, let’s go home.’ I got up again and trotted off.
When we got to the end of the trail Dad bent down and clipped my lead back on. “At least you won’t need a bath today Oscar.”
Phew, that is a relief. I do not like having a bath.
*****
After I finished dinner, I cuddle up next to Conor to watch some T.V. I can’t help but groan with happiness as he rubs my tummy.
“You’re so funny Oscar. You love this don’t you?” Conor was looking at me with a big smile.
I really do have the best life a dog can have….
“Come on Oscar. It’s time to go to bed.” Mum is taking my basket into their bedroom. I always sleep in their room and during the night, I go and check on Conor.
I snuggle down into my bed and gave a big sigh. What a great day I’ve had. I’ll sleep well after that exciting walk.
*****
I haven’t got much time to play with Conor before school. Maybe he will take me with him today. I jump up and down on my back legs and walk to the door.
“You should be a circus dog Oscar! You’re so good at walking on your back legs, but you can’t come to school. I’ll see you later though. Be good!”
I whine a little and wag my tail to say goodbye.
Mum takes Conor to school everyday and then stays home with me until it’s time to pick him up. I like getting to spend the day with Mum; sometimes she gives me a bit of her lunch while we watch T.V. together.
I try and keep busy while Conor is at school.
I chase a few of the birds that land on the grass.
I scare off the postman.
I bark at the dog on the other side of the fence.
I have a bit of a nap in a sunny spot.
There’s a bone that I have been working on for a few days so I have a bit of a chew on that as well.
*****
Mum left to get Conor ages ago and should be back by now.
I am very worried and have been pacing up and down the room. They are late; and they are never late.
I look through the window again, but I know I will hear the car before I see it.
Wait. I hear something now. Yes it’s them. Phew, thank goodness.
I can hear Conor talking excitedly.
I decide to stand by the door. That way they will know that I have been waiting for them.
My tail is wagging like crazy – totally out of my control.
It’s so good to have them home.
*****
Dad came through the door first, then Mum and Conor. If Dad’s here, that means we can go for my walk now!
Hang on a minute. What’s that Mum’s carrying?
Conor is giggling and keeps reaching up to touch something.
I have a bad feeling about this.
I can’t quite see…wait, is it moving? What is that she’s holding?
It looks furry whatever it is. Maybe it’s some sort of new toy for me. They know that I love fluffy toys. I wish I could see it better. I am so excited I can hardly control myself.
Mum bent down and called me over.
“Oscar, come and meet your new friend, Milo.”
I wonder why Mum named my new toy?
*****
Now I can see what Mum’s holding. It is quite possibly the fluffiest little animal I have ever seen and the colour of the cookies I get when I have been very good.
I wonder what it is?
A long pink tongue keeps reaching out to try and get me. An anxious squeal escaped my throat and I looked nervously from the wriggly ball of fluff, to Mum, then to Dad, finally I looked at Conor. He wasn’t looking at me though; he was too busy patting my new friend, Milo. Conor hadn’t even said hello or anything!
*****
Mum put the ball of fluff on the floor then put her hands around my shoulders and pulled me closer.
“Look Oscar, this is Milo. Isn’t he the cutest puppy ever? Milo’s going to be your little brother. Have a little sniff of him. Remember to be gentle though.”
I look up at them and see encouraging smiles on their faces.
I move a little closer to Milo and sniff, not close enough. I take another small step towards him. Milo let out this terrified sounding whimper, as if I was scaring him or something.
Mums grip on me got tighter and she said in an angry sounding voice “Nicely, Oscar. Be gentle.”
How much gentler could I be? I haven’t even sniffed him yet!
I can definitely smell something though and feel something wet on my front paw. I look down and see a puddle that is coming from under Milo. Yuk!
*****
I waited for someone to tell Milo off but Dad and Conor just laughed.
Laughed! I can’t believe it. The last time I did that, I got growled at and shoved out through my door.
But Mum just went to get some paper towels to clean up and Dad picked Milo up.
I looked at Conor, surely he would understand how unfair this was, but he was patting Milo while talking in a funny voice and pulling silly faces.
I’ve had enough of this! I’m going outside.
I turned around and went outside. Leaving them smiling and cuddling my little brother.
*****
A while later, I heard them calling for me. I guess I had better go in and see what they want.
As soon as I stuck my head through the door I could smell my dinner and something else that smelled even better.
Mmmmmm, I wonder what that is?
As I walked through the house, the good smell got stronger. I followed it.
I have a very good nose you know.
*****
The yummy smell led me to a new bowl. Just like mine, but smaller. Milo was leaning over it eating the nice smelling food. I rushed over to my bowl but it smelled just like it always did. Nothing special for me at all.
Why did Milo get yummy smelling food? I gave a big sigh so Mum and Dad would know that I wasn’t happy and then ate my dinner.
When I finish eating, I’ll go sit in my basket so I ca
n keep an eye on Milo.
I lifted my head up from my empty bowl and looked across to Milo’s bowl. He had already finished and disappeared somewhere.
Good!
*****
As I headed to my lovely comfy basket, I looked around the room to see if I could spot Milo.
I was so busy looking for him that I didn’t notice at first, Milo was in my basket.
You’ve got to be kidding! That’s MY bed!
I was so stunned, I just stood there; staring. Milo was curled up in my bed, fast asleep. He must be pretending; there is no way he could fall asleep that quickly.
Things are definitely not improving.
*****
I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed that my bed had been taken. But Mum, Dad and Conor were watching T.V.
What am I supposed to do? Sleep on the floor? Or maybe, I wonder…They must want me on the bed with them. That must be it! Yippee!
I think I’ll just go and get a good spot now, before they get in.
So I trotted off to the Big Bedroom feeling much happier about things.
I had to roll around a bit before I found the perfect spot.
This is nice, much better than my bed. Not that it seems to be my bed anymore.
*****
A little while later I felt something poking me.
What now? I looked around and saw Dads arm stretched out with his finger pointing at the floor.
“Down” He said in that voice that I never ignore.
I jumped down from the bed and stood there looking at him. What now? I wagged my tail hopefully.
“Oscar, hop into your basket with Milo, he’ll be good company.” He said.
I can’t believe they are doing this to me.
I groaned and whined at Dad to see if he was going to let me back on the bed but he was pointing at the doorway now. I put my head down and slowly walked out. I went to my basket, looking back every now and again – just in case he changed his mind.
*****
My basket held a very comfortable looking Milo. He was still pretending to be asleep.
I stood looking down at him for a few seconds.
Well, I guess he’s only little, he doesn’t really take up much room and maybe I can just squeeze in here without having to touch him too much. I carefully got into my basket, one paw at a time. There was no movement at all from Milo, just a deep sigh. Wow, he really must be asleep.
I could just about fit. If I kept myself pushed against the edge of the basket, I didn’t have to touch Milo at all.
I let out a big deep groan, just let Dad know that I was really being pushed to the limit here and wasn’t impressed at all. But all my groan did was wake up Milo.
He looked up at me with his big black puppy eyes and gave me a big lick on the chin with his long pink puppy tongue and snuggled up to my tummy and went back to sleep.
“Aaawwww, just what we wanted.” Said Mum.
I looked up at Mum, then down at Milo.
Well, he doesn’t seem too annoying.
I put my head down and shut my eyes. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.
*****
I woke up with a fright. Something was chewing on my ear!
It was Milo! I had forgotten about him…
I showed my teeth and growled a little to tell him that I was not happy. He yelped, jumped out of the basket and ran under the couch. Finally I have some room to stretch out.
*****
“Oscar! You naughty boy!” shouted Mum. Uh oh, that is not a happy voice
“Oscar, you need to say sorry to Milo. I saw what you did. He is only a baby and you can’t scare him like that!”
Boy she has a really unhappy face. I don’t see why I should be in trouble; I didn’t chew anyone’s ear!
I gave a big sigh to show that I wasn’t happy and slowly walked over to the couch. I looked back at Mum; she still looked angry.
*****
I lay down on the floor, put my head under the couch as far as I could and wagged my tail. I could see Milo curled into a fluffy ball and he was shaking.
Oh Boy! Now I felt bad. But who knew he was such a scaredy cat?
I huffed a little, blowing out my lips and wagging my tail to try and get his attention.
I saw a little black eye peak over a fluffy paw. It blinked at me a few times. I huffed again and he lifted his head up and huffed back at me wagging his tail too.
Milo had stopped shaking and looked quite a bit happier, but he was still hiding under the couch. I really had to get him to come out, so I rolled onto my back and wagged my tail some more.
That got his attention! Milo started towards me, slowly at first; then all of sudden he took a big leap and landed on my tummy!
OOFF.!
He must think this is great fun because now he’s yipping and jumping up and down, on and off my tummy. I rolled my head around to try and see Mum.
“Good boy Oscar” she smiled and went to the other room.
*****
I turned back to Milo. When he saw I was looking at him, he stopped jumping on me and started barking at me instead. I was just about to growl at him when Dad and Conor came in.
“Oh Milo, what a brave little puppy your are!” Conor bent down and rubbed Milo’s head.
How can Conor think that Milo is brave? He isn’t brave, he’s silly!
Conor giggled and looked at Dad, “Did you see Milo show Oscar how brave he is?”
Dad laughed as well then bent down and picked up Milo. “Time for a bath Milo, then it’s Oscar’s turn. Maybe you can show him how brave you are in the bath too.”
Oh no! I do not like getting a bath. I bet if it weren’t for Milo, I wouldn’t have to have one.
I decided to make a run for it and as I ran out through my dog door, I could hear Conor and Dad laughing.
Now he is here; everything is changing.
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