Dog Gone (4)
Dog Gone (4) By Roofles
"I'm not sure who it was that called them but the cops showed up shortly after our arrival. I wasn't even really paying attention to those outside. I was shopping on someone elses dime, I wasn't about to pay attention to world around me. I bought several more pairs of cloths. The dog...was there with me of course. He helped pick some out for me and we were running around the store piling stuff up on the counter before running off to some other corner and grabbing more. I was planning to make the best out of this situation before they fired me, heh.
We were over by the 'goth' section when the police came in. The bell jingled and the store clerk greeted them from her hiding position behind the counter. Brutus noticed even before I was aware that someone had come into the store. He didn't move or growl but I felt that heavy paw once more touch my shoulder.
"Excuse me, sir." The officers kept their distance. They didn't even seem to notice me as they stared Brutus down. Just a friendly heads up you really shouldn't stare at one of these guys. The dogs find that your questioning their dominance or something like that. They take it...kind of as a challenge. And Brutus was more than happy to return it.
So when I turned around to get Brutus opinion on something (I was going to get it for my halloween costume) I panicked. I quickly moved between the officers and the dog. "Brutus, it's alright. Cops are the good guys." Most the time anyways...
"Sir, please move away from the...thing." The officer was an older man. Pot belly and all. He had a hand on the gun in its holster but hadn't drawn it yet. The other man was younger and had his nightstick out. Since threatening us wasn't bad enough he had to insult him further. "Please sir. I don't want you to get hurt by that thing." Brutus already had an issue with the whole hurting me issue so he took great offense to it, snarling from behind me at him now. "Sir." The officer said louder reaching out a hand.
I kept back pushing the dog with me trying to calm him down. If the officer touched me I doubt things would've ended as pleasentry as they had. "I'm Douglas Coldsteen from NBN news...well its NB news since the N stand for news." I laugh that laugh I always used when I was in a sticky situation. A nervous reaction really. "This is Brutus and I'm showing him around town. We have a network deal and contract for his residency." I pointed at the camera. Chuck wasn't being much of a help in the matter. He just made sure we were in shot.
"I haven't heard of any such thing." The older officer wasn't even looking at me still staring him down. It only further agitated Brutus. He put the other paw on my shoulder, gripping it tightly.
I could still feel that familiar weight, I couldn't help but think placing a hand on my shoulder.
I wasn't sure if he was going to move me aside or was just trying to steady himself. Either way what happened next saved all our hides. One of the more braver souls outside had come in. Sneaking past one clothing rack after another before reaching out for me. With a pencil and notepad in hand the small child ask with a few missing teeth. "Can I have your autograph?" His voice whistled through those empty gaps from where his baby teeth had been.
I looked at the kid startled. The officer finally looked away as startled as I was. The store clerk looked at the kid. And the camera looked at the kid. Before I started laughing. Getting down on one knee I took the pad and pencil and signed my name. "There you go," I smiled at the kid ruffling his hair a bit.
The kid had drawn the attention away from the dog. The officer looked away admiting defeat and Brutus was able to stand tall and proudful once more. His paw was still on my shoulder...which was a little weird being on my knees and all. He didn't grip it as tightly as before and was looking down at the child rather bored and uninterested. The kid looked up at him and he barked wagging his tail making the kid jump; full of wonderment at the large dog. I can only assume he thought of him as just a large puppy as he reached out to pet him.
"Kid, wait." But the gruff sigh of the the large dog and how he got on all fours for him to pet silenced any complaint the officer seemed to have. The kid giggiled and laughed scratching his head. Brutus was looking at me with those big puppy dog eyes pleading for help but I just smiled and scratched the back of that brawny neck. He closed his eyes grumbling a bit and sitting back on his hind quaters.
"See. He's just a big soft puppy dog, nothing more. Sorry bud," I whispered the last part. That was about the time the sea of people outside swarmed in on us. Their fear, disdain, hatred and cowerness was thrown out the window as the child youthful innocence brought them to the reality of the situation. Or what they perceived it to be. I couldn't blaim them for being fearful but to think they called the cops, heh.
Swarmed around by the throng of people the officers turned their attention away from us and began trying to calm the masses. I was pushed around a bit before Brutus caught me, holding me close... With an arm around me I began answering questions and trying my best to clear up any misconceptions they had as they flooded the two of us with them.
What was it like to have one? Where could they get one? Was he house trained? They all were a bit..insulting really so I was doing my best to clarify how things actually were. But in turn it only made me start pondering the situation I was in and the man holding me. I really didn't know anything in turn. Thankfully their questions were simple, ignorant ones I could answer.
An hour or so probably went by before I just yelled for us to run. The camera man was out the door before either of us could worm our way through the wall of people. Brutus finally got fed up with it all and parted the crowd pulling me behind. Hands from every angle shot out to touch him, pet him and feel that he was real or something. I didn't get it. Brutus was Brutus. What he was wasn't much of a concern for me anymore.
"Where are we going?" He asked scooped up our bags with his other arm. He was still wearing one of the outfits I picked out for him but he insisted on wearing the underwear...don't ask me why. He looked good in the beet red shirt that molded nicely to his bulky frame. We learned that wearing shorts was easier for him to handle with the heat situation and all. Wearing his hot dogs and all; he looked rather good. I'm not sure where he got the large goofy glasses from though or the summer straw hat from.
"Does it matter?" I replied taking a few of the bags from him.
Once we were out on the sidewalk we exchanged a quick look before running for it. Down the sidewalk with out bags as flying behind us. We probably looked like idiots...even so I was enjoying myself then. We stopped and got icecream from the stand outside the park before heading in. It was still a weekday so there really weren't too many souls out. And so we didn't get bothered thankfully. The stray souls that passed us but made sure to give us a wide birth.
We teased each over nothing...
I remained silent after that. Staring down at my feet as old memories began to come back.
I remember that day well. We were fussing over what kind of ice cream to get. He had an astonding knowledge of the different flavors and we had a large discussion before even ordering on what was the best to get and what was 'summer worthy.' He would switch to whatever I got though...kind of defeating the purpose. But I would switch after that getting something else. Then he'd frantically change his order waving his paws before him to make sure he caught the stand owners attention. It got us into our first fight. To think that was a fight. Argueing back and forth about it like children...yet the whole time he wouldn't stop smiling, wagging his tail even as he growled and complained that that was the flavor he was going to get anyways. In the end I got french vanilla and he got mint chocolate chip.
Of course I made sure to tease him about that only after he ordered. Dogs were allergic to chocolate so the chances he was too were rather high. At first it seemed to dampen his spirits until he tried to chow the whole thing down at once. I don't know. Maybe he thought if he ate it fast enough that'd be fine. I had to fight him to make sure he didn't end up killing himself. So in we ended up switching cones. I was content and he seemed to be happy. Licking the whole icecream scoop with that broad, wide tongue of his. Slurping it up over and over again. I remember thinking how silly he looked. How he put his nose in it and crossed his eyes to look at the vanilla on his nose.
I laughed so hard after that. He was all embarrassed. Flushing over something so small but he laughed and nosed me with it. I pushed him back but we kept it up until he knocked my cone out of my hand... He apologized over and over again but it really wasn't a problem. I just made sure to lick his cone.
It was as if electricity coursed through his system. His fur stood on end, his arms and legs going stiff as he stared at me. Those hazelnut eyes wide and ears standing up... That was just before he bowed his head meekly licking the cone more, his tail wagging slowly behind him.
He moved the cone over so it pushed against my nose and I did my best to cross my eyes to look at it. Laughing a bit, smiling and looked at him. I remember that because he wasn't laughing, just looking at me with such a caring expression. Leaning over me, putting an arm on the tree next to us and bending down to lick my nose again. Brutus lowered his muzzle after that. His nose almost touching my chin. And then I...licked his nose.
Heh, even now it makes me blush. Brutus put a paw against my cheek to lick my nose again...that time was so tender, soft and loving. Not like the other time hadn't been but it made me feel...I don't even know how to describe it. Thinking of how we sat at the edge of the fountain soon afterwards and finished the icecream cone. My hand on the edge of the fountain and his paw on my hand. Neither of us looking at each other as if we were embarrassed. Sitting closer than we should, our thighs touching with his tail wagging.
So we hung out. Killed most the day. Just walking through the park and seeing some sights. Watching birds. Nothing special. He mimiced those around us more. He took cues from them and practiced them with me. It was silly but in turn it made him more...human.
It's not like I lied. Sure, Brutus had seen a couple holding hands and he desperately wanted to hold my hand at the time I didn't let him.
I'm not sure where he got it but we began playing frisbee. He just came back after running off with it in his mouth. I thought it was funny but it gave us a good frisbee to throw around and I wasn't about to question what innocent child he mugged to get it from, heh. It was going well but as the day went on it was getting hotter and hotter. Brutus stripped off his sweaty shirt and unbuttoned the top of his shorts. I had to make sure he didn't strip right there and then. I managed to keep him in line. We made a small game of it and I won, big mistake. Brutus growled charging me like a bull as if I was some kind of matador. Heh, you really can't out run one of them. He picked me up and spun me around taking the frisbee from me in his muzzle and we ended up falling into the fountain. He was prancing around like a showboating idiot and wasn't paying attention to our bags. Tripping over them and into the fountain. I gave him hell after that but he just grinned, wagging his tail as if he hadn't just gotten us both soaking wet.
And afterwards we rested (drying ourselves) under the shade of a tree before heading home hand in paw... Just a man and his dog.