Dog Days

Emerging into my 5th grade year for me was the time when my friends changed from just the random kid who sat across from you, to picking your friends according to your similarities or how high they can get you on the popularity scale. This new concept was new to all of us this year, and whether we knew it or not, was the beginning of peer pressure. Anything or anyone could alter where you stood. Little did I know the thing that got in my way, were the many days where my half Maltese and half poodle dogs would squeeze out the hole in our fence and arrive just on time for recess.

The first time it happened was understandable by the teachers. I was walking on the track with all the popular girls that I knew lived in two-story houses, unlike me. When all of a sudden I saw a herd of kids gathered around in unison saying “Awe”. Ms.Turner came running out towards the crowd in a state of alert shouting, “Get away from the dogs, they could be very dangerous!” I was curious, looking to see a massive dog foaming out of his mouth, instead to find out that they were two little lively dogs. They looked familiar, but then it hit me, those just weren’t any cute adorable dogs, they were mine. I guess somehow Barney and Dino slid threw the fence and decided to crash on my recess. I went on with my walk of shame as my face was glowing with a bright blistering red of embarrassment and picked up Barney into one arm and Dino into the other. Walking away having everyone stare at me left me with the taste of lickerish cough syrup lingering in my body each and every step towards the school to call my parents.

Once that was over with I figured things would get back to normal. Instead I had figured wrong. Actually, recess got to be the part of the day I dreaded the most. I couldn’t hide, or stay in the bathroom like the people who didn’t have anyone to sit with at lunch. Instead I had to come to recess knowing that my dogs would come running across the soccer field with their tongues out and tails wagging, barking for attention, waiting as the whole playground came over to pet them. It seemed as if my dogs were getting treated like celebrities, where I was the one that had to do the dirty work. That last time it happened, Barney and Dino came at their usual time and my teacher gave me the routine nod, knowing what I had to do. I could hear whispers from the girls behind me from the track, the ones I wanted to be friends with saying things like, “That’s got to be so embarrassing.” But the one that hurt me the most was, “Cant her family afford a fence?” One of my friends I had been ignoring lately came from the swings, and helped me pick up one of my dogs while I had the other. We brought them inside and as we waited for my Dad to come and pick them up, Dino had peed on Perla. Once again I was embarrassed because I knew it was my entire fault. I expected her to shriek in disgust, knowing the stink would linger on her throughout the day. My expectations were wrong. Unlike my new friends, and going back and telling all her friends how she wished she didn’t help out, or adding into the poor jokes, she told me, “Don’t worry, I’ll just get my gym shorts on and wear them the rest of the day”. Nobody ever found out about it, and at first I didn’t understand why she didn’t humiliate me like the others, but then I realized that true friends don’t feed off of each others mistakes, and now I’ve learned to pick friends according to their sincerity vs. name brands and such.

Thanks to my dad the fence finally got fixed, and that was the last time Barney and Dino came running up to my elementary school. The most important thing though was I learned the value of friends. I started off wanting to be with the “in” crowd, but in the end I found out my true friends were the ones I was ignoring the whole time. This lesson has been a real eye opener, while other girls and guys are still to this day left in the dark. Everyone goes through this process one way or another, some sooner than the next, whether we ignore it or not. When you learn this, if it’s from your mistakes, conscience, parents, or even your dogs; just be aware because these important messages are relayed in the most mysterious ways.


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