Page 4 of Shake the Habit

But I’d had to go hard. After I’d given the dog a bath, and then another bath, the whole room had resembled the facilities in a public campground after a rainstorm: disgusting and smelly. He had been filthy, so dirty that he’d changed colors after the ninth or tenth rinse. It turned out that he wasn’t actually a black dog. His thick coat was dark grey, and he had a white patch on his chest. He was hugely strong, like he was muscular enough that it made me wary again. But when I was drying him (after the second bath), he’d put his chin on my shoulder and huffed. The curls on his face were springy now and had tickled and made me smile.

“What are you going to do with a dog?” Cassidy asked.

“Well, I was thinking about it, and he can come to work with me,” I said. “He’s very pleasant.” He would either make friends due to his charming personality, or he would scare the living crap out of clients with his huge head, heavy paws, and massive body.

“Are you even allowed to have a dog in your apartment?” she asked next. Out of Cassidy, Aria, and me, Cass had always been the most logical and sensible. For my part, no one had ever associated “Kayleigh McCourt” with “good judgment.”

“Yes, in fact, I am allowed to have a pet. I just checked my lease,” I answered. It said I could have a cat or a dog (one, not both) and the animal must weigh under twenty-five pounds. I didn’t think this dog’s front leg weighed under twenty-five pounds…there were also breed restrictions but those wouldn’t be a problem, since I didn’t know what kind of dog this was and nowhere did it state “mutts forbidden.” It did say, however, that a pet deposit was required, and since I hadn’t had a pet when I’d signed that lease, I hadn’t given over the extra money.

The landlord lived in Ringgold, Georgia, though, and didn’t come out here to Sequatchie County very often. Hardly ever, in fact. No need to look for trouble, as my mother said sometimes. We’d just let sleeping dogs lie for a while…my Lord, where was this dog going to sleep?

“I had no idea that you even liked dogs,” my cousin said. “I’ve never even seen you pet a dog before, KayKay.”

“I like this one a lot,” I told her. “He’s very sweet.” He was next to me on the couch right now, and his head (which also probably weighed more than twenty-five pounds) rested on my thigh, with his funny beard spread out on my sweatpants. He smelled a lot like my shampoo, because I’d emptied most of the bottle on him to remove the dirt and skunk odor (although that still lingered under the apple blossom scent of my beauty products).

“Anyway, it was lucky that the man came along, otherwise I might have gotten dirt on your dress,” I said. I was going to get it dry cleaned anyway because unfortunately, it also had a lingering odor of skunk.

“I knew I recognized that dress! You better give it back…well, you can keep it until the next time I come home,” she reconsidered.

Cassidy had to hang up after not too long, because she was a lot busier now. We’d been lucky to see her at all today, but she’d been able to fly home from the tour she was on with her boyfriend. Yes, you heard that right: she was on a music tour, like a big deal, five-star hotel, eating out all the time, screaming fans, seeing new places, living the high life, multi-month kind of a tour. That was because Jack, her boyfriend, was a country music star, and yes, you heard that right, too.

I missed her so much that it was hard to put into words. Actually, I didn’t try to put my feelings into words in her hearing because she’d gone though tough times over the last few years, very tough, and I wanted her to enjoy every moment of this new life. She was having an amazing experience with Jack, who loved her so much that he wrote songs about her. Like, songs that were played on the radio, so that everyone in the world could also hear how he felt. They were crazy about each other.

And then there was our third musketeer, Aria, who had been married for a few years now and had two kids. Two! I had a feeling she wouldn’t stop there, either, because she loved children and she was such a good mother. Her husband seemed to spend his time thanking the heavens that he had her for a wife, and then also doing everything he could on this Earth to make her happy. It worked.

I was also happy for them, my two best friends. They deserved every bit of everything wonderful. And as for me? Now I had mydog. He had just drooled all over my sweatpants as a sign of his affection, too.

I had the next day off, but I was now a pet owner and I couldn’t sleep in like I usually did. I also couldn’t stay in PJs and eat popcorn on the couch, watching the six-part series about travel in Italy that I’d been thinking about all week. No, I couldn’t do any of that, because just as the sun started to illuminate my bedroom the next morning, the dog was nosing my side. And by “nosing,” I meant shoving his tank-sized head into my ribs and hip, to the point that he rolled me over.

“No, sir!” I told him. “Don’t push me around.”

He looked abashed, and sat down very nicely next to me. Then he picked up one giant paw and planted it on my chest.

“Umph,” I grunted. “My Lord, that’s a lot. Ok, I’m getting up.”

The night before, I’d filled one of my bowls with water and another with ground beef, rice, and some vegetables, all cooked to an edible level and then mixed together. After he was done eating, I’d let him out of my back patio door and I hadn’t really watched what he’d done in the dark, but he seemed more relaxed when he’d come back in. Now, however, I decided that he needed some exercise. It probably wouldn’t have hurt me, either—after all, I was getting up there in age, and it was important for older ladies to have a high step count and to bring up their heart rate.

“This is another benefit of having a dog,” I told him after I took a quick shower. Rather than practicing self-love in there, I hadsung, and he’d seemed to enjoy it. “Besides companionship, I’ll also get attention, affection, and exercise! It’s really amazing.”

Something that wasn’t amazing was how he pooped, and then what was I supposed to do about it? I couldn’t leave it in the front yard (which I shared with my neighbor), but the thought of picking it up had me puking into my own mouth.

“We’ll deal with it on the way back,” I told him. “Let’s go.”

He really did make a pretty picture with his grey fur and the pink scarf that I’d tied around him to make a collar and leash. We’d go later to get him something real, but this worked for right now. “You’re very handsome,” I told him. It wasn’t every day that I got to be escorted by such a fine-looking gentleman.

After a while, though, I told him that we were turning around. Due to all his pretty fur, the cold didn’t seem to bother him but I was a bit chilly. “Ok, we’re heading home,” I announced and swiveled, glad to be done.

The dog stopped but he didn’t turn with me. He only looked over his shoulder and watched.

“Come,” I ordered. “We’re going this way now.”

But he continued walking in the same direction. Since I didn’t want to be dragged off my feet, I went along with him, but I protested.

“No,” I said. “Hey! Listen to me, please.” And then the knot in the scarf, which I hadn’t tied very tightly in order not to hurt him, loosened until it undid completely. As soon as he was free of the encumbrance of me pulling on him, he went even faster.

“Stop!” I called, but he didn’t. He broke into a trot, actually, so I started to jog, an activity I was not prepared for. I had on old slippers, for one thing, and a bra that was crap for support. I clasped one arm under my chest and pumped the other back and forth, like I’d seen real runners do. It didn’t seem to make me go faster, though.

“Halt!” I ordered, but the word was breathy because I was so out of shape. The dog didn’t give me even a backwards glance and he even picked up his pace, from the trot right into a full-fledged gallop.

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