Long Live

Chapter Two

   A dog is one of the remaining reasons why some people can be persuaded to go for a walk. -O.A. Battista

"Luke, get off," I mumbled, trying to shove the hundred-fifty pound dog off of me. Sunlight leaked through my bedroom window, and I looked at my clock. Eight a.m.? Why did I have to get up so early?

     "Seriously get off of me right now," I grumbled getting annoyed. The dumb dog thought he was a lap dog and could lay on me with no problem. If you think that it's so adorable that he loves me so much, just imagine a hundred-fifty pounds covered in dog hair that drools laying on you. It's like getting the wind knocked out of you for a long time with a pile of drool forming on your lap.

      Luke jumped off of me, and pushed his cold, wet nose into my face, trying to get me out of bed. This was a daily occurrence for me. Luke was a morning dog, and I was not a morning person, but this didn't stop him from waking me up.

     "Fine, I'm up," I yelled, sitting up, and swinging my feet over the side of my bed. Luke barked and sat on his hind legs, giving me his puppy-dog face. 

     "I don't want to go for a walk," I moaned, but at the sound of the word walk, he ran out of my room and was back moments later holding his leash and nosing it into my hands. "Fine, we'll go."

     Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed, my auburn hair pulled into a messy pony tail, and Luke was dragging me down the sidewalk. He loved his walks. He had to sniff every tree, pee on every fire hydrant and say hello to every person and dog that walked by. 

     "Can you slow down," I moaned at Luke. My back was hurting from his pulling and I was convinced that my arm would be pulled out of its socket soon. He didn't even acknowledge me. Typical man. 

      "Well look who it is," came an all too familiar voice.

      "Crispin," I said, cordially, turning to look at him where he stood across the street.

      "Good morning, Aislinn!" he waved. Dylan stood next to him holding the leash to his Golden Retriever.

      "What are you doing out this early?" I called across the street.

     "Taking Chewbacca for a walk, obviously," Dylan yelled.

     "You named your dog Chewbacca?" I looked at them confused.

      "Yeah! You know... like the Star Wars character?" Dylan looked at me like I was an idiot.

      "Yeah, I know that. I don't live that far in the cave away from you nerds."

     They crossed the street over to where I stood with Luke. Luke was now pulling on his leash harder than before wanting to run over and see Chewbacca. 

     "Stop it, Luke!" I yelled at him to no avail, "Goddammit! Would you just settle down?!"

      "That's not going to work, dude," Dylan said shaking his head, his long shaggy hair falling into his eyes, "gotta coax them into it."

     "I think I know my own dog better than you do," I retorted and tried to pull Luke back, but ended up being pulled forward.

     "Luke, come here boy," Dylan said in a coaxing voice. Luke slowly made his way over to Dylan, and was now calm, "sit boy." Luke sat. I was seething. Why wouldn't my own dog listen to me? He had no problem listening to Dylan. Dylan was probably a dog whisperer. He was weird enough to be one.

     "Thanks," I grumbled.

     "It's all in the way you say it," Dylan beamed.

      "Now that Luke is all calm, want to join us on our walk?" Crispin asked.