*Skippy The Dog

Category: Fiction

Author Query: Tom Robbins said, "It's never too late to have a happy childhood." True or False?

Sharon's mother remarried and the new little family moved from Baltimore to Philadelphia, where the stepfather lived. Sharon missed her grandmother and the tidy bungalow with faux chalet shutters and a big yard, the only home she had ever known. Most of all she missed Skippy the dog. No pets were permitted in the cramped apartment house, not even a very small half-Spitz, half-water spaniel.

"It's just temporary, living here," Sharon's mother explained. "We'll move soon and bring Skippy The Dog."

The stepfather described the house they would have as soon as he recovered from a back injury and could return to work. "I love you, Sharon, and I love your mother. I'll take care of you better, very soon. And Skippy The Dog too, of course."

While the stepfather rested at McGuffy's Tavern everyday, the new little family was swamped with financial troubles. Sharon's mother became a Kelly Girl and Sharon babysat afternoons and evenings for a sickly toddler next door The listless child with constantly poopy diapers wasn't as much fun as Skippy The Dog and smelled worse than he did, too. Kind of a doggy smell without the fun of having a doggy. Still, she tried to liven him up. "Here is the beehive, where are the bees?" she would chant, to entertain him with fingerplays and songs she knew. The boy's watery eyes barely gave her a glance. Sharon thought constantly of Skippy The Dog, who used to love listening to her and was eager to learn everything she taught.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of him, " Sharon's grandmother had promised, but soon after that she got sick and died. Then the bungalow was sold and Skippy The Dog was sold with the house. The stepfather laughed about that, but Sharon asked to see the document from the real estate company. As she read the crisp paper, the words "Skippy The Dog" leaped up at her just as Skippy The Dog himself always did when she came home from school in Baltimore.

Meanwhile, all moneys from the sale went to pay Nana's hospital bills. There was nothing left for the new little family. When he heard that, the stepfather put his fist through one of the walls in their apartment, and he put a fist in his wife's face. The hole in the wall was so large and her mother's face was so battered that Sharon, who had been babysitting when it happened, believed it was her mother's head that had gone through the wall and not the stepfather's fist.

During the confusion of screaming, neighbors, police, and ambulance, Sharon stole back her babysitting money hidden in the plaster of paris gargoyle on the stepfather's bureau. She ignored the gargoyle's evil appearance.

"You don't scare me, " she whispered to it. "The stepfather is handsome and look what he did."

With the money, she took a bus back to Baltimore to save Skippy The Dog. She knew it was too late to save her mother.

When she arrived, finally, at the bungalow, she introduced herself to the new owners as Skippy The Dog's mother. The middle-aged couple invited her in and the three of them sat in the living room making polite conversation about the house and the early life of Skippy The Puppy.

"We love him," they smiled. They had shiny yellow teeth and the bungalow smelled strange. The new owners are aliens, she decided, and they're here to make experiments on dogs.

They served her graham crackers and milk, and though she was hungry, she was afraid to ingest food touched by aliens.

"Thank you for the cookies and milk and thank you for taking such good care of Skippy The Dog, temporarily, until I could come for him," she said.

The couple exchanged glances. "We love him," they repeated their earlier comment.

"As soon as we get settled, you can come see him anytime," she reassured them.

The doorbell rang, and it was two police officers. "We're here to make sure you get back to your parents in Philadelphia, safe and sound," they told her.

She began to cry, then shriek.

"Shhh, hush" the alien wife cautioned, looking worried. "We don't want Skippy The Dog to hear your voice and get upset."

"Well what the hell, do you think I came here just to meet you weirdos?" she spat out. "SKIPPY," she yelled at the top of her lungs. "SKIPPY,IT'S ME, MOMMY!"

Before the adults could react, she was out the door and in the yard. She and Skippy The Dog fell all over each other.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," they sobbed out joyously.

Sharon had to be quick. She started fumbling with the long chain that allowed Skippy access to most of the big yard.

"Where have you been?" Skippy The Dog asked.

"Quick, there's no time to talk. We're on the run!"

They were at the edge of the woods now, behind the house, when Skippy the Dog laid down at the top of the path, resting his head on his paws.

"I can't go with you, Mommy" he said.

Sharon stood very still.

"You left. Nana left. The aliens feed me," he whimpered.

She stared at him.

"And...and, I don't think you can take care of me. You're not old enough. You don't even have a place to live."

She kissed him on top of his silky head and ran into the woods behind the house.

Life became easier after that, even though she spent the rest of her growing up years in a succession of unsuitable foster homes. Where there is no expectation, there is no disappointment. She never bothered to respond to people's supposed concern or apparent affection whenever she happened to run into either.

When you learn that not even man's best friend can be trusted, you're darn sure no one else can be, either.