This is The Glove.
The first time Gypsy came home to visit Grandma (that would be me), she went upstairs to my son’s room and found this old weightlifting glove under his bed. She came trotting downstairs, so happy to have this wonderful toy.
Which made me sad. Gypsy had been in a dog shelter, and would probably have been euthanized before too long. It was a small shelter in a small town and very overcrowded. When my daughter went in to look at the animals, this little papillon/weiner dog/chihuahua-mix dog ran up to the wire cage. Sheri stuck her hand through the chain link, and this little dog stood up on her hind legs and wrapped her front paws around Sheri’s hand, and she wouldn’t let go. A worker started spraying a hose right by her, and the dog just stood there getting sprayed, looking up at Sheri like, “Get me out of here!”
Which obviously Sheri did.
So Gypsy wasn’t used to having toys. We let her have the glove and then got her balls and stuffed animals and chew toys, and she became very spoiled. But she loved that glove.
When they left town again, I took this spitty, disgusting glove and washed it and put it on the counter to dry. The next time they came to visit, I forgot to give Gypsy the glove.
A few minutes later, she came trotting down the stairs with a glove in her mouth. I looked over at the counter, and there was the original glove. She had remembered and had gone upstairs to drag the other one out from under the bed!
So now I have two slimy, spitty, disgusting gloves laying around on my carpet. Grrr.
She has even more toys, and she’s gone from skinny to having a little round tummy, and she finally trusts people. She realizes most people are nice. She has to be in physical contact with someone almost every minute of the day. She’s in my lap or squeezed in next to me in my chair all of the time when I’m editing, and when someone else comes downstairs, she just moves to the new lap.
Shelter animals are awesome. They’re so grateful to have a forever home, so lovey. I can’t understand why there are so many animals in shelters when they’re so awesome.
alisaacarter
Alisa A. Carter 