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| Pepi, the coolest poodle on the planet |
While I was just starting to experience life, Pepi, at 17 years old, was experiencing his twilight years. Every time I looked at him, I didn't see the aging pooch with silvered fur. I saw a cute little black ball of fluffy puppy fur who could perform circus tricks, who loved sticking his head out of the car window on road trips, and who slept next to me at night and was my protector.
Yes, it was time for Pepi to meet my boyfriend.
Because my boyfriend only had 30 minutes for dinner, I would bring his meal to him and we would eat in the car together. This night's meal was grabbed after picking up the dog, so it was a Wendy's cheeseburger and fries, both of which were Pepi's favorites.
Keeping the dog's head from burrowing into the bag and gnoshing on the french fries wasn't so difficult since he was captivated by the drive down the highway. He even waited patiently for my boyfriend to walk out to the car and to be introduced.
My boyfriend took a liking to the dog immediately.......... but apparently the feeling was not mutual. Maybe it was because my boyfriend wasn't sharing his fries or a tiny bite of meat from his burger. Pepi became perturbed enough he started to make his presence known.
It started out as a cough here and there from the dog. Within a minute or two, the little cough turned into the sound of the dog coughing up his toenails. As the coughs became more and more gross sounding, we noticed they were perfectly timed with my boyfriend's bites of the burger or fries.
"Geez! Is the dog ok?", he asked after being grossed out by a particularly nasty coughing fit from the dog.
The tone of that question was not lost on the dog. It apparently irritated him that this man was usurping his time with me, and he wasn't willing to share his fries either. The dog decided it was time to launch a full assault.
Within seconds the aroma in the car took on a much more pungent scent. As I quickly rolled down the windows, my boyfriend gave me a questioning look.
I smiled as I said "it was the dog."
"Yeah, right.", he replied.
Just as I was about to deny that the source of the smell came from me, the dog coughed and quite loudly passed gas.
"Oh my GOSH! What have you been feeding that dog?!" he cried as he hopped out of the car in search of fresh air.
Between fits of laughter and with tears running down my face, I reminded him of how old the dog was.
"Are you sure he's not dead already. From the smell of things I think your parents had him stuffed and filled with robotics to make it look and sound like he's still alive." he asked.
After the aired had cleared a bit, he got back in the car and finished eating. With his lunch break over, he leaned over to give me a kiss before he got out of the car. The dog gave him one last parting shot with a particularly gross cough as he simultaneously passed gas.
"Dear lord! I can actually taste that one!" he yelled as he scrambled for the door handle.
Laughing hysterically again, I called out to him "I don't think the dog likes you because you wouldn't share your fries........."
"I will make sure to buy him his own order next time so I can breathe." he said.
After I got home and settled for the night, my sweet little dog snuggled up next to me, just like when I was younger. About that is when I had a realization: the dog had not coughed or passed gas once since my boyfriend got out of the car. With that I laughed myself to sleep.
Pepi may have been too old to back full grown man up in a corner in a show of protection, but he figured out a way to get him out of the car faster than a speeding bullet. He was one very cool dog and friend.
