Chet The Dog

Archive for May, 2009

Feelings

“What gold bar?” said Suzie. “What did I miss?”

“Well,” said Bernie – we were sitting around the kitchen table, me underneath. “We decided to go on a hike for the holiday weekend and – wait! Is today Sunday?”

“Yes,” Suzie said.

Bernie got up, switched on the radio. “Don’t want to miss Elvis gospel.”

“You like Elvis?” Suzie said.

“Just the early stuff,” Bernie said. “And the gospel, of course.”

Right now it was Milky White Way, my favorite.

“Milky White Way,” Bernie said. “My favorite. He copied it exactly from the Trumpeteers’s version, but I don’t care. Same thing with Are You Lonesome tonight – real real close to the Al Jolson version.”

Suzie was looking at Bernie is a funny way. “Could you play that for me on the ukulele?” she said.

“Are You Lonesome Tonight?”

“Yeah,” Suzie said, her voice getting quiet.

“Sure, sometime, maybe,” Bernie said.

“How about now?”

Now Bernie was looking at Suzie in a funny way. What was going on? Don’t ask me.

Table Talk

We sat around the kitchen table – me, Bernie, Suzie. I was actually on the floor, partly under the table, just my head sticking out. I always feel good that way – how about you? 

“You look so tired, Bernie,” Suzie said. I looked at him. His hair was sticking up in strange clumps and he needed a shave. “What happened out there?”

“I hardly know where to begin,” Bernie said. 

“How about at the beginning?”

“But when was that?” Bernie said. “When Chet found the gold bar, or after the plane crash?”

“Either,” Suzie said. “Or both.” She leaned forward to listen. I was listening, too. I’d forgotten about that gold bar.

A Good Friend

What’s that? Knocking at the door? I opened my eyes, found I was under the kitchen table, one of my favorite sleeping places. Daylight came through the window. What a great sleep! I felt tip-top. Knock-knock.

I hurried to the front door, heard a key in the lock just as I got there. Who had a key besides us? I was still trying to remember when the door opened and there was Suzie. Have I mentioned Suzie yet? It’s so hard to keep track of everything. Suzie’s a reporter for the Valley Tribune, and she likes Bernie, I’m pretty sure, and he likes her, I know for a fact, but still there are problems. We do this kind of thing better in my world, no offense.

“Oh, Chet,” she said, “I’ve been so worried about you.” She leaned down and kissed me. I kissed her back. It’s great having friends like Suzie.

Safe and Sound

Whatever that means. I understand safe, but sound is what you hear, right? And right now I don’t hear anything. Wait a minute – what’s that? Iggy next door, going yip-yip-yip. Great to be hearing that! And this is weird: it makes me feel kind of safe. Who’d have expected that from Iggy?

What an adventure we had! Bernie’s zonked out in bed. I’ve never seen him so tired. I’m pretty tired, too, but first I want to tell what’s been going on, especially while it’s fresh in my mind. My eyelids are very very heavy all of a sudden. I’m under the kitchen table. It’s  dark and quiet. Ah. Anyway, it all started when …

Zzzzz.