LJ Idol Week 19: "I can't get calm"
For ninety-nine percent of my life, I am what you would describe as “calm and chill.” I don’t ask for much, and I don’t expect much.
I live with three people, who I love and who I love spending time with, but when they need alone time, I understand, and I keep myself content just napping or walking around or finding something to amuse myself with. Sometimes I look at the TV or listen to music, and other times I stare out the windows to watch the world pass by.
I have very few possessions of my own, and that’s okay with me. I don’t need much. Something to eat from, something to sleep on and a few things to keep my mind busy.
I don’t have any money at the moment, but I contribute where I can. I watch out for the baby. I keep the floors spotless. I kill all the bugs. Little things, I know, but the people around me seem to appreciate them.
I’m also a really good listener, and I am told I can make people feel better just by being in their presence.
But every once in a while, during that one percent of my life, something happens, and the excitement of life overtakes me. My whole body floods with adrenaline, and I’m so happy and so excited that it just springs out of me. I jump up and down. I run in circles. I almost dance from excitement.
“Just calm down,” someone will usually say to me during these times, but I can’t even listen enough to comprehend the words because I am just that excited.
Yesterday was one of those times.
But to understand, we need to go back a few days before that, and you need to know that it’s been a hard week. Ordered to stay where we live. Not being able to go anywhere in the car. Not being able to play with my friends. Not being able to go to the park.
And on top of that, the skies opened up and lighting cracked and thunder sounded, and now even our backyard was off limits. I was stuck inside, sentenced to watch everything from a window, when my whole body ached to leave the house, to run, to jump, to feel the wind blowing my ears back.
Day after day, this storm raged, until I couldn’t remember what it was like before the storm. What was sun? What was warmth? What was it like outside these walls?
I was tired and sad. I tried to keep up with all my duties, but I longed for something more.
And then yesterday happened.
The rain stopped. The sun came out. And the three people I live with came into the room where I was at. And then they did the most amazing thing I could ever remember - they put on their shoes.
I was on my feet as soon as I noticed, the nerves in my body already starting to dance. Could it be? Could it really be happening? Could I finally be escaping this prison of a house?
One of the people - the woman - opened the door to the closet and reached in. I waited, my whole body feeling like it was ready to burst.
Her hand pulled back. My body tensed.
There it was!
A long pink strap that they attach to the necklace I always wear.
I shouted in delight. I ran in circles. Someone yelled that I almost knocked over the baby, but I didn’t care. My feet wouldn’t stop moving. I was running, jumping. My paws flailing.
We were going for a walk!!!!
Hands wrestled me into a sitting position, and the strap was attached to my necklace. I reared up on my back legs, the excitement knowing no bounds.
“Calm down,” they said, but how could they expect me to be calm? How? Did they not understand? We were going for a walk! A walk! A long, beautiful walk! Full of the best smells - grass and flowers and trees and the scents of all my friends!
We were going to walk, and I was going to get to feel that hard pavement on the pads of my feet! I was maybe going to see my friends from a distance and be able to stand on my hind legs and wave to them with my front legs, barking to express my joy!
No, this was not the time to be calm! Calm would come later, when we were back home and I was stretched out on the cool wood of the kitchen, while everyone stepped over me.
This was the time to not be calm! And I wasn’t!
I lunged forward, taking the woman, who never seemed to let go of my strap, with me. And I didn’t stop lunging, nor would I, until we were on our way home!
We were going for a walk! A walk, a walk, a walk!
It really was the best day of my life, and on the best day of one’s life, who wants to be calm? Not me, I say. Not me!
Non-fiction. Alexa says hi!
This was written for Week 19 of therealljidol. I hope you enjoyed it! If you would like to read more entries, you can head over here. Voting should come Sunday night!