Just Another Ordinary Day

 Just Another Ordinary Day  

By Jane Scoggins                                        

The sink was full of dirty dishes, the breakfast egg congealed on the

plates. A pool of milk sat in a perfect round convex, shimmering on the kitchen worktop. It was just waiting for the slightest jolt to burst out and spill down the cabinet to the floor.

Cornflakes crunched underfoot. The Hoover, upright and silent in the hallway stood to

attention like a guardsman in his shiny red jacket, waiting for the order to ‘jump to and

clean up’. The dog, having finished snuffling around for titbits on the kitchen floor now waited by the back door assuming a pathetic look that combined an attitude of urgency for the purpose of expressing his outdoor toileting needs. Jackie surveyed the kitchen wreckage and sighed, muttering to herself

‘‘Just another ordinary day I see, welcome to the usual morning bomb site Jackie.’’

The dog, with his sensitive hearing, hoped that the words, despite being delivered in a low tone by his loving mistress were for him and an indication that a walk was imminent.

Bingo understood the word walk, but also knew that other words that did not sound like walk may possibly lead to a walk if spoken in his direction. It was only when words directed to him with a shake of the head, indicated that there was no chance of a walk in the near future. On these occasions, Bingo knew it was best to retreat to his bed and lie quietly but expectantly for a while until summoned by Jackie, big Dave, smaller Tim or even smaller Katie. A lot of the day was spent with Jackie in the house and Bingo had become accustomed to her routine once Dave, Tim and Katie had jumped up from the kitchen table, scraped back their chairs, grabbed their coats and hurried out the front door. Bingo had never quite got used to this sudden flurry of early morning activity, and the four individually pitched voices all speaking very fast at the same time. But he always felt unexpectedly excited every morning when this happened and was compelled to join in with the rushing about and the noisy voices competition. His involvement was curtailed when told to stop barking and running around in circles in the overcrowded kitchen. Sometimes he was told to go to his basket and calm down. Bingo appreciated this order as he never had any idea what he was getting excited about and didn’t know when to stop. Bingo and Jackie were good friends and therefore had lots of communication throughout the day. Jackie had a routine so Bingo generally knew the pattern that the morning would take, thus allowing him to avoid the bits he did not enjoy like the vacuum cleaning machine that scared him. Sometimes Jackie sang, sometimes she put on the radio, and sometimes she did both. Quite often she would talk to Bingo as she went about her jobs putting the house to rights. First it was the downstairs rooms and then upstairs to the bedrooms. Bingo listened out for the change in tone in Jackie’s voice. When she was cross about something she had to clear up in Tim and Katie’s rooms he would slink away under a bed in another bedroom where he could keep safe company with a pair of soft fluffy slippers or bigger rough tweedy ones. He loved washing clothes days as he enjoyed snuffling through the delicious smells hidden in the piles of dirty laundry waiting on the landing, or on the kitchen floor ready to go into the washing machine. Socks and jeans were particular favourites. He liked to help find abandoned clothing under the beds and bring them out. Sometimes Jackie showed appreciation and sometimes not. She was definitely not impressed when he tipped over the piles of clean laundry and spread it around the floor whilst he went in search of an interesting scent or chewed on a button. He particularly liked running around the house with a sock or T-shirt in his mouth waiting for Jackie to chase him. Sometimes she whacked him with the newspaper and although it did not hurt he knew that it was temporarily time to stop whatever he was doing, however much fun.  A very good game involved skidding across the kitchen floor after Jackie had taken time with her mop to create what he believed to be a lovely wet play area. Bingo had better hearing than Jackie and liked to be helpful by barking loudly and running around her feet when he heard the doorbell or the telephone ring. Sometimes he would chase his tail around and around in a circle to get her attention as an alternative or in addition to barking.

When Jackie finished her jobs she would take Bingo out for a walk. This is what he had been waiting for. When she reached for her coat and his lead, Bingo could not help but run up and down the stairs a few times as fast as he could to show he was aware of the plan, ready and excited. Sometimes, if there were things left on the stairs, they would roll or tumble onto the hall floor or get tangled up in his paws.

When Tim and Katie came back in the afternoon there would be more activity. He couldn’t wait to perform tricks for them. He took requests for tricks as seriously as any good performer and was generally very pleased with himself for the response he received. He could roll over, jump over the footstool, and when in the mood and given encouragement would sing. A particular favourite of his was ‘How Much Is that Doggy in the Window.’ As soon as he heard this music Bingo was ready to give his best rendering. The postman was a welcome visitor to the front door. Bingo could hear him coming up the path and could smell him faintly when he put things through the draughty letterbox. Sometimes it was the whiff of another dog, sometimes a bit pepperminty, but not as strong as the Polo mint he had found and crunched, under big Dave’s chair. Bingo had only seen him properly through the window but had barked hello very loudly many times and the postman usually waved at him in a friendly way. He sniffed the envelopes that come through the letterbox and would lick some of them, or pick them up in his mouth and shake them about a bit if they were large enough. The mistress often had to push him aside to pick them up before they got bent or a bit damp. Sometimes she put them down again, especially if they were the brown colour. But if she liked the look of them she opened them straight away. Bingo knew that this was usually a cue for her to take a break and have a drink and a biscuit. Bingo was happy when this happened as there may be crumbs or even broken pieces of biscuit for him to eat. He was more than willing to attract Jackie's attention by performing a trick or sit in front of her and paw her leg gently, for the pleasure of being rewarded a treat.

On this particular ordinary day, Jackie, having finished the chores, and with the

dishes washed, the laundry sorted and in the machine, she was ready for a sit down with a cup of coffee. Bingo had been under her feet all morning running around with a sock in his mouth and refusing to let her put it in the washing machine Added to this he had been making paw prints on the clean kitchen floor. However, she loved him a lot, and his funny antics make her laugh and kept her sane whilst she tackled the boring humdrum daily housework. Picking up the one letter from the mat that had arrived that day she slit it open whilst waiting for the kettle to boil. Having quickly scanned the words she read out loud to Bingo.

‘‘Bingo, the magazine likes my stories about you; they want me to do a weekly column, a sort of Dog’s Blog. They say that hearing about your antics made them laugh. They are sure that their readers would like to hear about the things you get up to. Do you remember when you ran around the house with a pair of Tim’s underpants on your head, with your ears poking out? We couldn’t catch you, and then you escaped out of the house and ran down the street. Tim ran after you and was so embarrassed because he saw a girl he knew and she saw you had a pair of his Spiderman underpants on your head. She laughed and laughed, but all he could do was go bright red knowing it would all be around the school the next day. Well, the editor loved that story and wants more. Thank you Bingo. This hasn’t turned out to be just another ordinary day after all!’’

Copyright Jane Scoggins