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
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 what ever 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 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 his head. She laughed and laughed, but all he could do was go bright red knowing it would all be around the school 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
not JUST an ordinary day but a very amusing day from the readers POV.
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