Miles to the rescue????

A Man is Only as Good . . .

A man is only as good

as what he says to a dog

when he has to get up out of bed

in the middle of a wintry night

because some damned dog has been barking;

and he goes and opens the door

in his vest and boxer shorts

and there on the pock-marked wasteground

called a playing field out front

he finds the mutt with one paw

raised in expectation

and an expression that says Thank God

for a minute there I thought

there was no one awake but me

in this goddamned town.

by Pat Boran

I have been saving this poem for a while. It was on 3Quarks and I really like it. I have a story to tell tonight and this seems to fit.

My office has been a mess for months now. I have not been using it - Just piling things in there and then walking a fine line to the printer when I had to print something. Well eventually things catch up. I had a report that was due. I had to find the materials so that I could do the report and get it in. It was late (I won't tell you how late) - I just spaced it off.

So I went in and sat down on my nice rolling chair and started to go through the things that needed going through. (Anybody want a years supply of New Yorker/Vanity Fair/National Geographic magazines as well as various Masonic ones?) Eventually I cleared away a huge pile of papers and junk (or is it junque?)

Then as I was sitting forward on the edge of the seat I found my chair slipping backward and me gliding forward onto the floor. These are hardwood floors folks, They are slippery and I am a rather large person. Now I am on the floor and trying to pick up the chair so I can use it to get up. And my shoe comes off. No traction.

This is the part where the dog comes in. Miles likes to untie my shoe laces. That is the reason the shoe came off. And he comes in to investigate. He wants to know what is going on. He sticks his nose up to sniff. He gets as close to me as he can and sits down beside me. He does not allow me to get up (if I could) and so I have to shove him away.

Then comes the fun part. The floor (hardwood, remember) is to slick for me to get up so I crawl to the hallway. My bed is too high for me to get up so I sit for a minute and then crawl to the living room and eventually pull myself up using the recliner.

Miles has accompanied me all the way. You could see the concern in his eyes. I had to sit there and catch my breath and take off the Abiff University sweatshirt I was wearing. Overheated you know.

Eventually I catch my breath and answer a few e-mails and then go back to the office to find the material I needed to finish the report.

So now I have two sore knees, a sore shoulder, and a headache.

Where was Bailey during all this? Under the couch sleeping. - End of the story I finished the report and threw Miles his toy and let him sit on my lap and cuddled with him and found something to write about. I also put it up on Facebook and Laurie wrote a comment

"A good dog will never leave your side. How sweet, but calling for help would be nice."

- Thanks for stopping by and if you have a good dog be grateful. I am. Hugs, j