| | by
Paige in my world of make-believe |
December 29th, 2005
Chapter 1 Me and My Life:
Rusty - 2/15/04
Hello. My name is Rouge. I’m a 2 year old and one month Rottweiler. I
live in an old house with my 2 owners who never clean up after themselves. Mr.
McAndy and Mrs. McAndy. We have 3 acres which we never use and a trampoline in
the backyard which we can’t use because a tree fell on it and the kid who used
to jump on it died of cancer two years earlier.
Mr. McAndy works in the day at a Carpet and Floor Cleaning place. I
always wonder why he can clean up other peoples houses but not ours? Maybe
he just doesn’t want to run into any of Tyler’s stuff. Tyler was the kid with
cancer. Mrs. McAndy works, also, in the day time at Wal Mart. Some human
store.
I’ve been stuck in this dump and on this one 8 ft long chain under this
dying apple tree for a year and a half now. I’ve never run free before, well,
I remember when I was a small pup I could do anything, but now that has all
changed. All because of Tyler. Tyler was my best bud. And he died at such a
young age. He was only 6 years old. And I only got to spend my days with him
for 6 months. But those 6 months were like no other. Tyler and I were like
brothers.
It all started when I was at PetSmart. I was sitting in a pen with another
dog, a small Shih-Tzu. I was only 3 months at the time. I was put out in the
open for everyone to see me. Suddenly, a small family of a mother, father, and
5 year old boy came in the store. The small boy immediately ran over to my
pen. I remember like it was only yesterday.
“MOMMY! Look at this little doggie! He’s so cute! I want this one
mommy!” Only, he wasn’t pointing towards me, he was trying to pet the Shih-
Tzu. I was what I now would call Jealous, but back then I didn’t know what it
was, all I knew is that I wanted to have this kid as my own.
“But that’s a Shih-Tzu sweetie, They don’t grow as big as a German
Shepard. I thought you said you wanted a German Shepard to protect you?”
The mother asked bending over and petting the Shih-Tzu’s head.
“I do! But he’s just so cute!” The boy squealed.
“Well, look at this one.” The father said coming over to me and patting
my forehead. “He looks a lot like a German Shepard and I hear that these dogs
grow to be almost that size. They’re very protective dogs.” The father replied.
The boy starred down at me with curiosity. “Are you a big doggie?” He
asked.
“Ruff!” I yipped. He giggled.
“Yes Daddy, I like this one.” He reached down and picked me up. I licked
his face affectionately.
So, it was settled, I was adopted and I had my very own family. Over 2
months Tyler, the boy, and I grew, not only in friendship, but in size too.
But there was one problem, Tyler was sick. . .
I learned he had a dieses called Cancer only a short while after he
adopted me. He was telling me about it while I was lying on his bed.
“You’re lucky Rouge.” He said, “You’re really healthy. I’m not, I have a
dieses. Mommy says I’ll be alright, but Daddy says she just doesn’t want to
think about me dying.”
“I don’t want to think about you dying either!” I yipped.
Tyler patted my head and put his arms around my neck. “You’ll be there
for me won’t you, Rouge?” He asked.
I licked his face and hands. “Of course I will.” And I was always there for
him, and I’m still here, but he isn’t. . .
He died a year latter. It started when he had just turned 6. He began to
get weaker. His face was pale and he didn’t play with me as usual. I would
stay inside with him on his bed and watch over him. He would usually grip onto
my fur and pat me. On his good days he would throw me a ball or his Mom would
take him outside on the trampoline and I would jump up there with him. He
wouldn’t jump, he would sit and watch me run around him in circles. I was still
pretty young and I didn’t quite understand why he wasn’t playing with me.
2 weeks later Tyler was so weak that he couldn’t even move his hand.
And he was in so much pain that when I lifted up his hand with my nose he
winced and let out a short cry.
On 2/15/03 Tyler was sent to the hospital. “Rouge, I won’t be seeing you
in a while. You need to take care of Mom and Dad for me.” Tyler said to me as
he was placed in the front seat of the car.
“Where are you going Tyler?! “ I whined.
“I’m going some place where I won’t be in pain anymore. I’ll see you
there some day.” Tyler explained. His dad shut the door and drove off, and I
never saw Tyler again. . .
I’ve been here, stuck on this chain for a year and 3 months now. Today is
the day Tyler died. Today, was the day I met Taylor and Paige. . .
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