Smells Like Home
After what seemed like forever (and getting sick) in The Machine, it started, slowly, then got more intense, even inside a crate inside The Machine, I started to smell the Best Smells I Ever Smelled….grass, rain, potatoes, corn, sand, flowers, leaves, deer!, salt, fish!, grapes, DUCKS! …could all of these smells be in one amazing place?!? This must be theGreatest Placeon Earth!!! Where was I??!?!
We finally arrived at place that smelled like dog, cat, food, leaves and poop and airplanes. No dirty cows, no dust, no Angry Guys. Colder than I was used to but it felt good. And there were lots of people with Green Letters on Their Shirts who always gave pets, smiles, food, and water, and Eileen who gave me a lot of kisses J
I learned that if someone asked for you, and then took you for a walk it was usually a good thing. I wondered what was next for me.
Then came The Best Day That Ever Was
On a sunny, unseasonably warm day in February, while laying in a sunbeam, Eileen came to my cage and said “Aarrr-Chieeee, Someone is asking to see you”… wait, ME?!? REALLY?!?! ARCHIE?! THEY ASKED FOR ME?!?! I wagged my tail, shock my ears into place, licked my lips, stood as tall as my legs would let me stand and tried to get a glance of my coat in the window as we headed out.
And there she was, standing in front of me with a big smile. She said in the softest, rightest way, “hi Archie” and slowly bentdown to my level. I still remember what she was wearing and exactly how she smelled….The Girl who Smelled Like Flowers w a little splash of roast beef sandwich. Yummy. She looked into my eyes, touched my head, smiled at me, and said to Eileen, “I’d like to take him for a walk”.
WHOOT!!!
We went for a walk down a trial I hadn’t been before so I had to fight my need to furiously smell the birds, the deer, the poop, and chipmunchks… and instead concentrate on my best “Take Me!” walk.
I thought things were going pretty well when all of a sudden she stopped short.
Ah Oh.
She bent down, looked into my eyes, and touched me with a gentleness I now know well but felt for the very first time then. As she stroked my face, she said “so Arch, what do you think?!?” Well I can’t talk but if eyes, feet, teeth and all the little hairs on my back could talk, I tried to say “Take me! Take me! I’ll be good! Promise! I won’t bark! Take Me!!!
And she did.
This time, I didn’t mind The Machine, because my head was out the window, I was with My Girl, and we were driving in the Place with the Best Smells I Ever Smelled!!!!
My Girl carried me gently out of The Machine and took me into what I now know as our “Harbor House”. It’s filled with great smells, good food to eat, things to chew, well water to drink, a big back yard to pee and poop, and lots of furniture to romp on!
I soon settled onto the softest and whitest thing I was ever allowed to sleep on, nestled close to My Girl, drifting off to sleep thinking this feels like love, and smells like home.
Appendix:
Archie was adopted from ARF in February 2012. They rescued him from a kill shelter inAlabama. Archie and I live in NYC and EH.
Maria Marasco
646.610.3301
