Jasper may not have been the friendliest dog, but he
was never destructive. The only thing he chewed on a routine basis was food. I
never had to worry about leaving him alone in the house. I knew all my
belongings were safe—all of them but my calico mini-print and felt stuffed
Christmas mouse. Christmas mouse was not safe in Jasper’s presence. I rescued
the little felt guy no less than 3 times from the jaws of destruction.
The other night as I went about shutting off
Christmas tree and mantle lights, I saw a big pile of fluff on the rug. It was
accompanied by a felt tail and felt ears. There was chewed up calico print fabric
bits everywhere. And under the table was the perfectly disemboweled shell of
Christmas mouse. His felt topcoat was torn next to him. Christmas mouse was no
more.
Despite his tainted rap sheet Jasper was not the
perpetrator of the crime. He was not ruled out by pawprints or canine DNA. There
was no video surveillance or lie detector either. Jasper was ruled out by the
fact that it was physically impossible for him to have jumped up and retrieved
poor Christmas mouse from the end table. Cosmo was the culprit. Cosmo inflicted
the mortal wounds. No confession was necessary. This case was closed.
I can’t help wonder what it was about Christmas mouse
that prompted such violence from two dogs. Perhaps in my absence that mouse
became animated and taunted them. Perhaps there was some evil that lurked
within that stuffed creature and my dogs were protecting me. Christmas mouse, despite
his cute outfit was still in fact vermin. Because all of my other Christmas items—even
the ones at eye level: Mr. Snowman, Christmas Angel baby, and Santa-- remain untouched.
All I know is that I have one less Christmas chachka---it’s
one less thing I have to pack up and put away. And that is not necessarily a
bad thing.
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