A Toy Story

The car ride was tense—filled with apprehension and concern. Approximately an hour into our journey home from our rental home in Beach Haven New Jersey my daughter Briana realized she left Andre the seal, her beloved stuffed animal, in the nightstand. And while we had a cell phone in our possession, it was the mid 1990’s when service was spotty.

We needed to wait until we got home to inquire about Andre’s welfare.

Cosmo’s favorite toy is a red Kong ball that was formerly Jasper’s. And it differs in design from the current Kong model because it is perfectly spherical—there is no cut out for a cookie to be placed inside. The ball is particularly bouncy and can withstand Cosmo’s power chewing.

He took red ball everywhere—including to bed (my bed) at night.

Yet for all his attentive care, red ball went missing sometime in mid-January. And despite an intensive search under every piece of furniture in every room and in every square inch of yard space, it was gone.

So for his birthday I replaced it with the current model---the kind with the cut out.

But it wasn’t quite the same.

And for the last 2 months, whenever I would go up to the third floor bedroom Cosmo would follow me but for whatever reason, would not jump up on to Samantha’s bed like he always did. Instead he would sit as if asking for a cookie. Then he would look at me and then the bed and then back at me again. Sometimes he would try to speak and say Arr Arr Arr. But I could not figure out what he was telling me. There was nothing on, around or under the bed.

So finally on our last trip upstairs I asked him Is there something here you want? And he looked at the bed again.

And as I felt around on the duvet—something I had done 20 times before-- I detected a sphere beneath  the covers.

It was original red ball.

It was found at last!

And when we got home from Beach Haven New Jersey we called the owner of the rental property as to Andre’s whereabouts. The toy was indeed in the night stand where Briana had left it. The stuffed animal was safe and about to embark on a journey homeward via Federal Express.

And days later, Cosmo’s favorite toy is still beside him—he does not let it out of his sight. He is too fearful of losing it again.

Because there is nothing like the love of a favorite toy—for both children and doggies. And nothing so sweet as the joy that ensues when the owners are reunited with their missing.