[trapped in a perfect world]
[bittersweet]
For my fourth birthday my mother and father bought me a puppy. A little husky that would chase his tail and beg for belly-rub after belly rub. When I walked downstairs that morning and saw the box full of holes I knew exactly what it was. I shredded the paper and closed my eyes while I took off the cap, and opened it to find my puppy.
"You can name him anything you want Mikey," my mother said stroking my head and kneeling beside me. I embraced her tightly and picked up my puppy carefully from the box with the help of my mother. Then my father walked in, in his arms was a sleigh about the right size for a four year old, wrapped in a big red ribbon.
"Here you go champ," he said putting the sleigh down and patting my head. "We can attach these reigns to the dog when he gets bigger and then you can ride around in the winter time like a sleigh-rider."
I looked at my father explaining this all to me in complete shock, this was the coolest gift I'd ever received. I automatically wanted to use it, with the minor setback of the lack of snow and me being heavier then my tiny puppy, I had to use it. So I set up the different ropes on him as best as I could, and got into my sled in the middle of the living room. "Go!" I would scream, over and over again.
"Mikey, if you want him to go then you have to use the right commandment," my Dad said from the couch while holding hands with my mother.
"Pull?" I asked while rubbing my eyes (four year olds need their naps).
"Mush," my mother said with a wink while holding on to my father's hand and squeezing it, then resting her head on his shoulder.
I remember shouting 'Mush' every minute of every hour for at least two weeks before we even had a single snowflake. My mother and father used to even tease me about saying it in my sleep. But then one day it happened, we had our first snow and I was able to move my sled from the wood of my living room floor to the soft snow that covered the grass and streets like icing on a cake. My mother bundled me up in different odds and ends from my closet and my father carried my sled out to the street.
I stepped inside of the sled while my father properly attached my puppy to the reigns, and then he stepped back.
My mother smiled and grabbed my fathers hand while they told me that I could say 'mush' to start the sled. So I thrust the reigns, screamed 'mush' at the top of my lungs, and found myself hurling down Main Street with my best friend, in which I decided to call Max.
That night my mother came into my room and sat on the edge of my bed to help tuck me in. "So, good old 'Mush' finally worked," she smiled at me while kissing the tip of my nose.
I remember her running her fingers through my hair while talking gently in my ear. She whispered, "If I hear you say it one more time today I'm going to start calling you 'mush'," she said with a laugh and a tickle on my belly.
"Mush!" I said playfully, squirming to get away from her fingers against my ticklish skin.
She laughed, at me and stood up fixing her dress. Then she blew out the candle, stepped to the door and stood in the doorway for a moment. "Goodnight Mush," she said with one last smile and closed the door behind her, while humming a song of lavish sweetness.
Shouts to whom I'm outing:
Mondie- thank you muchly for my first run-on-review in AGES! You were right it was all about Mush! It's so sad that everyone's like 'oh on my first story…' but I'm like HELLO I have like 11 stories and I'm still a no one. ((cries)) I'll get over it. MWAAH!
Goth101- here you go… how Mush got his name ;o)