Thanksgiving 2007Part II

Andy on my air mattress

Almost everyone liked Andy except for one: Lucy, my cousin’s 13 year old lab-mix. Lucy had been to that house many times and viewed it as her domain. In her mind, Andy was an interloper intruding on her turf. She was mean as hell to him and literally a bitch to him. I knew Andy was scared and couldn’t fight, so I knew the dogs wouldn’t escalate any hostility to a deadly stage. I did think it was cute the way Andy reacted to Lucy’s anti-social behavior.


To make matters worse, both dogs had to stay down in the basement. My aunt let me take Andy up there on condition he stays downstairs. She didn’t want a big dog messing in her house which was understandable and fine by me. Her basement has twice the area of my condo. My cousin stayed in a bedroom down there while my brother and I stayed in the rec-room on inflatable mattresses we brought with us. Of course, Lucy and Andy stayed down there too.

After a few growls and teethies at each other, the dogs established an armistice and kept at bay from each other. They stayed on separate sides of the rec-room. Lucy stayed on the half closest to my cousin’s bedroom while Andy stayed on the half closest to the entrance and where my bed was. In between there was a “no-man’s land.” When both dogs were there, neither dog would go in that zone.

Lucy was pretty upset at the interloper. While we were watching TV on the couch, Lucy would turn away from Andy, peek at him occasionally and give my cousin a plaintive look as if to say “Can’t you do something? Get him out of here.” Lucy looked so pitiful.

Meanwhile, Andy was lying on my bed and scoping the room. He was scared and it showed the first night when we went to sleep. Normally, Andy would sleep at the foot of the bed or on the floor but on this night, he pressed his body hard against mine and stayed there the whole night. He was scared and wanted protection. He normally didn’t want to be close to my snoring and flailing around but this was a crisis for Andy. I thought he was so cute and precious that night. His cuteness was seemingly infinite. Even at age 9, he could still find new ways to be cute.

In the next two nights, Andy felt more at ease and move further from me while we slept. On night two, he stayed on the mattress but at the foot of the bed. On night three, he didn’t sleep on the mattress at all. Instead, he stayed on the day-bed by my bed and against the wall. I think Andy liked this position better because he had a higher place in the room and allowed him to lord over the area. Lucy wasn’t thrilled about that.