Story of the Day - 11/ 27/ 2015 - the day after Thanksgiving

Today is Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

My son, Aaron, worked yesterday. He works two jobs; one is an internship with the Boy Scouts and the other is a part-time job at a movie theater. While he was working, yesterday, he got a phone call from a friend. His friend, Daniel, asked Aaron if he could watch a dog for a few days. Daniel wanted to take time to go visit his mother.

Daniel doesn't have a dog. It turns out hat he has been watching a dog for a family, for several weeks…. For longer than planned, because he thought the family would be back, by now.

Aaron asked him if he would get paid. Aaron assumed that in watching a dog for several weeks, Daniel was getting some cash to compensate him for the time and effort.
But he wasn't.
Nada. Nothing.
So, Aaron's desire to get some cash for doing this over the long weekend turned to dust. Don't forget, Aaron works at a movie theater. He earns about $8 an hour, and has very limited, erratic hours, so that the theater does not have to provide benefits or anything else to the lowly employees.

I told Aaron that I was surprised that a family had expected someone to take care of their dog for several weeks for free. But Aaron explained to me that Daniel is like that - he was probably offered money and turned it down, wanting to be nice.

At any rate, Aaron agreed to watch the dog , and after several texts , got the address and the details; and, through third party , got the key.

So, this morning, I went to the grocery store and the drug store, and Aaron went to take care of the dog, who needs to be fed and let out, twice a day.

By the time I returned home, Aaron had called home and spoken with my husband several times. First, because he thought he had the wrong address, then because the dog was not...compliant. And a third time, well, I forgot what my husband said that was about….


So, as I was taking the lettuce out of the bag to put it away, and the phone rang.

And because of what mu husband had just told me, when I got home, I was not surprised to hear Aaron's voice.

Aaron told me that he was calling because he felt a strong urge to thank me.
Because I had never let my kids have a dog.
Of course, I had never let them have a dog because of allergies, mine, theirs, my husbands.
And Aaron had not appreciated how fortunate we were to have allergies, I mean to have not had a dog, until now.

You see, while feeding the dog, Aaron realized that there was an odor. The house is an open floor plan, and Aaron, upon looking around, realized the dog had taken advantage of that to poop in every room.
Well, not quite every room, but every room in the upstairs of a rather large house.
Some of the feces were old and crusty, and some were still soft and especially odiferous. It was, however, all disgusting.

My son yelled at Lucy- the dog, and he sent her outside, hoping she would figure out that poop belongs on the lawn.
Then he set to work cleaning up mound after mound of brown stuff.

He called me, mid-cleaning, because he had to vent.


And to thank me that we had never owned dog.

"You know, " he said, "yesterday, when we went around the table saying what we were thankful for...well, this is what I should have thanked you for- for not letting us have a dog."

Then, he spent some time surveying the house. If Lucy was going to defecate everywhere she could, then, he reasoned, it might be smart to limit her range. The garage seemed the best option. it dooes not have carpet. But there is , apparently, no working light, and it is " messy", as he described it to me. The kitchen has too many ( three0 large doorways, so that was out, there is a smaller living room ( as well as a larger one), and he thought he could limit her to that room. I asked about her food dish- I mean, maybe the family doesn't want her food dish in that room. He told me that Lucy likes to drag her dish into the small living room, anyhow. And, besides, having some spilled food and water on the carpet in this one room is immeasurable than having poop on all of the carpets.


Again, he thanked me for not having dog.


He also wanted to know if he should take sen toilet paper and set it over each area he has cleaned, so the family would know.

Not a good idea, I tell him .
I do not say it, but I suspect Lucy might decide to eat the toilet paper ,and then that will add to the next home decoration.
I do tell him that, regardless of where she has pooped in each room, the family is going to need to have all of the carpets thoroughly cleaned...unless they like it that way.
It is always possible that this has been Lucy's ongoing behavior over the years they've had her. That they are used to it, and that they really shorted Daniel by letting him watch this dog for free.

I also ask Aaron why he doesn't leave some of the poop for Daniel to clean. Obviously, this occurred on Daniel's "watch". It is nice to clean some of it, but all of it???
But, Aaron tells me, Daniel is timid.
It is very possible he smelled the odor , but didn't want to go into any rooms and "invade " the family's private space.

Aaron thanks me , again, for not having a dog, and he also thanks me for letting him vent.
I tell him, that, honestly, it was enough having to clean up after kids. They also, on occasion, decided to pee and poop in odd places. He says" like on the Monopoly board" by one of his siblings who had taken off her diaper, .
Yes, And in a bucket.
That one was Aaron- and he defends himself by saying that at least the bucket was in the bathroom- the correct room.
"Yes", I reply, " but, I kept smelling something in the bathroom,and I thought there was a problem with the toilet....at least, until I went to mop the flor and lifted up the bucket...."

I do tell him that this will be great material for one of his stand-up comedy routines.....if not just for a Story of the Day.

So, we hang up, and he goes back to cleaning up poop, and I go back to putting away the groceries, and then to typing up this story.