Buster

I used to place a peanut upon my long kitchen counter, and Buster would position himself at the end of the counter and wait.
Then I'd flick the peanut with my forefinger, and the peanut would shoot all the way across the countertop and off the edge into the air, and Buster would snap it right out of the air like that.

Then I'd eat a peanut myself.
And then I'd flick a peanut to Buster.
Then eat one myself.
Over and over again.

I wouldn't even have to look at Buster, but could hear the wet smack of his lips as he caught his peanuts.
Big ol' head with those big wet lips.

Once, while we were doing this, the phone rang and I randomly plopped a couple of the peanuts in my mouth and answered.
Buster waited.

It was Dr. Ciganic, Buster's vet. His random lab tests had come back from a week ago, and Dr. Ciganic was calling to tell me that Buster had cancer in his spine and was going to die. Maybe even within a month.
A Month.

Well, it was a short call, and I hung up the phone.
Just like that.

I stood there and looked down the counter at big Buster, still standing there waiting for his peanut, and all I could see was his big head above the countertop. He was drooling because, you see, he'd been watching me eat his peanuts while I talked on the phone. And he was a good dog and knew to just stand and wait till I flicked him a peanut.
And drool.

He didn't have a clue.

TDK '65''

• Last Time Around
  
• Charlie Nevins
  
• Young Men And Fire
  
• Austin Healy
  
• Cathy
  
• David River's Birthday
  
• Han's Pavilion
  
• Muscles, Our Neighbor
  
• John Browne, Learning to Dance
  
• Your Brother Mark Browne
  
• Buster
  
• Celluloid Lies
  
• Nuked
  
• Learning to Box
  
• Dog and Goose
  
• Buses and Such
  
• Stealing
  
• Hookybobbing
  
• Stiles Old Upstairs Apartment
  
• Sign Of The Time
  
• Learning to Drive