Sparky, a dog's tale

SPARKY

BY WANDA WRIGHT

“Lisa, are you ready?” Missy said as she ran into the room excited and already dressed in her satin gown.

Lisa was staring at her dog that was staring back at Lisa. When Missy ran in she looked up at her and then looked back down at the dog again.

“What’s with the dog Lisa? Well looks like you need a nudge to hurry up,” Missy said dismissing the oddity of Lisa and the dog.

“Oh I am fine, just another minute and I will be ready,” Lisa said and looked back in the mirror to make sure she didn’t have anything more to do.

The dresses rustled as they got into the car and Lisa was being quiet against Missy’s chatter.

“Lisa is something wrong, you don’t seem very excited,” Missy said noticing that Lisa wasn’t reacting to anything she said.

“Well Missy, I am going to tell you something, and please, don’t think I am crazy because I know I’m not,” Lisa said unsure whether to reveal her secret to Missy.

“Oh Lisa, what could it possibly be? I mean is Charley being a jerk again? Are you finally going to leave him?” Missy said sure that whatever Lisa was going to say it would be connected to Charley.

“It’s about tonight, I don’t think we should go,” Lisa said quickly changing her mind about telling Missy but still trying to protect her.

“Lisa, what is going on? Seriously we have both been excited about this forever. What could possibly get you to this? I mean it’s been a while for both of us being in a large crowd. But this is special, we are going to have a great time.” Missy replied thinking Lisa was just saying this now because she was nervous.

“No really Missy, pull over, I am not going. You can go, but well, no you shouldn’t go either,” Lisa said and Missy looking at her face knew something else was wrong.

Missy pulled the car over and grabbed Lisa’s arm saying, “Tell me what is going on?”

Lisa looked at Missy and knew she had to tell her, she had to let her in on it. But she would also have to show her and she wasn’t sure if she could.

“Listen Missy my dog is special. You know how we always make jokes about it? Well it’s not really a joke, he can talk and he warned me that we shouldn’t go tonight,” Lisa said her speech increasing to get it out before she changed her mind again.

Lisa felt immediate relief and then fear when Missy looked down to think about what she had just said.

“Listen, let’s go back, I think I can get him to talk to you too,” Lisa said hoping the dog would so Missy would believe her.

Missy knew this was the end of what she thought was going to be a fabulous evening. She had spent more on the dress than she could afford and was eating less because of it. She considered her options and decided to go back to Lisa’s apartment and let her see quickly that she has snapped a screw.

“Listen Lisa, okay, let’s hurry and go back to your apartment and find out whether you have a screw loose or not. I mean, the dog is talking, I’m sorry but no one would believe that Lisa and you shouldn’t either. You need to get help but c’mon let’s go and if he doesn’t talk to me, then you agree to get real help and we can go to the event right?” Missy said hoping Lisa would easily agree. When she did Missy was at least happy that this one thing had gone right and glad she knew about Lisa and could tell her to go get help.

Missy looked at her watch and saw that they still had time to get there if she hurried. She quickly turned the car around so fast Lisa put her hand on the dash to keep from flying out the door. Lisa was relieved and finally ready for someone else to see that Sparky could talk.

Missy was speeding through the traffic and Lisa was still holding on. They were both quiet and both were fine with that. Lisa knew that Missy’s life was about to change and she was excited that she was finally not going to be alone in this.

“So how long has the dog been talking to you Lisa?” Missy asked out of curiosity on how long her friend had been nuts.

“About six months after I got him, I thought I heard talking and I caught him talking to the cat. That was the first time,” Lisa said every word making it easier to breath.

When they got back to the apartment Missy sighed that Lisa was snapping on this day. But she hoped she could get them both there after Lisa understood she was crazy.

Sparky came running up as he always did to greet Lisa when she returned. He was a little mutt dog a cross between a wiener dog and Chihuahua. He was all black and had one tooth that was always showing on his right side. Missy walked in behind Lisa with Sparky jumping and running along side of Lisa.

Lisa was talking to Sparky telling him he needed to talk to Missy but Missy didn’t hear Sparky say a word. Missy looked at her watch again and knew if they could leave in five minutes they could still make it.

“Ok Sparky it’s time to talk to me if you can because otherwise Lisa here is going for help for her crazy mind,” Missy said looking at Sparky who was looking at her while she talked.

“I’m not crazy Missy, Sparky can talk. Go ahead Sparky show her it’s okay boy,” Lisa said but Sparky just looked back at her his mouth slightly open in a normal dog smile.

“Okay Lisa now little Sparky here doesn’t talk. That is just your crazy brain that has a screw loose. Now let’s go and have some fun and you can go talk to the pros next week and solve this problem,” Missy said and headed towards the door to leave.

Just as she was at the door she heard a man’s voice behind her say, “ You shouldn’t go tonight, bad things will happen if you do.”

Missy turned around quickly and Sparky was there looking at her. She looked at Lisa who started jumping around the room saying,” You heard it, I know you heard him talk!”

“Lisa quit playing around, that was you, you said that,” Missy said sure that she was right as she watched Lisa continue to jump around the room laughing.

“No Missy, Lisa is right and she isn’t crazy,” Missy heard the man’s voice again and she spun around knowing it wasn’t Lisa this time that she heard because she was watching her.

Missy sat down on the couch and knew they were going to miss the event. She looked at Sparky and he was giving her a dog smile and she wondered if she was crazy too.

“Say something now, when I am looking at you,” Missy asked feeling stupid doing it but she had to find out.

“So what do you want me to say?” Sparky spoke and his little dog mouth moved as the words came out.

Missy was shocked and Lisa was happy that finally someone else knew that she had the most special dog in the world.

‘Don’t worry about that dress, you are getting a raise next week and really, if you two went tonight you wouldn’t have had any fun. In fact it was going to go really bad,” Sparky was now speaking freely and Missy just sat staring at the marvel in front of her.

“How come you can talk? How do you know these things?” Missy asked Sparky still dazed by this realization.

“How come you can talk? Do any of us know? I mean I just can, that’s all I know,” Sparky said, his little smile back again when he was done.

Lisa came out with two champagne glasses and a bottle of champagne and put it on the small table in front of the couch unwrapping it and popping the cork laughing.

“I am so glad that I am not the only one anymore. Thank you Sparky, thank you for saving us,” Lisa said and she picked him up and snuggled him. Sparky licked her face and acted in every way like a regular dog Missy noticed and she started wondering whether she had somehow been infected with Lisa’s madness.

“Listen Lisa we are going to have to get one more person here to see this. I mean maybe I am mad too now? I gotta have someone else, who can we bring over?” Missy said wanting more confirmation she didn’t have the same screw loose that Lisa did.

“No, I can’t allow that and I won’t speak for anyone else Missy. It’s just too risky,” Sparky said and wriggled out of Lisa’s arms jumped to the floor and walked over to his water bowl, took a drink and then started eating.

“Well there it is Missy, isn’t it incredible?” Lisa said and Missy could see she was completely convinced. As the hours passed Missy decided to let herself believe that it was very real, Sparky could talk.

Later that evening, the champagne finished they were quiet and watching a late night movie and the program broke away for a special news report. The event they were planning to go to was consumed in a fire and many people died and were hurt. Missy looked at Lisa who was asleep and then at Sparky who was curled up and asleep on his dog bed.

Years passed and both Lisa and Missy took Sparky’s advice on everything important and both became very successful and rich beyond their wildest dreams. Lisa always kept Sparky but Missy lived in the lavish apartment right next to Lisa’s and could talk to Sparky any time.

Sparky let Lisa and Missy have relationships with men for a while but then he would always get rid of them knowing that Lisa and Missy both listened to every word he said. He didn’t want anyone but Missy and Lisa and he made sure it stayed that way. He had been right on so many things that helped them, and they listened to every single thing he said and followed it.

Lisa and Missy eventually got very old and both had nurses round the clock caring for them. Sparky didn’t seem to age and only had a few grey hairs around his mouth by this time, so he visited them in their death beds once a day and told them how much he loved them. He was sure he had been enough love for both of them and never regretted doing what he did to keep them all to himself.

Once they both died, Sparky inherited all the wealth he had created for each of them. He had many people caring for him but he never fell in love again so he never spoke another word.