Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Sherri Nicole GET THE DOOR!” my dad yelled at me from the living room. I got up from my bedroom floor where I was coloring. I was hoping it was my grandma who lived a few houses down.
“Oh hey, kiddo. Is your dad home?”
I open the door a little wider to make room for Uncle Tick to come in. He is not my actual uncle and his name is not Tick. If I recall, his name is Rick. I am in my Holly Hobbie night gown. The bottom of it hits my knee caps. The lace is unraveling held by the baby blue flannel that feels so soft against my legs.
Boone, the first love of my life, was beside me. Boone was a german shepherd. My parents bought him on the way home from a Billy Squire concert (Not kidding. So random. When I hear Stroke Me, a lot of different things come up for me). Boone was my best friend.
Uncle Tick proceeded to go to meet my dad in the living room. My mom was not home at the time. On my way back to the bedroom, my dad called me into the living room. He asked me if I wanted McDonalds to eat for lunch. Of course I did. Fast food for lunch was unheard of and especially a happy meal. I could never finish the entire meal and I would get in trouble. My dad was big on me not being wasteful. I can not tell you how many pork chops that I have smothered in ketchup and forced myself to swallow. I would not disappoint my dad today. I would eat every single bit of the happy meal today.
Silver scales, plastic baggies, Zig Zag rolling papers and a bunch of little moss looking covered balls that smelled like a skunk in the distance and kinda of like the smell of opening a new bag of new potato chips. I have seen these items before but never all together. I could not take my eyes off of all them.
“Sherri- go to your bedroom and get your socks and shoes on. I will take you to McDonalds when Rick leaves”. Boone followed me back to the bedroom. He sat and waited by my bedroom door while I opened my dresser to get my white socks on. My dresser would have made Marie Kondo swoon. My shoes were lined up on the floor at the end of my bed. I had a pair of white sneakers, black dress shoes that were super shiny black with 2 straps or a pair of snow boots. I selected the black fancy ones. Once my socks and shoes were on, I sat down on my bed and waited for my dad to call me to get into the car to go to McDonalds. Boone jumped up on my bed and sat next to me. I fell asleep while waiting and Boone did too.
We never made it to McDonalds that day.
“It’s ok, Boone. I didn’t want McDonalds anyways”.
I pulled Boone closer to me. As close as I possibly could ,feeling his fur cover my face. Once the feeling of security washed over my little 5 year old body, I went back to sleep.
Safe. Safe. Safe.
*I had no idea that in a few short weeks after this, we would up and move to North Carolina. My parents gave Boone away to be trained as a police dog. We could not take him with us. I just hope he knew how much I loved him for the short time that I had him.