​He was a hardworking yard boy. She was a pampered exotic breed. He knew he would have just one chance to impress her.

​

Brody led Boo around the garden, only to face her rejection of all his prized fruits—nibbling instead his afid-laden crucifers in disgust. He then resorted to a game of tag around the apple vines, allowing for naturally accidental hump here and there, to no avail. He knew all was left was to show her his ball—worn basketball, slightly deflated to allow for a satisfying half hollow kick, a muffled slap to its curve and the partial insertion of moistened incisor into leathered rubber . She showed no signs of interest—it was not enough to excite her. Perhaps by engaging a game of kicky with Boo’s humans, she would begrudge him their connection and agree desperately to his play. Brody glanced beyond his hind tuft expecting her advance, only to feel a prick of dread by her apparent absence; She had vanished.

Everyone’s attention was then suddenly diverted by an acapella kerplunk and a cold splash onto granite. Standing upright, half submerged as to conceal her chest and haunches, pressed forward with blithe paws gripping the stone ledge, Boo pivoted her neck to glare back at her audience— hiding her personal embarrassment behind a forged intentionality. In response to a gentle lift from the Koi pond and a pat with a fresh towel, Boo released a stifled growl and three accentuated hindquarter shakes, sending drops of water over Brody’s fixated cataracts. 

​

Escaping to the suite, with muddied paws and dampened by her self-pity, Boo demanded her place on the bed—freshly adorn in a fluffy white duvet. After several reactive interventions, she finally settled for a supplemented chaise adjoined to the queen mattress—upon which she exhaustedly rolled onto her back for the remainder of the evening, intermittently tossing and snorting. 

A morning stupor was suddenly broken by Boo’s alarm—discovering Brody waiting doggedly outside the front door for what must be a sunrise pee. In panic she sought the accompaniment of her fellow humans with shameful eyes wedged upward and partially concealed by heavy lids. There was only one choice—She had to face Brody alone... which secretly was what she wanted all along.