[Critique Group 1] April submission

[Deanna Noriega]

Hi everyone, I needed to pull something together for a reading on Saturday.
I was supposed to read something humorous, so reworked some things and
produced the following.

 

Shadow

 

Good evening, this is DeAnna Quietwater Noriega, author of Fifty Years of
walking with friends. Actually, it will be 53 years that I have shared my
life with Guide dogs in July. One of the things I have learned is that
getting to know who each dog is and the way they think is key to becoming a
good guide dog handler and partner in an excellent team. Today, I want to
take you with me in getting acquainted with a new canine friend. 

Here she comes now. She is a little black lab with a case of the wiggles
just entering the room.  "What is your name young lady? Yes, you in the dog
suit!"

 

"Oh!  Sorry! I didn't know you meant me when you said K9! I'm Shadow and
this is my girl, Cecily.  Last semester she took an oral interpretation of
children's literature class, so I know K. stands for kitty and I haven't
seen even one kitty, let alone nine of them here."

 

  "How do you like being a guide dog?" 

 

"Oh, it's really hard work!  At college, people used to get out of my way,
but when we went to Conventions, you had to watch out for swinging sticks
and nobody moved to let you get by!  But a lot of them wore shorts and
summer clothes, and I figured out that if you put a cold nose on their bare
legs, they jumped and you could get through."  

 

"It must be different living with a blind person and having to look out for
her all of the time." 

 

"Well, I trained for this job and I like being able to go everywhere with
her. I feel sorry for those poor dogs who have to spend all day guarding
their yards and barking rude things at me as I go by. I think they are
jealous seeing me walking down the street in my uniform. They wish they had
a job like mine as a professional mobility assistant. It is a little harder
these days because my girl mostly doesn't leave home much. Part of my job is
to take care of her mental health and I think she is suffering from
agoraphobia. I do try to cheer her up and take every opportunity to get her
to play with me. There is nothing like a good game of tug or catch to cheer
a person up. I am a little confused about this Covid thing. My Cecily has
begun to wear a muzzle when we go walking. I wonder if she is afraid, that
she might bite someone. The people we pass wear muzzles too. When we
approach them, she makes me step off the sidewalk and move several paces
into the grass. We no longer go shopping or to meet friends. She spends more
time on her computer and phone. The things we need are delivered to our
door. I have to bark to alert her to get them. It's lucky I am a versatile
assistant, because except for taking her out for exercise, I don't get much
work requiring my professional training. I miss getting together with our
friends. 

Despite all of my skill in dealing with her mental health, I fear her
agoraphobia and hostility towards other humans doesn't seem to be getting
better. I am also puzzled why she goes into this indoor rain room every day.
She washes off all her own great smell which is absolutely my favorite, and
then tries to disguise it even more with funny fake flower ones.  Why would
anyone want to stand in the rain on purpose?" We were almost late today
coming on the computer.  See that bulge in Cecily's coat pocket?  That's my
new ball!  We were walking and had to go past the place where people hit
lovely fuzzy balls with these webbed paddle things and I saw a ball just
lying in the middle of the sidewalk.  I wagged my whole rear end I was so
pleased someone left it there for me and scooped it up.  Cecily must have
thought it was something to eat because she stopped and put her hand under
my face and said "out!"  I gave it to her and she must have wanted to play
because she threw it down the street.  I ran after it and Cecily came too
because she was still holding my leash.  I didn't know she could run so
fast.  I caught it on the third bounce and Cecily said, dumb dumb dumb.  I
don't think she meant me though because she was hitting herself on the head.
She said out again and I thought we might play some more, but she put my
ball in her pocket and we hurried to get home. Oh goody, I see some cheese
and crackers on the floor over there with my name on them! Cecily must have
dropped them from her lunch."

 

"But Shadow, aren't you supposed to ignore food on the floor?  Won't you get
in trouble?"

 

"I've learned that if I dive for it, Cecily

puts that horrible, nasty Gentle Leader on me, but if I lie down like I am
being a good girl and stretch my neck, I can get it no problem. So, if you
will excuse me, I need to go clean up the floor before Cecily steps on the
cheese and grinds it into the carpet, then I will need a little nap.
Bye-bye!"

 

"There you have it. What a guide dog thinks about in these times of
isolation and community connection via computer." 

   

 

 

DeAnna Quietwater Noriega

Cell: 573-544-3511

Email:  <mailto:dqnoriega at gmail.com> dqnoriega at gmail.com

Author of Fifty Years of Walking with Friends

https://www.dldbooks.com/dqnoriega/

 

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