A Summertime Walk

Sister is usually pretty cool.  She's almost always willing to share whatever she's eating, she's always hot so she's usually the first to suggest turning on the air conditioner, she's given up trying to stop me from dig-dig-digging under the forsythia, she was the first to allow me to sleep on the bed, and it has been through her co-workers that I have met pretty much all of my four legged friends.  But sometimes, despite all of her good ideas and willingness to share, Sister comes up with some truly stupid ideas.  She had one of those today.  Today, Sister took me for a walk.

Now you might say: "A walk?!  So what?"  Well, allow me to list three well known facts:

1. It is July and I live on Long Island, New York.  The daily temperature for my neck of the woods is between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. I wear a full (and luxurious) fur coat all year round.
3. I hate walks--always have, always will.  I'd much prefer to be chasing squirrels or barking at people passing by from the comfort of my own backyard.

So, yeah, like I was saying, going for a walk was a really stupid plan.  And what's worse, when Sister put my leash and collar on me, I thought that we were going for a ride in the nice air conditioned car.  When we got outside, I even ran straight to Sister's passenger side door.  And when we walked past her car, I actually looked up and down the block for Ma's car (which wasn't there).  Talk about a bummer!

So anyway, Sister and I trudged our way to and from the local park which, while only a couple of blocks away, felt like it was in the next state.  Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.  So much so, in fact, that I even downright refused to eat the cookie that Sister bribed me with when she dragged me down one particularly shade-less street (I spit it out and left it on that street).  When we finally got home, I drank about a gallon of water out of the doggy stream (the garden hose).  Then Sister and I went inside.

In an attempt to buy back my love, Sister turned on the air conditioner in the bedroom and insisted that I hang out with her in the coolness (she was looking a bit worse for wear from our walk too--her hair, which is almost as thick as mine, was rather frizzed out).  I was tempted to refuse her offer on principle--plop myself down on the kitchen floor for a marathon panting session--but the cool air was just too enticing and I was so hot.

I snoozed on the bed in the air conditioning until lunch time when I sauntered out to see what Sister was eating.  Obviously feeling bad about dragging me out for a walk in the hot summer sun, Sister gave me a sampling of cheese from her sandwich.  All was almost forgiven.