Brooklyn

Brooklyn recalls when she first met Jeff. A planned series of interconnected stories.

My memories of my time before I met Jeff are very vague, as I was quite young. What I do remember the most is having to push and shove my brothers and sisters to get fed because I was the smallest of them. One day, a strange lady came to play with us. She picked each of us up and petted us then set us back down. I was the last one she picked up because I kept trying to hide from her. I don’t know for sure but maybe that made her like me best. When she set me back down, I ran over to Momma for some milk. Feeding always made me feel better when I felt stressed.

Not long after that, I got shoved into a dark box. That was scary because I couldn’t see anything and everything got bumpy. I could hear the lady talking to me but I just whimpered and scratched against the side of the box. She sounded really happy but I was scared. I just wanted to go back to Momma.

I don’t know how long she kept me in that box but it seemed like forever with all the bumps and shaking. I wished Momma was there with me and I even started missing my brothers and sisters, even though they always picked on me. The lady’s voice was soothing, but she sure didn’t smell like Momma.

Finally, the bumping stopped and I felt her pick the box up with me in it. Now she was talking more quietly, which calmed me down. I stopped whimpering and just laid down at the bottom of the box. Not too long after, she set the box down and there were a lot more strange voices. Curious, I pressed my nose at the top of the box to try and smell what was going on out there. The voices sounded happy and they were singing something. I didn’t know what singing was back then, but it made me feel better. Maybe Momma would be waiting for me.

Suddenly the top of the box opened and a small pair of hands reached in and lifted me up. That’s when I saw him, my Jeff. He picked me up so gently and stared at me. I looked back at him and studied his face. He looked so happy to see me, but he was crying too so I didn’t know what was wrong. He pulled me close to his chest and hugged me. This made me feel better about my situation so I pushed my way up to his face and licked away the tears I saw running down his face. My tail wagged uncontrollably. I felt happier than I’d ever felt before. I was home.

“Thank you Mom! Oh my god, I love him!” My boy said.

“It’s a girl, Jeff. Look she already loves you.”

“What’s her name?”

“She doesn’t have one yet. Why don’t you give her one?”

Jeff cradled me in his arms and kissed the top of my head between my ears. Gently stroking my back, he gazed into my eyes. “I think I’m going to call her Brooklyn. She’s so cute! Thank you so much!”

The lady looked so happy. She smiled at him and said, “Of course, honey. It’s not every day you turn 12, so I wanted this to be a special day for you. You’re responsible for her, remember that, okay?”

“I will, Mom! I love her so much already!” Jeff held me close and kissed my head some more.

That’s when I realized that the strange lady was Jeff’s Momma. If she was his Momma, then I guess she was mine now. I knew I’d always miss my old Momma, but I felt at home now. I curled into Jeff’s arms and dozed off, finally happy and feeling safe.

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Author's Note: This is the first entry in a planned multi-part series. You will be able to find the other parts at https://www.quatscho.com/