Snow with a Topping of Caramel

A wholesome essay about my two partners in crime.

10/18/2017

Being an only child can be lonely, especially at the beginning of a new school year when one is assigned getting-to-know activities. I was always the only one in class who had nothing to share when my classmates boasted about their escapades with their siblings and pets. I too wanted a partner-in-crime, a buddy to have adventures with! Thus began my endeavor to acquire a companion. First, I tried hinting for a sibling, but after it was made abundantly clear to me that I was to be an only child like the characters in ‘Dennis the Menace’ and ‘Calvin and Hobbes’, I started my negotiations for a pet. For as long as I can remember, I have always dreamed of having a dog, but I was willing to make do with just about anything. I proposed a hamster, a goldfish, an ant farm, even a lizard or a snake from the backyard would have done. One after another, all my suggestions were shot down because I was either too forgetful to remember feeding a pet, too disorganized to follow a regimen, or too young to shoulder the responsibility. Whatever the reasons, the answer was always in the negative. But I did not let such momentary setbacks derail my hopes and kept on persisting. After years of asking, pleading, begging, and groveling, I finally managed to convince my parents that “we” needed a dog. Imagine my joy and surprise, when my father announced that we should have two! He reasoned that the pups would keep each other company while we were away. We all agreed unanimously!

The deal struck, I was entrusted with the important job of choosing a breed. I wanted a dog I could play fetch and go for jogs with, teach tricks and show off to my friends, roll on the carpet and cuddle like a big bear. The beautiful eyes and coat patterns of Siberian Huskies had always fascinated me and I knew this athletic, energetic, intelligent breed would fit perfectly with my family. My mom insisted on girls as she felt her gender was disproportionately represented in our household and we all agreed they had to be sisters so that they would play well together. All the important decisions made, my dad and I got down to looking for Husky pups for adoption. After months of searching, we found a breeder near Stockton who had a litter with Siberian-Husky and German-Shepherd lineage. We felt it was an ideal combination as the pups would have all the desired traits and obedience, to boot. The pups looked adorable in their online pictures. My dad contacted the breeder and arranged to pick up the sisters the following Saturday. That night, I went to bed ecstatic and counted pups, floppy-eared and chubby, with little angel wings! Boy, were we wrong! We had no idea what was in store for us!

The days dragged on agonizingly and I couldn’t wait for the weekend to come. I woke up to a gray, cloudy, and wet sky on December 13, 2014, but the lack of sunshine did not bother me, for I carried within me a rainbow of my own. For today was the day when we would bring the girls home! To my mother’s utter disbelief, I made my bed without being told, got dressed at lightning speed, shined my shoes, combed my hair slick, wolfed down my breakfast, brushed my teeth, and waited patiently, all the while pretending to read a book and refraining myself from hurrying my parents, in the fear of annoying them. I wonder why adults take such an unusually long time to get dressed for events of utmost urgency and importance to a child? As we were about to step out the door, my father’s cell phone rang. It was the breeder. Alas, only one pup was available for adoption now! A family had stopped by and taken one of “our” pups to their loving home. The breeder did warn us that the adoption was on a first-come, first-serve basis! Upon hearing this unbearably disappointing news, I was inconsolable! Not the one to give up so easily, my father asked the breeder to keep the last pup for us and searched for other breeders in the surrounding areas with pups for adoption. He found one near Manteca with pure-bred Siberian Husky pups. We drove there first, as it was nearer to us and that’s where I first saw Snow. She was a blur of white, spinning like a rogue tornado. She stood out from her brothers and sisters. Her fur was white as freshly fallen snow, with a faint rebellious silver streak running down her back. Her iris were white opals with streaks of electric blue. With her kohl-lined eyes and black nose, she looked like a polar bear cub. Her siblings, however, looked like the dogs you would commonly see in Alaskan sled races. It was love at first sight! Seeing me staring at her, she bounded clumsily towards me, but before I had the chance to pet her, she was off in a trice chasing after her litter-mates who were now trying to climb a trampoline and utterly failing at it. My parents enquired to see if I had picked ‘one-half’ of my Christmas present and I pointed towards Snow. My mother nodded and my father observed that she was the “calmest of the bunch”. To this day, I do not understand what he meant by that, for she has been the instigator in every waggish accident that has ever taken place since! But I didn’t care, we were taking Snow home! The moment we put her in the crate and loaded it in the car, she relieved herself in it. No wonder, my mom inferred that she was trouble! We had to stop everything and clean up the mess. It was smart of my mother to have lined the back of my dad’s SUV with a tarp and have kitchen towels and baby wipes handy. I got my taste of babysitting someone younger, and it dawned on me that I was no longer the baby of the family. After about an hour’s drive, we arrived in Stockton, at the first breeder’s home, where we were supposed to pick up the sisters. We were greeted at the door by a huge male silver-white Husky and indoors by a bigger female German Shepard. After we had met with the parents of our prospective pet, a small curlicue of fluff was brought in. That’s when I first laid eyes on Cara, the other half of Santa’s gift. She was about the size of a medium-sized grapefruit with colors of a Caramel Pecan Turtle. I cradled the warm furry bundle in my arms and she looked up at me through sleepy caramel-colored eyes, squirmed, yawned, and went right back to sleep. I wondered if it was possible to experience love at first sight, twice on the same day? Since Snow had taken up all the space in the crate and marked it for her own, Cara rode home in my lap, all bundled up in a warm blanket, fussing and wriggling like a worm - a furry little worm. By the time we got home, it was dark and the pups were hungry. After gorging on the choicest morsels of puppy chow till their stomachs distended, they explored the downstairs on wobbly legs, for they were too tiny to go up the stairs. They must have been exhausted, for they plopped on the carpet, stretched, and fell asleep. They looked like angels, with tails!

They have grown a lot since our time of sleepless nights, muddy paws, and chewed-up slippers. I have been accompanied to soccer games, swim practices, beach outings, and jogs. They have taught me to pick up after myself, for things lying on the carpet will be slobbered upon, torn, chewed, and devoured. I have been pushed into the role of the organizer while they have taken over the job of the mess-makers of the family. They keep me company when I work late into the night finishing my portfolios. When any one of us steps out for more than an hour, they wait for us by the front door and take turns looking out the window, until the person comes home. They, then greet us like long-lost friends, with all the fanfare of a song and a dance. Cara sings in a cooing howl and Snow dances all around us. They have redefined our family with their support and loyalty. Although the same age and build, they couldn’t be more different. Snow is all white except for her nose and pupils. Cara is all black and brown with a few white chin hairs. Snow’s eyes shine red in the night and Cara’s green. Snow loves water, while Cara uses it sparingly for beautification. Snow loves to romp in the snow, Cara loves to sunbathe. Snow lives to eat, while Cara eats to live. Cara has a fetish for stuffed toys, in particular dragons and monkeys, while Snow can play fetch for hours with her squeaky ball. Cara is almost always in Princess-mode, while Snow is a tough nut. One evening, upon my return from swimming practice, I was greeted by Snow with half a face that looked like it belonged to a Pitbull. Guess she got stung by a bee or a wasp and didn’t even know it. She was running happily, without a care in the world, with her left jowl flapping in the wind! Had the same happened to Cara, we wouldn’t have heard the end of it! Though polar opposites, they are inseparable. Like two sides to a coin. Like Yin-Yang. But, when it comes to mischief, they show uncannily identical ingenuity! Their gardening skills are legendary. Our once pristine yard is now riddled with potholes, dug chasing gophers. The banana plant and avocado tree have been chewed to mere stumps by their teething gums. Even the sharp thorns of a rose bush did not deter them from uprooting it and eating its root ball. The ornamental cacti did not stand a chance and were devoured with a slurp - spines, stem, roots, and all! We have stood witness to countless performances of their famous ‘Houdini’ act, only to find them gallivanting in the neighbor’s yard terrorizing chickens and chasing cats. Today, we came home to two broken solar lights, a flooded lawn, a half-empty pool, and a badly mangled piece of pool equipment! They had ultimately terminated the “evil” pool vacuum that on occasions, had squirted them in the faces. It had survived their two previous attacks with major organ replacement surgery and had since then been taunting them. Life certainly has become a chain of hilarious adventures, with never a dull moment!

It has been three years since we got the imps and our life has turned into a whirlwind of white and brown. They came into our world and opened a doorway into another. I can now understand the language of dogs, even those I am meeting for the first time. They’ve helped me evolve into a more responsible version of myself who has learned to put others’ needs before his own and thinks no work is beneath him. Even poop patrol! I have come a long way from barely being able to take care of myself to grooming, training, feeding, and exercising them. I am no longer the baby of the family but an older brother. They made me a better person by loving me unconditionally. It doesn’t matter if I am sweating after a run or muddy after a game, they shower me with kisses anyway. There was a time when I used to get bored while playing a board game. Now, every moment brings new excitement. It was not long ago when I felt lonely. Today, I am fighting with two sixty-pounders for a space of my own. Now, my family feels complete and I cannot stop bragging about the girls to my friends!