@mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2109: mechanical dog

Image by Jacques GAIMARD from Pixabay

“So, how do y'all feel about the first morning of your big cousins the Lees taking care of you?” eight-year-old Gracie Trent said to her best friends next door eight-year-old Edwina and seven-year-old Amanda Ludlow.

The two Ludlow girls were sitting on either side of Gracie, and they were all sitting on Gracie's porch and sipping glasses of cool water that Mrs. Trent Gracie's mother had brought them.

“I feel safe and loved – it's not the same as having Papa and Grandma here, but they are doing good!” Amanda said.

“Yeah, I'm good now,” Edwina said. “I was really scared, but, it's just hard to stay scared because Cousin Harry and Cousin Maggie know how to love on you hard, and Andrew [her ten-year-old brother] was saying something about how the Bible says perfect love casts out fear, and it does.”

“Yeah, when people are like Goody my dog, fear has got to move on,” Gracie said, and then whistled. “Here, Goody!”

Goody the dog came running, tail wagging, tongue hanging out, barking in a happy way, and jumped up into his mistress's lap, nearly bowled her over, and then repeated the feat for Amanda and Edwina.

“What a great dog!” Amanda said. “I mean, we knew that, but still!”

“Well,” Edwina said, “he would slobber less if he were one of those wind up mechanical or robotic dogs, but then, he wouldn't be as cuddly and sweet, so although he could be a bit more fashionable, we gotta love him as he is.”

“He's kind of like life, and people!” Amanda said cheerfully.

“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said. “Goody is a very peoply kind of dog, actually. Now if we could just get more humans to be Goody kinds of people.”

“Ain't it the truth,” Amanda and Edwina said.

“And if we could get some people to wind down, or just take the batteries out,” Edwina said as five-year-old Lil' Robert her baby brother came rip-roaring out of the house, singing at the top of his lungs off-key while just beaming with happiness.

“Now, Edwina, friends don't let friends break bad,” Gracie said. “That's your brother. He's got enough extra energy for everybody when we need it, and, if the sun ever goes out, we'll just put him up there on a day like this until it all gets fixed and be fine.”

“You know, I didn't think about it that way!” Edwina said. “Maybe Rob is just always ready for an emergency!”

“Yeah, like you know when we had to do fire drills and stuff at school,” Amanda said. “See, I heard that if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready.”

“That's right – the saying is, 'I stay ready so I ain't neva gotta get ready,' ” Gracie said. “My Jubilee-of-the-mountain relatives say that all the time.”

“So Robert is just out here staying ready – that actually makes sense,” Edwina said. “Well, just like we have to love Goody, slobber and all, that's just how we have to take Robert, doing what he does in case the sun has to go to God's repair shop.”