Bright Lights

It was another ordinary day for Charlie White and me. Everyday Charlie played fetch with me and he’d give me doggie biscuits. He always gave me the leftover beef from mom’s Garlicky beef dish. And when it was my birthday or Christmas, he’d give me double the doggie treats and scratch my belly all day. Ah… I love Chuck.

         Today, the green leaves danced on the branches, the orange sun set across the horizon, a light breeze brushed through Charlie’s hair; the weather was perfect for a dog walk, and I could smell something was going to happen.

         As we walked along the street, we encountered Rachel and her dog Sparky. Charlie smiled, he was waiting for this moment all evening “Hey Rachel! You’re lookin’ good today, but Sparky’s lookin’ way better than...Wait—that’s not what I…”

         “Ok Charlie…I’ll see ya later,” Rachel said with an attempt to smile. She’s the High School’s lead cheerleader and everyone loved her with her rosy red hair and light smooth skin.

         Charlie had been trying to get those words straight since the 7th grade, but he just wasn’t good with the girls. You could hear me, who had been witnessing this all those years, chortling under my doggy breath.

         “Oh, be quiet Snoopy. Here let’s go for a run, maybe you can teach me some of your girl-talking skills,” Chuck laughed to himself. “Last one there is a rotten egg!”

         As Chuck and I raced to our destination, a large cardboard package with a dominating “FRAGILE” sign on it, sat on the front porch of our 30 year-old periwinkle home.

         Charlie leaned towards the box tapping his chin, “Hm…from Grandma Judith. What could it be?”

         He opened the door to their floral wall-papered home and let me do the honors of ripping open the package. Inside were loads of paper party lamps, along with a card that read “To my dearest Chuck. A gift from me to you. Turn the lamps on during the night in that beautiful garden of your mother’s. Enjoy!”

         “Life is definitely full of surprises! Right Snoopy? We’d better go put these up in my room for now. I could add them to my collection of night lights!” and Charlie wasn’t lying.

         That night, after eating mom’s delicious Garlicky Pasta, Charlie left one lamp on. The dancing ballerina patterns projected across the walls. I snickered. “Oh they’re not that bad! C’mon, let’s get some sleep. It’s never easy to wake up on Mondays!”

         The next morning, Charlie bumped into Rachel during their morning dog walk. “Hey Rachel! Sparky’s lookin’ great today, but you’re obviously lookin’ way prettier. Wait—that’s not, no, it is, I GOT IT RIGHT!”

         “Hey! Congratulations Chuck, you actually got it! You’re lookin’ pretty cute today, too. I’ll see you at school,” this time, she said it with a sincere smile.

         “Golly. Thanks Rachel!” He was smitten. I sat down in the middle of the side walk, staring at Chuck with my astonished eyes, even the dancing green leaves on the trees stopped to ponder over what a miracle this was. “I had to get it someday Snoopy!”

         A while later, Charlie went to his crowded school. As he walked through the halls he saw Rachel again, smiling at him and giggling with her popular friends. He met up with Linus, Lucy, and of course, Peppermint Patty and headed to Ms. Booger’s class.

         “RINGGG!”

         “Alright class! Did you all know that Mr. White is the only student who has an A+ so far,” no one wanted to hear Ms. Booger’s wavy and exaggerated vibrato voice but Charlie White asked anyway…

         “What?! I never get good grades in Language Arts? HALLELUJAH!” Charlie shouted in delight. I could tell you the rest of his day, but that scream was the highlight. What’s creepier is the next day. Charlie forgot to turn on one of the lamps that night.

         Chuck looked at himself through the mirror with his zigzag yellow shirt and minty fresh toothpaste brushing his teeth, when all of suddenly “C-C-C-L-LANG”, the mirror broke out of the blue. Talk about an unusual morning.

         After eating mom’s scrumptious Garlicky Omelet, Charlie and I went out on our traditional dog walk. When we bumped into Rachel and Sparky, Sparky bit and broke Charlie’s finger. Charlie and I had a strange feeling about all this.

         As he lay in bed watching the ballerinas dance across the ceiling, he thought to himself, “so last night, I didn’t turn the lamp on, and I broke a mirror and my finger. The night before, I turned it on, and Rachel complimented me and I got a good grade. Ah ha! Maybe I’ll turn on 2 or 3 lamps and I’ll get a date to the Spring dance! Good night Snoopy!” Good night, Chuck.

         The next day, he asked Rachel to the dance, and those lamps made him one smooth talker because she said yes! All of a sudden, all the girls fell in love with his, so called, charm. Even the guys were jealous now. That night he was too busy on the phone with all the girls flirting and the guys asking for advice that he forgot to turn on any lamps. He even forgot to say Happy 8th Birthday to me. I missed the belly scratches.

         It’s Wednesday. The weather was rainy but Chuck still played hard at his baseball game. The bleachers were full of his fans. Sadly, he lost it, and the score was 40 to 2. Usually, when he loses a game he’d get over it and talk to me for comfort, but that day, he started swearing and fighting with his mom. I had nothing to do, but frown and sleep under the couch.

         The weeks passed and there were no more fun games of hide and seek, or extra doggie biscuits. Chuck was too busy with his new girlfriend Rachel; he didn’t even hang out with Linus and Lucy. Peppermint Patty was obviously distraught, and so was I…

         One day, Charlie woke up to the smell of dead dog in the backyard garden. “Snoopy? Snoop—Oh no…” I don’t know how it happened, but he found me with a meter stick through my belly. I know I said I missed my belly scratching, but I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t even know if I’m in heaven right now, but I heard him cursing at the killer and stomping his feet, flailing his arms with tears in his eyes. I thought Charlie was better than that, even if I were to die. That whole day, Charlie had slanted eyebrows, and before he went to bed, he stared at the ballerina’s dancing on the ceiling and thought. “Maybe Snoopy was trying to tell me something. Maybe I shouldn’t be letting these lamps control my life…”

         It was morning, and Charlie wasn’t used to going to school without walking the dog.

         When he reached school he said “I’ve got lots of work to do,” and started towards Patty’s hang out spot.

         “Hey Pat—.”

         “Oh Chuck. I know you love me deep down. I bet Rachel just forced you into liking her. You’ve always had a hard time saying no. You sly devil, you.” Patty smirked.

         “Heh!” Charlie had nothing to say and headed to Rachel’s real boyfriend’s locker.          “Hey Rocky…”

         “What?!” The large quarterback didn’t even glance at Charlie.

         “I just wanted to say sorry for stealing your girl; I guess Rachel was never meant for me.”

         Big ol’ Rocky stared at Charlie with a gradual genuine smile. “Thanks Chuck. I knew you were a good guy!” He hugged Charlie like he was a stuffed animal and broke his arm, but Charlie still had his sincere smile on his face because he knew he did the right thing.

         That night it was rainy, and he lost the game 39 to 3. “At least we did better than last time!”  And as Charlie turned to jump and smile to his mom, he thought about the yummy Garlicky Steak he’d be having for dinner tonight, until he saw a dog that looked just like me, or maybe it was me, only God knows, and Charlie, being sensitive as he is, let out a tear and ran to hug him. He named him Snoopoe, just in case it wasn’t me. From that day on, he put all the lamps out in the garden and turned them on so you could see the dancing leaves in the trees. 

         You’re a good man, Charlie White. :)