The Seedy Side of the Slumber World

The snow was falling like the faint thud of a body being thrown in a trunk. “Light, my tail.” Thought Darwin Rebel as he pulled his coat closer to him, “this is for the cats.” He knew the phrase was for the “birds” but he liked birds and wouldn’t wish a night like this on anything he even remotely liked. He hurried to do his business, the air wasn’t getting any warmer and all he could think about was getting out of the arms of this frigid, wintery night and into the comforting embrace of his true love.

She was thick, not too curvy but she did have curves in all the right places he thought. He knew she’d be waiting for him in their room patiently. She was always patient, waiting quietly for him. Whenever the world tired him, Darwin knew Leesa would be there…always. He longed to feel her downy touch…she was all he could think about. “Damn,” he shuttered as the cold wind bit at his nose. “This is too cold even for cats.”

“C’mon, Darwin!” Called the warden. The loud clamor of her call, shocked him back to the there and then with the cold wind cutting through his coat. Darwin liked the warden. She made sure he had three hots and a cot. When he first arrived at the big house Darwin knew he was going to be devoted to her. Not because of some romantic attachment but more of a survival instinct. If she was happy, he was happy and taken care of. Sure, she was okay if you were into pasty, hairless apes. But the role she played in his life was purely survival. Oh, she was nice enough but she always seemed to hurry him along. Always barked orders at him and the other residents of the big house. Especially when he had to do his business. And when you have to do your business…you have to do your business, without outside pressure.

He thought something was going on between the warden and Leesa…his love that he met just a few short months ago. The warden was happy when Leesa came into their lives. Leesa was a calm and peaceful presence to the Warden. They seemed to spend a great amount time together, reading, watching the glowing box known as T-V. However, to Darwin, she came into his life like a song. Not some catchy tune you hum on your way to Sunday school. No, her song wrecked you at your core. You sang with all your heart until the last sound leaves your lungs only to be replaced by a deeper, more passionate tone.

Her song was one of passion and fire; comfort and regret. It fueled him as he let the warden lead him back inside. Back inside where she was waiting. He knew where she was but he couldn’t let the warden know just how enthralled he was with Leesa. How attached he had become in just a few short months. Darwin checked his anxiety at the door. He walked to the sofa as if he didn’t have a care in the world. The musty smell greeted his senses. The years hung on its fabric like a pair of cement shoes on a rat-fink just out for a swim with the fishes. He could feel the eyes of the warden on him even though he tried desperately to avoid looking in that direct direction. Darwin knew the warden was going to hurry him to get on the sofa but the distance between him and the relic might as well have been measured in miles rather than the inches of reality.

Oh, how he wished for Leesa. He thought of the warmth of her touch and how he’d love to drown in her folds. If he didn’t need food or water or to do his business he would stay in her embrace forever. “Ah Hell,” he thought. Unable to handle the separation any further, “I can’t do this!”. Just before the poor hapless mongrel even touched the soiled sofa, he ran, flying past the Warden and down the hall. The hall that seemed too long, longer than it had ever been. Longer than the lines at an amusement park on a Saturday, in June when the weather is warm and mild. “I’m coming, Baby!” He cried to Leesa. He threw open the door and paused before entering the room panting more from excitement than his Olympic class sprint, he just completed. Darwin stopped at the threshold, where the only light falling into the room was coming from the open doorway. The light slid across the floor and at its end, barely touched by the golden glow, laid his love, Leesa. She welcomed him with open arms. He ran up the steps and dove into those folds that he dreamt of so often.

Darwin couldn’t help himself, he rubbed his face like the thousand times before, in the blankets of his love. It was first love all over again. He knew he was home and wagged his tail so happily. Suddenly he really didn’t have a care in the world. The bitter, cold world outside that room faded away the deeper into covers he went. The covers that Leesa held for him. Darwin didn’t care that mattresses can’t love back. He had enough for the both of them. As long as Leesa cradled him, he told himself that was how a mattress shows love.

The pup was in heaven and he never wanted to leave that warm embrace. That was until the warden entered the room and shouted. “Darwin, you have got to get out of that bed! The sun is coming up; you should be getting up too.” He stared at the warden with one eye and a look on his face that told her he just got settled in and had no intention on getting up today. Then she uttered the words that always drove him to action. “Do you want to go bye-bye?” Before his brain kicked in his body was flying toward the door and his barking betrayed his desire to stay in bed.

A new dawn rose and Darwin knew today was going to be a long day…too long…the kinda day a guy could spend dreaming of the chance when the warden says it’s alright to go back to bed. “Leesa,” he said, “We’ll always have bedtime.” With that the pup bounced out of the room as the warden led him out of the sight of the bed that he loved so well.