Writing like Annie Dillard

Giving the puppy a bath was always so fun because he loved to play in the soapy bubbles and of course he loved the attention. John and I would put on our bathing suits and hop in the bathtub with him to play and get him smelling like that soft fuzzy puppy he was the day we brought him home all over again. On this particular night though, Jake was acting funny, he wasn't as excited for the bath as he used to be and he was lying on the cold off white bathroom tiles as if he couldn't get up. I went over to see what was wrong, hes a puppy, they get tired, maybe it was just too late in the day to expect him to have energy. I scooped up the little 8 pound fuzzy strawberry blond Golden Retriever puppy into my arms and thats when i felt it.

Right behind his collar there was a thick round yet flat at the center bump. I freaked out as most new mothers do. I thought it was a tumor and my little jake was going to die. John told me to calm down and took the pup in his arms. We inspected the area and found that the bump was a huge, gray, engorged tick. It must have been on the poor puppy's neck for days sucking his blood like a vampire in a ghost story. This being my first dog, I had NO idea what to do. John, more level headed, grabbed the tweezers and asked me to hold the little guy while he pulled the dirty parasite off my baby boy.

So there i was standing in my pepto-bismol pink bathroom, in my rainbow striped bikini, holding on to this tiny ball of fluff while john tried to pull the bug off of him. Jake dug his nails into my bare belly as john tried again and again to pull the bug out. It was so gross looking. Its whole body was fat and full with my innocent unsuspecting puppy's blood. It was the grossest shade of gray that one could imagine, looking strained all around from the amount of blood it had taken in. The worry was that if we pulled it out too quickly, we would break the tick, the blood which was now contaminated and disease carrying, would go everywhere, and the tick's head would still be stuck in my poor puppy's neck. I had to close my eyes because the sight of the parasitic leach was making me feel faint.

John eventually got the tick off, and Jake had a great time playing in the bathtub with us. But I couldn't look at the tick once it was in the tweezers, with its sharp face and gross body. My mom put it in a plastic bag to show the vet so they could identify what type of tick it was.

I think this is why i hate bugs and walking outside so much.