Threat Neutralized

By Linda Patton ~July 5, 2015

The day finally came. I waited for Ziggy to arrive, standing in the kitchen, knife in hand, with the terror from the previous night laid on the cutting board, awaiting its doom.

He walked cautiously up to the counter, held by his leash, stretching his tiny body as far as he could manage, to get the offender in sight. Rachel reached down and picked him up, holding him closely to the threat. His ears perked up, his eyes danced, and his body tensed as he gazed at the watermelon.

He tilted his head as if to say “What is this? Why is Grammy standing so close? What is that thing in her hand? ” He never raised his voice, he only watched.

I placed the knife at the end of the green skin and sliced. Ziggy froze, his ears perked and his eyes grew larger, as the end fell from the juicy watermelon, revealing a red colored flesh, slightly rolling from the pressure.

Suddenly his demeanor changed, his body loosened, and we noticed something so intriguing that it made us both stop to watch.  His lips parted, and an obvious smile crossed his face. His tongue was hanging slightly out of his mouth, not in the way in which a dog would beg for food or attention, in a way that showed sheer pleasure.

He remembered that watermelon. It had scared him so badly the night before that it left him barking for what seemed like hours. Grammy had captured and was now executing the menace. He watched intently as slice after slice fell from what had once been a very unusual ball.

Rachel took a piece of the red flesh and held it down for him to eat, but he gently sniffed, then refused. Satisfied simply by the fact that the threat had been neutralized.