A Party and a Dog

By
Margaret Turner

It was a festive season and everyone was looking forward to attending the director's party at her home on Friday evening. There were the usual discussions about what to war and whether we needed to take a housewarming gift, etc. Finally the date for the party arrived and most of us decided to make certain we were there.

The house was large, and surrounded by a lovely garden with plenty of parking for guests. Most of us arrived at the appointed time and were greeted by the director and her beautiful golden Labrador Retriever. She showed us into a lavishly decorated bedroom where we left our coats on the bed. From here we went into a large hall and entered the glittering living room to socialize and nibble on hors d'oeuvres. The dog was also making rounds and trying his best to obtain a nibble of his own.

There were a few stragglers, and one such guest wore her new, expensive, exotic, wild animal coat. I cannot tell you what kind of fur it was, but it did have spots and the fur was fairly long. As soon as the dog spied the coat he disappeared and appeared again in the hall, triumphantly, with the coat in his mouth. It was with this event that the evening began and ended.

The director saw the dog with the coat and pounced on the dog, which hung onto the coat even more, and the battle for the coat began. The director pulled on the coat; the dog planted his feet, growled, showed some teeth and grimly hung onto the coat. This back and forth, give and take, seemed to last forever as we onlookers watched in disbelief trying to stifle the odd giggle. Finally the director was able to extract a wet, bedraggled coat away from a disappointed dog. The dog was banished to the basement, the wet disheveled coat was given back to its owner and the guests went back to a very restrained, subdued party. It wasn't long before the guests quietly departed.

We were glad to escape the embarrassing party and very happy that we were not the ones to wear that coat. We learned firsthand that one needs to know what animals are residing in the host/hostess's house before wearing authentic fur coats.

©2003 Margaret Turner