Dawn hadn’t broken yet. The world outside Ethan’s window was still very dark. He lay in bed wondering if he had a moment to reflect on the day before and how he could improve upon his life.

Each day Ethan got up at approximately the same time and each morning he decided that wouldn’t do. His life was flying past at full speed, and he knew it. Ethan just wished he could get it to slow down. But that was not to be. His work was boring and even though he thought it was inconsequential, he had to go in because others depended on him.

He turned over slowly after turning off the alarm and felt a lump lying next to him. For a second he wondered what it could be, and then remembered he shared his queen sized bed with his black cat, Wanda and a large Golden Retriever, Tootsie. He smiled when he wondered if Wanda and Tootsie slept on his bed when he wasn’t there during the day. He didn’t quite know if they had learnt to open and shut doors, and because of that he locked his bedroom door. Ethan made his way downstairs for coffee and to let Tootsie out. Wanda on the other hand, knew exactly where she needed to go. She was glad she didn’t need to go out especially in bad weather. And she watched in contentment as the dog was let out. Ethan walked into the kitchen to begin his day. He turned on the coffee machine and sat on the bottom step of the staircase. He began to fall asleep but then heard Tootsie bark outside and he jumped up and let her back in. As soon as she brushed past Ethan, Tootsie did what she did every morning and that was to run to her bowl to see if there was anything to eat. But as usual, it was far too early for that. Tootsie looked at Ethan with her soft brown eyes as if to say, one day I know it will happen. “I will come inside and surprise there’s food in my bowl. How did it get there?”

Ethan walked by the dog and patted her on the head, a signal for her to skip that thought. With a groan that Ethan swore grew louder each day, she collapsed in the middle of the kitchen floor. He now had to walk around her as if it was the dog punishing him for letting her down. Wanda on the other hand could be heard munching on her food, and as always, Tootsie raised one ear. “I know she’s doing it to annoy me,” Tootsie thought to herself, “otherwise she would eat all her food in one gulp, like me.”

Once the crunching ended, Wanda appeared in the doorway sporting an evil grin. She knew she had the better of the dog. Wanda stopped when she saw the dog laying in the middle of the kitchen and whistled to her. She then sat down again and licked her chops as if to say, see I still have food in my bowl.

There was a time when Tootsie would sneak downstairs in the middle of the night and eat Wanda’s food. But that ended quite quickly one night when Ethan was alerted to the food thief by a loud meow from Wanda. Ethan awoke with a start and went downstairs because he could hear a crunching sound. When he arrived in the kitchen, he saw Tootsie looking guilty as if to say it’s not me. But when Ethan pointed to her mouth, which was still filled with cat food then Tootsie had no option but to admit it. She was further humiliated when she was made to spit the food back out into the bowl, and as an additional punishment, she wasn’t allowed to sleep on the bed. Wanda in the meantime watched all of this transpire from between her master’s legs. She meowed her contentment and went upstairs and with relish jumped back on the bed. Tootsie in the meantime groaned and lay down outside her master’s bedroom.

So now the coffee was ready and with it in hand, Ethan climbed the stairs slowly one by one. He put the mug down on his bedside table and got back into bed and pulled up the sheets. He sipped the coffee slowly to make sure that time would slow down, but before he knew it, it was time to get up and plan the day around his office.

When breakfast was done and both Wanda and Tootsie fed, he said goodbye to them and left the house. Once they heard his car start, both Wanda and Tootsie laughed because they knew finally he was gone for the day.

“What should we do?’ they asked each other, “what trouble can we or can we not engage in?” They never quite came to a consensus though, because their agendas were so far apart. By the time they decided on a course of action, they heard the garage door open and in walked Ethan. “Damn!” they said under their breath, “maybe next time we need to plan better.” Ethan now had to decided on his next meal, dinner. He carried Wanda and patted Tootsie and then headed straight to his refrigerator. He was surprised though when he opened the door and found it was empty.

“I must do grocery shopping tomorrow,” he thought, “but then again, I can wait until the weekend.” He sat down with a thud on the uncomfortable couch and began to think of his options.

“Well,” he said to Wanda and Tootsie, “there’s Chinese and Indian and Greek and Mexican and American, whatever that is, then there’s Cuban and finally fast food.” Yuck! that’s where he would draw the line. So, Ethan picked up the phone and dialled a number and waited and waited and waited. Finally, a familiar voice answered and he smiled, “hi Dawn. Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?”

“I would love to,” Dawn replied, “what are we having?”

“Well, why don’t you stop at your favourite place, get something and bring it over.” Ethan replied craftily.

About an hour or so later, there was Dawn at the door with a large pizza in her hand. Wanda and Tootsie jumped for joy when they saw her, because they knew their master hated pizza and there would be more for them. Later that night, after Dawn had departed, Wanda and Tootsie sat in the middle of the kitchen floor drooling. “All right, all right,” said Ethan knowing full well that they wanted some pizza in their bowls. And so, Wanda and Tootsie munched and munched for hours on end, even after Ethan had gone upstairs. He turned out the light and curled up in bed hungry. “Remind me the next time,” he said to the walls who had heard this line many times before, “Not to invite Dawn over for dinner again.”