I Among Dogs

Chapter 13: A Flower Called Love...?

It had been two days ever since we returned from our visit to Bluey's Nana. Me and Chris didn't talk much the following morning compared to the day when we played Charades, mainly however because of one question that would never leave me mind:

How was I going to get Bandit to remember meeting a human in the past?

A part of me sometimes even doubted that such a thing possibly even happened but I know my late grandfather would never tell a lie. If only I knew how to get him to remember...

Speaking of Bandit, I overheard him talking on the drive back to Bluey's home and heard something along the lines of "...I kind of wish he had friends here around his age, you know?". Friends around my age? I mean, he's not wrong, it would be nice to make friends with some dogs here that were around the same age as me. Don't get me wrong, Bluey and her friends are all good friends but I had my doubts that few if not any of them would understand some of my own tastes and interests. I somehow don't see Bluey or Bingo getting into Dragon Ball Z any time soon.

After having my usual breakfast of oatmeal, me and the Heeler family headed out and a few minutes or so later, we arrived at possibly the largest park I've ever seen. The plain grassy fields just seemed to stretch for miles with only a few trees adding to the otherwise plain scenery.

My view of the sights was cut short when I felt Bluey's soft hand tug at my own as she lead me to a typical children's playground with swings, slide and see-saw among other attractions aimed for young kids.

"Can you push me, Nathan? Please!" Bluey called over to me as she took a seat on one of the swings, kicking her legs in anticipation. I couldn't help but chuckle a little under my breath at how eager the Blue Heeler wanted me to play with her as I walked over and stood behind her before pressing my hands against the back of the swing seat Bluey occupied in a gentle rhythmic motion. Bingo meanwhile was occupying herself with the slide.

"Higher, Nate!" Bluey commanded in glee.

"Okay, but not too high." I answered with a bit of a laugh before increasing the force of my pushes slightly. There was almost never a day when Bluey wasn't so energetic.

"Hey, Bluey!" A young male voice caught my attention as I looked over to see two new faces run to the playground. A chocolate brown Dachshund with lighter brown for his belly, muzzle, paws and hands and a poodle with tufts of pink fur on her head, wrists, body, ankles and the ends of her ears, her skin being a lighter pink. The tuft on her head donned a hair clip made to resemble a butterfly with a yellow body and light blue wings. What gave away the hint that the poodle was a girl was the eyelashes she had.

"Hey Snickers! Hey Coco!" Bluey greeted the two young dogs before pulling them into a brief hug. The Dachshund was the first to lay his eyes on me.

"Hey, is that your "human" friend?" The boy Dachshund asked as the poodle followed his gaze and was looking up at me as well, both of them had a bit of a surprised look on their faces.

"Yeah! This is Nathan! Nathan, this is Coco and Snickers!" Bluey replied before she introduced me to the two dogs with the Dachshund being named Snickers and the poodle, Coco. I couldn't help but smirk a little at the Dachshund having such a name and his fur colour and long body reminding me of a certain candy bar of the same name as I knelt down to their level, where I noticed that Snickers was wearing a yellow cap with a green silhouette of what looked like the map of Australia on the front.

"It's nice to meet you two, Snickers and Coco!" I said as I held out a hand which Snickers shook when Coco's eyebrows raised with realisation.

"Hey! He has fur on his head like I do!" Coco pointed out as she gestured to my hair with a grin. I don't know how I managed to stop myself from laughing at that.