Tree of Wishes

Parties Are Golden: An Anubis Perspective

One thing I don't understand about humans is how they use money for everything. For a dog, what you found became yours, and if anyone had anything to say about it, you could fight over it and the winner takes it. With humans, whether they want food or shelter, they had to use money to buy it and keep it. Then there's these 'bills' that come in every month that have to be paid to keep everything in the house running. I had assumed the water and electricity just flowed through the house like a river, but I guess it's more complicated than that.

Oh well, whatever keeps the house warm during the winter. Curling up by the heater as a dog is the best.

I never questioned how Cypress got his money until the day I saw him putting on a fancy, black suit. He stood in front of his body-length mirror and adjusted his blue tie, then used a dot of gel to push back back his hair. As he did this, his hair began to turn white and his face grew wrinkles around the edges of his mouth and eyes. In other words, he was turning into a grandpa.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I approached him by the mirror.

"I have an important event to attend this evening," he said while checking himself in the mirror. "My presence is necessary to maintain appearances with my company's business partners."

I plopped my small butt on the floor and tilted my head, confused by what he was saying. "What company?"

Realizing he'd never mentioned any of this to me, he looked down at me and explained, "I run an international trading company. We work with various products sold for consumer purposes from purchase to delivery, connecting buyers and sellers without ownership of the goods ourselves. With the convenience of technology, I can mostly manage everything from the comfort of my home, but even long before that I had plenty of ways of balancing my job and my duty here. You would be surprised how valuable mail used to be."

"I don't get it," I said after I realized he was done explaining. I lost track after 'international something-something'.

He smiled and kneeled down to pat my head, though I could tell doing this with his current body was putting some stress on him from the way it creaked. His wrinkled hand felt soft and mushy. "It's how I pay for everything here. That's all you need to know."

"Ohhh, okay," I said, content with learning this new thing.

A short while later, a limousine drove up to the gate and a serious looking lady in a white suit stepped out of it. Her hair was tied up like a meatball, her red lipstick gave her big fish lips, and the heels of her brown shoes were as long and thin as chocolate bars. I got hungry while we were waiting outside for her.

"Are you ready for the party, sir?" she asked with a deep, professional voice that showed she was all business.

I bounced with excitement after hearing this, not knowing where Cypress was going to until now. "You're going to a party? Can I come, can I come?"

"I was hoping you'd guard the place while I was gone," Cypress said very plainly.

I stopped bouncing, and my ears and tail drooped from the disappointing news. It did make sense. We couldn't leave the place alone after what happened last time.

Seeing my reaction, the business lady pulled out her cell phone and said, "I can call Hector to guard the premises. He needs the overtime anyway."

I immediately perked up and gazed up at Cypress with hopeful grin, begging him with my puppy dog eyes to let me go.

With no other reason to say no, Cypress sighed and answered, "Fine. Be on your best behavior, Anubis."

"Hooray!" I exclaimed as I dove straight into the limousine.