Right and not right

Something is happening and it is not right!

Some days I take Mom or Dad to the park – Actually I try to take them there everyday, but some days they get confused and pull me in the wrong direction. But that can be right too, because if I take them the other way then we walk past the place where I find all the alive tennis balls. And then I can take the tennis balls home and take care of them after I stop them from suffering the most… because it is not right to let them suffer. I keep them even when they aren’t alive any more, because they can still be fun. We play bouncy-ball with them and I’m the best (THE BEST) at catching them when Mom or Dad bounce them right. But not too long ago someone started making my tennis balls disappear from my house on purpose… and that is not right.

I don’t know how many tennis balls are in my house, because there are SO MANY! But I know all of them by name, and so I knew right away when some of them were gone. It was bushy-pollen-smell, and oily-dirt-smell, and dirty-pee-smell, and milky-corn-smell, and skunky. When I first noticed that they were gone I sniffed everywhere for them! At first I thought they would be under the couch, or under the chair upstairs, or under one of the box-closets that are up against the wall, because that’s the right place for my tennis balls to be when I am done playing with them. But I sniffed all of those places and they weren’t in any of them. And I knew they weren’t in the garbage, because I (Dad, don’t listen to this part)… becauws I smelll ther everiday wen my momanddad arent lookin evin thow it is not rite for me to do that. (Okay, you can listen again, Dad) And I knew they weren’t in the gutter outside the upstairs balcony because only margarine-colon-smell is in there. I lost him there a long time ago and I (Dad, you SHOULD listen to this part)… I still need Dad to climb out and get him. So I knew right away that my tennis balls were gone for real! They weren’t anywhere I could find them, and I’m the best (THE BEST!!!) at finding them. So that meant that someone made them gone on purpose. And that is not right!

That was also about the same time that deer-chicory moved into the other side of my house and then left me. So I thought maybe he took them, which would not be right! But I didn’t smell any of those tennis balls on him when he was over there, so I knew that was not right. And that was also about the same time that Dad got lost at the flying car place. So I thought maybe he had them with him, which would be all right. But I didn’t smell any of them on him that day or the day we went back and found him, so that was not right either. But then I DID smell them when we finally went to the park again! And that’s when I thought, ALL RIGHT!!!

It was when Dad and me were playing catch with all of the tennis balls at once like we like to do – even thought some people there don’t think that is right. Dad throws all the balls he can find down the hill and I chase after them and if he throws them just right I can catch them out of the air. And when he gets a bunch of balls down there he throws one and I chase it down and stop it. Then when I run back and he throws a ball the other way and I run past him and stop it. And we go back and forth until he runs out of all of the balls or I find one that smells too good to put back down… which is how I found skunky at the park!!! And because he was one of my missing tennis balls, I wanted to bring him back with me when we left – because it was my right! So when Dad put the rope back on us before we left the park, I carried him right out with me. But when we got outside the gate, Dad made me put him down and then threw skunky right back in the park! And I thought: THAT IS NOT RIGHT! WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?!

That's when I realized that all that means that DAD is what is happening to my tennis balls! He is taking them to the park and not letting me bring them back… on purpose!! And that is not right! It is not right at all!!