I-635 (LBJ Freeway)

a Lulu & Friends story

500 words based on a sentence selected by Dive.  Click here for more info.

This week's sentence is from John Steinbeck's Cannery Row:  "It was not so interesting driving at night."

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It was not so interesting driving at night, what with Lola snoring in the front seat and Lucky snoring in the back. Then again, Lulu told herself, the drive home from DFW airport wasn't much more interesting in daylight. At least during the day you could admire the bluebells at the roadside and the wildflowers in the median, gifts to the state from Lady Bird Johnson, or so Lulu'd been told when she first moved to Texas.


Lo'd been out of town for a few days and was getting in just after midnight. “Sure,” Lulu’d said when Lola called to tell her Travis couldn’t make it, it being poker night and all. “I can pick you up.”


Lucky was up for a drive, as pups usually are, so Lulu made the run from North Dallas to Irving with classic rock blasting on the radio and the dog's chin on her shoulder as he balanced in his co-pilot position, front paws on the center console and rear paws on the very front edge of the rear seat. Every few minutes he'd sniff Lulu's ear or jam his moist Westie nose into the soft spot under her jaw. Lu would giggle and gently push him back into the rear seat, telling him to sit, but a few seconds later he'd be back, head on Lu's shoulder, riding contentedly westward as the air conditioner blew in his face and Lulu absently reached up to scratch his neck.


Lola waited in the passenger pick-up zone, left hand resting on her leopard-patterned wheelie bag, right hand holding her usual Ozarka bottle, complete with bendy straw. She heaved the bag into Lulu’s trunk, then slid into the passenger seat, twisting to greet the dog as he strained between the front seats.


“Hola Señor Lucho. Did you miss your Auntie Lo-Lo?” she murmured as she rubbed the tickle spot on his chest. “Sorry I couldn’t bring you anything, but your mean ol’ mama says no food for you in the car.”


“Not after the pepperoni incident. How was your flight?” Lulu asked.


“Long and uneventful,” Lola answered through a yawn. “I think I’ll just rest my eyes for a while. Can you make sure I’m up when we get to the Galleria? I want to wave to Nordstrom as we go by.”


“I’m pretty sure they’re still in business, even with your being gone all this time.” Lulu smirked, knowing Lola’s near-addiction to their shoe department.


“Even so…” Lola trailed off, her head tipping back against the headrest.


Lucky’s paws twitched in his sleep, the tip of his tail wagging almost imperceptibly. Lulu reached across and gently took Lola’s water bottle from her relaxed hands and stowed it in a cup holder. Lulu figured she’d be able to drop Lola at her apartment in about twenty-five minutes and be back at her own place ten minutes later.


Lulu glanced over at Lola and checked on Lucky in the rearview mirror, happy to watch over her two best friends.

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copyright (c) 2010 Lulubelle B

Lucky

a Lulu & Friends story

500 words based on a sentence (in italics) selected by Dive. Click here for more info.


Lulu stepped in it barefoot on her way to the bathroom.


The dog sidled up to her and nosed the side of her leg as she sat on the edge of the tub washing her foot under the rushing water. “What’s a matter puppy face? Your tummy bothering you? We’ll go out in a minute.”


Lulu pulled on a t-shirt and jeans and grabbed a red leash. Outside the dog made his way to a tree, did what he needed to and pulled Lulu back towards the house. From that angle Lulu saw that he needed the back half of a bath.


Inside again Lulu parked the pooch in the tub, treated the stain with the carpet spray from under the sink and reached for the phone.


“Hi Lo. It’s me. Pupster’s gotta go to the vet. Can you pick us up? My car’s still in the shop.”


Lola got to Lulu’s just as Lulu shut off the blow drier.


“Wow – his hair’s really starting to grow in Lu. Why’d he have that other haircut?”


“I think the kids at the shelter thought he was a white schnauzer. Guess the pointy ears and carrot tail didn’t register. You’re looking more like a Westie every week, aren’t you poopy pants?”


“Uh, Lu? I think you got another problem over here behind the loveseat.”


“Crap!”

“Exactly. You need to shove his nose in it and yell he’s a bad dog.”


“No. He’s gonna learn that I don’t yell when he’s sick. He’s gotta learn to trust me and that he’s safe here.”


“Maybe when we’re done at the vet, Lu, we’ll go to McDonald’s and get him a sausage biscuit?”


“He’s already got diarrhea Lo. He really doesn’t need a sausage biscuit.”


“Well, maybe I’ll get one for me.”


At the vet’s office Lola picked up a magazine from a table and plopped down on a chair. Lulu and the dog fidgeted impatiently at the check-in desk. The receptionist wore white scrubs with a faded multi-colored paw print pattern.


“Have an appointment?”


“Yeah. I called a little while ago.”


“What’s the pet’s name?”

“Lucho Abril Marroquin.”


The receptionist looked up from her screen, eyebrows raised.


Lulu sighed. “Lucky. Everyone calls him Lucky.”


“You can take him into room two. Doctor Jeff will be right in.”


In the exam room, Doctor Jeff scratched behind the dog’s ears and made kissy-kissy noises.

“He’s got diarrhea? It’s probably just the bug that’s going around. We’ll do a quick exam just to make sure, then there’s a pill that will get him back to normal in no time. Eyes good. Ears look fine. Gotta take your temperature buddy. Our ear thermometer’s broken, so we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Now where’s that tube of lubricant?”


But with the passage of the years Lucho Abril Marroquin was to tell himself that of all the instructive experiences of that morning the most unforgettable had not been either the first or the second accident but what happened afterwards.

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copyright (c) 2009 Lulubelle B