Flying Black Puppydog

Abby was born with a dog biscuit in her mouth - yes, a dog biscuit. Her parents were of meager means so no silver could be found, unless you count the old, tarnished collectors spoon from Nebraska she inherited from her great-grandmother. From the moment she entered the house, she became the "puppy" of the family dog, Starsky. Each morning as she awoke, her mother was alerted by Starsky that it was time to attend to her baby. Starsky would sit patiently by, waiting for his chance to see the baby, to smell her sweet scent, and to nuzzle her head. Throughout the day, Starsky was right by her side, leaving only to alert mom that Abby had made a movement or sound.
Time passed and Abby became mobile, much to the delight of her surrogate mother. Rolling was quickly passed up with crawling. Now, this wasn't your traditional crawl, that was too passe - this was a 4 legged crawl. In this position, she was able to follow Starsky everywhere. She was taught how to drink out of a water dish, and how to chew on kibbles of dog food - one kibble at a time. She chased after tennis balls, and would scream when she couldn't get them into her mouth. Starsky patiently carried them for her, dropping them at her mothers feet.
But, as is the tradition of the human world, she progressed from 4 feet to 2 feet, finding that this enabled her to use 2 of her "feet" to climb and get into mischief. Starky wasn't too sure, at first, that this was a good idea, but after following her into the kitchen and helping himself to a box of cheerios Abby had dropped, he had to change his mind.
Try as she might, her mother could not keep her out Starsky's water dish. The food dish was removed, only to be used for daily feedings, then quickly put away. Water, on the other hand, had to be left out - no one wanted a dehydrated dog or baby girl.
Everything was shared with her "parent" whom, I must add, enjoyed every bite. From baby food to birthday cake, everything went onto the floor (including the entire contents of the family fridge). Her mother had 2 vacuums to keep the house clean.
Through strict diligence of her mom, Abby learned to communicate with the human world, using English words in addition to her "arfs" and "oofs." And with her new-found language, came a control over everyone around her, but "Scarskee" was still her best friend.
Time passed and soon it was time to venture out of the house alone - or so she thought. The moment a head was turned, Abby and Starsky were gone. Many a phone call came from a concerned Nana who lived down the street.
"Do you know where your daughter is?" she would ask.
"Yep, in the front room playing with her toys."
"Wrong" would come the reply, "she is at my house again." Mother would again lecture her on the dangers of walking down to Nana's alone, having to cross the street with no one there to watch out for her. Her reply was always, "I wasn't alone, I had Scarsky with me."
Two and a half years passed by and it was time to work on potty training. Mother bought her books, videos, and her own potty chair to try and encourage her to use the toilet. Nothing seemed to be working - or so she thought. One day, while walking through Lowes, Abby again disappeared. Frantic, her parents search up and down the isles for their precious little girl. She was finally found - sitting naked on a display toilet, just like she had seen in her books. Lucky for her parents, she hadn't done her business yet. This event only added to the confusion of what she should do, being praise one time and scolded the next for just sitting on the toilet. In came Starky to save the day. Abby soon found that pooping outside a diaper wasn't so bad - you just remove your diaper and let it drop on the lawn like her best friend does. Mother was ready to pull her hair out and announced "diaper are all gone - you have used them all up. You are now going to have to use the toilet like everyone else"
"Buy some more" came the reply.
"The stores have stopped making them" said her mother.
"Okay" replied Abby and, true to her word, she never needed a diaper again. Mother thought this was so easy, why hadn't she thought of that before. But the truth was, Starsky had encouraged her to once again progress through this human step in life.
"I want to be a flying black puppy dog" Abby announced one day. "I want to fly through the sky and go where every I want."
At first, mother thought this was a cute request and played along, but it quickly became apparent that she was serious. She truly no longer wanted to be a little girl, she wanted to be a flying black puppy dog.
"Why can't I be a flying black puppy dog" she would cry at night. "It's all I've ever wanted." She would pray every night that God would change her so she could soar through the skies, and poop in the grass. No matter how much her mother and father expressed their love for their beautiful little girl, she wanted to be changed. "This will pass" her mother thought. Years went by, but Abby's yearning to be a flying black puppy dog did not wane. She cried every night and couldn't figure out why no one was hearing her prayers and changing her. After all, that was what she was born to be - right Starsky...

[This story is a tribulte to Abby's best friend and constant companion. Starsky died on July 3, 2006. Now Abby truly has her Flying Black Puppy dog]