She awoke to the sound of her brothers and sisters snoring in both of her ears, one of them seemingly dreaming he was chasing something. Faster and faster his little legs ran. She licked his forehead gently and the race stopped. The snoring didn’t. She scrambled to climb out of the fluffy puppy bed, her feet finding traction on the small bodies of her brothers and sisters, to their dismay.
(This image is not mine. Photographer unknown)
Aimee tripped and tumbled out of the bed and on to the floor. Despite her efforts, her small legs didn’t respond as quickly as she wished them to. Her mother gently nudged her with her nose to help her stand on her wobbly legs, then led her to the screen door and pushed it open with her nose. Aimee followed her mother out into the yard where she lay down in the grass and laid down so that Aimee could nurse. She was hungry, her belly grumbling, and she greedily attacked the source of her breakfast. It wouldn’t be long before her brothers and sisters fought for their place at the breakfast “table”. She nodded off once or twice as the lapped up the warm milk, the morning sun took away her chill. Her mom gave her a quick tongue bath and then the whimpering started from the porch. Aimee was no longer the only one awake. Her mom stood and moved to the porch where the whining grew louder.
She started to follow, but stopped as something caught her attention. She took a deep breath, nose to the sky, and instinctually searched the morning air. For the first time Aimee’s nose took in the cornucopia of smells that surrounded her, exciting her brain with each sniff. A rainbow of scents found her nose. She could smell the sweet scent of the autumn flowers in the farmers garden, the heavenly smell of the freshly cut hay, the pungent aroma of the dying leaves on the ground, the cows in the barn and the familiar scent of her mother.
She closed her eyes and took it all in, her nose searching the wind for more and her ears perking up. She could hear the wind chasing itself through the towering pine trees, the frogs singing in the pond behind the barn, the songbirds greeting the morning at the feeder just outside the window and the neighbors’ dog barking excitedly at the squirrel. The sound of children laughing as they jumped off a dock into the cool, clear water made her open her eyes. Her senses were all trying to capture it all at once, her brain processing the myriad of sounds and smells, soaking it all in like a sponge.
A single crimson maple leaf caught her attention as it slowly drifted towards the ground. Aimee lept clumsily in an attempt to capture her prey, landing in a pile of leaves then rolling to her feet, to no avail. She bounded towards the rainbow of autumn leaves on the ground in search of her prize, her nose searching the wind for any clues, then getting distracted again by the scents coming from the barn. Her nose took up the trail and she searched in vain for the single leaf in a yard full of similar foes. The sun had risen over the neighboring hillside. She quickly closed her eyes again, breathed in the smell of the sweet bluegrass, laid down and fell asleep again.
“Good morning Aimee” the young boy said gently as he knelt down to stroke her head. “You must have been dreaming well?” He questioned her. The sun was warm on her old body and felt so good, her aches forgotten for the moment. She closed her eyes again and enjoyed his gentle touch. He sat down beside her and she put her head in his lap. Aimee took a deep breath and soaked in the smells all around her once again, filling her notrils with more than one could imagine. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep once again. This time she was chasing pheasants, her nose leading the way.
